Tiny In Toronto

I feel like I need to begin by sharing how this all came about. This whole idea just hit me one day while I was at work. Has this ever happened to you? It was kind of like one of those “eureka!” moments. Anyways, if you’ve worked retail before, you’ll understand how dead it is this time of year. I think our busiest time of year begins after Thanksgiving or around Black Friday, and then ends December 31st. January and February are just painfully slow months. It’s a ghost town. We’ve been going a little crazy trying to find things to keep us busy, but there’s only so much that we can do. I’m the kind of person that always has to be doing something or I feel like time is being wasted. So in these types of scenarios, I just put my brain to work. Valentine’s Day was coming up and I needed a new crochet project. I also wanted to create something cute and original to share on my Instagram. One of my co-workers was working on a balaclava made of granny squares and that inspired me to want to make something out of granny squares as well. That’s when it hit me: granny squares with hearts in the center!!! How romantic! Now I didn’t want another balaclava and I had just finished making my skinny rainbow scarf, so I decided to make the obvious (for a bag-obsessed queen): a tote bag.

I don’t think you’ll find someone as obsessed with bags as I am. If I had all the money in the world, I’d have so many bags. I mean, I already have a lot of bags. But I would most definitely have all the bags I’ve ever dreamed of! I’d have a room just for all of my purses!!! (I’m getting all giddy just thinking about it ha-ha) One thing that I love about crocheting is that it allows me to create my own bags. I never thought I’d be able to make my own, but I’ve made 3 different designs already! When planning my “love tote”, I was already confident that I have the skills to make whatever I put my mind to. So I took the closest piece of paper that I could find while I was at work (because I didn’t wanna lose my idea/vision), and I drew some ideas with our coloured permanent markers. (I just want to quickly add that I’m a hard worker (not a slacker!), love my job, and this didn’t take more than 10min – I promise! Zero customers were ignored during this process lol!) Here’s how it turned out:

There are clearly a few combinations that I tried out. I knew I wanted pink, blue and yellow together, but I didn’t know how I wanted to execute it. I chose these colours based off of the street style photos that I saved from Copenhagen Fashion Week. I love how colourful they are in Copenhagen. It’s 100% my favourite week. They’re much more creative and experimental there. I find it so inspiring. Here are the photos that solidified my colour choice:

Aren’t they beautiful? I think it has to do with everything that we’ve gone through in terms of the pandemic that has made us loosen up when it comes to self expression. I think it made some of us get to know ourselves a bit more and realize that life is too short to live by certain fashion rules. Express yourself! Wear what makes you happy! Don’t wear black, wear colour! It’s just something I’ve come to notice and appreciate a lot lately. I think most fashion trends you’ll see this year will definitely express that. When doing some research, a lot of trends that were forecasted came from many different decades. You’re going to see an absolute mix of everything. Take what you love from each decade and mash it all together! For real though.

I’ll save the trend talk for another day. Let’s get back to my love tote. I made this bag in less than two days. I was so determined and inspired. I really wanted to bring one of those drawings to life. I had to learn how to crochet a heart and I’ll be honest, that almost did it for me. Like, I was ready to call it quits after trying a few times. It was so hard! And part of me was doubting that my hearts were even looking like hearts. But the more I looked at it, and the more I practiced, I got the hang of it. It finally looked like a heart, so I made 10 of them.

After all the squares were complete, it was pretty much done. I just had to attach them all together, make side panels, then attach some handles! I tried to make pink and yellow hearts at first, but the yellow yarn was a tad thicker than the pink and the blue. I was worried that with thicker yarn, the squares wouldn’t be uniform. So I put the yellow yarn aside, and just used the pink and blue. Little did I know, the yellow yarn was just what I needed for the handles. Thick yarn is probably better because it’s sturdier (I was also running out of the other colours so I had few options lol). I think yellow is just a great contrast as well. I’m really happy with that decision. Anyways, without further ado, I introduce to you… MY LOVE TOTE :))

Now I know the final result doesn’t look exactly like my original sketch, but I’m super happy with the way it turned out. I took so many photos of her. You’ll probably notice a missing charm on the final product. The crochet heart charm is still an idea I’m flirting with, and I think I’ll probably end up adding one later. It’s basically two of those hearts sewn together and stuffed with Poly-fil. If you could choose a colour for a dangly crochet heart charm on my love tote, what would you choose? Pink? Yellow? Maybe red? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comment section!

I’ve also been thinking about sharing my process with you! Would you like to see my process when making a crochet project? I always take pictures after I complete a step, so I think it’d be fun to actually lay it all out in a blog post for you. Maybe it can even help you make one of your own? It’s just a thought but I would obviously love your feedback.

Alright. That’s it, that’s all! I hope you’re all having a wonderful weekend. I’ll be spending it thrift shopping! I’m so excited because this will be the first thrift trip of the year. If I find some goodies, I’ll be sure to come back with a haul ;))

Until next time,

– Tiny ❤