Nature Bag and a Giveaway

Hello dear readers,

Ohoh, it's been too long... But it's good to be back, both at home and on my blog.
I had a lovely time in Thailand and today I would like to take you with me to an interesting project in a neighbouring country: Laos.

Maybe you remember the first photo, I posted it before on this blog last September...

It's a bag from Nature Bag - I bought it a couple of years ago when I was in Laos. I sometimes use it as yarn bag when I'm abroad, because it's flexible and lightweight. It's from made of the natural, strong kudzu fibre which is traditionally used in Laos (and other countries) for making bags and baskets. Kudzu (also known as Japanese arrowroot, as Wikipedia kindly informed me) is a climbing vine that is native to Laos and many other parts of Asia.

On the occasion of posting that photo last year I was contacted by the kind Terry from Nature Bag. Nature Bag is a fairtrade project based in Laos. They make these traditional tote bags with a modern twist from the JungleVine as they dubbed the amazing fibre that is destined to be turned in a Nature Bag. We agreed that I would style and photograph more Nature Bags. The results of which you see here! I loved doing this because fairtrade has my heart.

I tried to highlight the fact that they are very lightweight by pinning them to my wall. I only needed a two or three pins. (Good news for my wall.)

Despite their lightweight nature and delicate looks, the bags are very strong, capable of expanding to carry heavy cargo. (I loaded mine with books!) The bags are knotted, not woven or crocheted, so in the unlikely event that a hole develops, the bag should not unravel. I wish I could say the same about my crochet. ;-)

Nature Bag gifted a bag for a giveaway for my lovely readers! If you would like a chance to win the blue-striped bag below, follow this blog and leave a comment. You can enter until April 2th 2015. [Edit: now closed]

If you'd like to see all styles of bags and meet the people who craft these lovely bags click here to go the Nature Bag website. (They have a webshop.)

In my next post I'll show you a bag I crocheted with JungleVine. I'll also share my pattern!
Okay, that's it for now. I hope you'll enter the giveaway. [Edit: now closed] If you do: Good luck!

Many thanks for your visit and I wish you a most lovely week.
♦♦♦

A New Shopper

Thank you for your kind comments on my recent posts and my sincere apologies for not answering them personally yet. I really appreciate them a lot though!



I would love to have made a travel blanket like last year's, because it is such a nice souvenir. It brings back memories of all the places where I've worked on it. Unfortunately this year there will be no travel blanket. However I did make a small project. If you follow me on Instagram you've seen the work in progress on this one.

The result: a shopper!

I've always wanted to try this spider pattern since I came across it on the internet. Unfortunately it is one of those - as I call them - orphaned patterns, without source. I tried to trace it back to its origins, but alas. If you know where it is first published, or who the designer is, please let me know so I can give credits and link to the original pattern, if possible. Thanks!

I really like this pattern, because there is a bit more to it than shows at first sight: the rows are not very tidy, if you know what I mean - I like that. ;-) 

When I was about to crochet the handles I was a just a tad grumpy because those would sort of ruin the pattern when using the bag (because it crumples). Then I realised I was being stupid because bamboo handles are widely available here. So off to the market I went and I found the perfect size hangers. Pattern saved!

I'm sorry for the somewhat crappy photos. Some people had a good laugh when they saw me trying to capture me-with-my-new-bag with the self-timer. My camera on a pile of yarn cakes to get the right height. Aaargh. Well, this is the best I could do. (What on earth is that arm doing there in the air? Seriously.) A tuk tuk driver thought I had gone mad when I hung my bag on that wall (the nail was there already!) in the middle of a crowded street because that beautiful wall just seemed the perfect backdrop. (Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me then, it was still chilling on top of those yarn cakes. So just a telephone snapshot there.)

Okay... A lot of words for a small project... Sorry about that...
Many thanks for your lovely visit!
I wish you a most lovely day.
♦♦♦