For the L-and-C Grab Bag Swap, I was trying to be flexible by making items that could be used for either L or C.
A Letter opener had popped into my mind early on, because so much of my mail is Lettuce Craft swap packages or Happy Mail. But I couldn’t initially think of a way to make it be a C also.
Then it hit me — I would crochet at the top! I had a nice stainless steel letter opener that was shaped like a big needle, with an elongated hole at the top. I grabbed some crochet thread, and crocheted all around. It looked… not great.
So I ripped it out and tried some different ways of crocheting the top. All failures! (Sorry, no pictures.)
Then I suddenly remembered some fun fabric I had in stash.
The design elements were elongated like the letter opener, and there was even an office-supply vibe to it—perfect!
So I found some yarn that matched, and crocheted around the letter opener again with that. Then fussy-cut a couple of the fun phrases, stretched them over some stiff felt and stitched them in place. (The one on the back went kind of wonky in the process; oops!)
Last, I decorated the end with a few little wool balls I had in stash. So festive!
I like it, and imagine the recipient, @Bunny1kenobi, using it to open her incoming Happy Mail and ATCs.
