How it is made
Crochet is one continuous thread, worked with a single hook. There is no knitting needle, no machine, and no seam unless I put one there. Everything follows from that.
What a round actually involves
A bag might be sixteen granny squares, and each square is four rounds of turning, chaining and pulling through. A round ends with an increase — working two stitches into one so the fabric stays flat instead of spiralling in on itself. Miss the count on one round and the whole thing tapers. That is the part nobody sees and everybody pays for.
I keep a count on a scrap of paper beside the work. Not because I cannot remember, but because on round eleven of a square I should be thinking about how the strap will look, not whether I put a stitch in at the corner.
Why there are no machines
Machine knitting can produce a bag quickly and cheaply. It cannot produce this one: the slightly irregular tension where a colour changes, the place where two squares meet and one is a little tighter than the other. Those are not defects. They are the evidence that a person made it, and once you have handled something made that way you find the machine version a bit flat.
Everything here is worked in runs of one to ten. That is not marketing, it is arithmetic — there is only so much I can finish in a week alongside a full-time job, and I would rather make fewer things properly.
Yarn, and why it matters
Cotton everywhere, almost always. Cotton takes a stitch crisply, does not stretch when it is warm, and can be washed without a care label that terrifies people. Raffia for the summer bags, because it holds a shape beautifully and feels like the season it was made for.
Yarn is the largest single cost in anything I make, and the reason a four-hour bag costs what it costs. I would rather tell you that than have you wonder.
What happens when it is finished
Blocking, which is the part everybody skips: a short soak, pinned to shape, and left to dry flat. It is what turns a slightly wonky pouch into something that stands up on its own. Then a photo, a piece of tissue, and the post.
If something is not right when it arrives, tell me. I will repair it without charge, always, and the yarn is often still in the basket.