Happy Thanksgiving!

We've been getting very spoiled here in Central Illinois with temperatures as late as day before yesterday at 70 degrees. But it did finally decide to cool off in time for the holiday so it's a very autumn day as I watch the local squirrel jump round my patio in search of the plants I rescued into the house. If you've followed the squirrel saga, he did discover how to move a few of the rocks in the herb pot but he didn't manage to do too much damage.

I've almost finished my little beaded clutch experiment. The body was quite easy as it was just round and round with the beads being slipped on each half of the double crochet stitches. It was interesting to see that each half of the stitch twisted the beads in a different direction. I don't know that you can really see it on the pictures below but in person it created a sort of chevron pattern.

I was a bit stumped on the flap because I would have to work it flat. When you're crocheting with beads in this style, the beads present to the side away from you which is fine when you're going in a circle but wouldn't work working back and forth. It was already getting a bit heavy since there were so many beads in the body of the bag. My solution was to work the flap without any beads. The pearl cotton is quite heavily mercerized so has a bit of a sheen on it so I thought this little shell stitch would compliment the beaded body. I didn't quite work the flap wide enough so I decided to do a couple of rows of the shell stitch on the outside border of the flap and then finish it up with a row of single crochet with the beads along the outside. I'm really very pleased with how it ended up. I just need to do the lining which I'll have to do with some heavy facing to give the body some...well, body! It wouldn't do to have it flapping about, would it!!

It's pretty small - only 5" wide by 4" tall but I really like it. As with others bags, I'm not sure what I'll do with it but I'm enjoying it. Maybe that's enough.

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday.