I wanted to have a tattoo with the baybayin characters. So I went ahead and looked for designs in baybayin. Tattoos are permanent and so I wanted to make sure that I do understand what my tattoo says, I did not want to end up having to have words scribbles on my skin and have it mean something very random. I went ahead and purchased a baybayin book on Shopee. Surprisingly, it was a quick study. There were activities too where you can practice writing random words until you've memorized the strokes. There even were crafts ideas that helps you apply what you learned.
This got me thinking, I could use this for other arts and crafts aside from getting inked. After studying the characters, I tried a little bit of calligraphy. This proved to be a good thing because my little one started getting curious about what I was practicing during our quiet time. It became part of my #nanayculture. I started this nanay culture during this school year where I allocate a certain time in nurturing myself with relaxation, learning, discoveries, all focusing in doing anything that translates to self-love. Because moms love always gives but we can't pour from an empty cup.
When my daughter started asking questions about baybayin, it showed that she is curious about it, and that's all the cue I needed. I then started to include this in our curriculum. My daughter's first language is English and so I wanted her to learn Tagalog as part of our Philippine Studies. Why not hit two birds with one stone? Aside from reading her Tagalog stories from Severino Reyes, we also started writing in Baybayin. Imagine my delight when she suggested she make a shirt art with it. This was when she caught me writing a pattern/plan for my crochet baybayin bag. I usually just freehand all my designs except for those that I bought a pattern for.
I originally planned to make just a checkered bag. That part of this bag was just done freehand, no pattern, no guide. I just went with the flow, so to say. It was quite easy, just 4 rows of 4SC alternating plain blue yarn and that multicolored yarn I got for free. The plan was to just do this until I reached the height I desired for the bag. Being that it was an easy stitch, my patience started to run out. I got bored with the monotonous flow of the stitches. That's when I planned for the baybayin characters. Why not spice things up a little bit. It's good practice for my lessons, it's one way to show my kid that she can use baybayin on so many things and it gave me a challenge.
To add challenge to the task, my little kitty who was just a few months old that time, loves to interfere with my work. She would go in the unfinished bag even while I'm working on it. How I miss our little Sasha. She crossed the rainbow bridge just before Christmas. Our hearts were broken, I couldn't even finish this project because I miss her kakulitan while I'm working. She was a very welcome interruption when it comes to crochet. There's something about yarns that really pulls cats toward you. Our two little kitties now, Kalinga and Hiraya also love my yarns.
The straps were all single crochet except I added a twist to help make the straps a bit more flexible. I made a couple of chains then slip stitched. I made 4 of them, one on each connection. It added as a cute accent to the bag. I super loved the bag, I just want to keep it as display. Since I've completed it, I have only used it once.
My husband has been airing that I make too much bags. I would crochet it for a long time, use it once or twice, then start another one, then the cycle continues. He doesn't see that it could have been designer bags, or shoes, or anything that could have been more expensive. Well, whether he sees it or not, I don't have any plans on ending this crochet bag obsession love cycle.
I still have quite a few more crochet bags I made. Some I gifted last christmas, some I just don't have the heart to part ways with, but still feel guilty of using them so they end up in the shelf. I don't know how this entry ended up with me confessing about my LOVE of crochet bags, but really, this is all about how I stumbled upon my Baybayin crochet bag. Maybe next time I have a long vacation from homeschooling, I might be able to share my other bag collection. :)
