Showing My Stripes

I almost always carry a small, drawstring shoulder purse that my mother gave me. The truth is that I was the ungrateful recipient of a gift that has served me well. The poor little thing has evenly spaced multicolored stripes and the first thing I noticed was the misfit of two colors with the rest of the colorway. Yet its size and shape are practical and lightweight. Cashiers rarely fail to remark about how cute it is. That I thought I could do a better job has come home to me. Today I put these three mini shoulder purses up for sale on Etsy. Each was an experiment in stripes. The green purse was worked in textured stripes of back and forth rows alternating with continuous rounds. Consciously spaced rows of pastel stitches give the effect of a flower garden. The blue, purple and pink mini hobo bag is an experiment with single-row color stripes worked back and forth in a tube. And the chevron striped stitch pattern of the last purse automatically shape shifts the colors. What fun! I'll probably carry my little misfit shoulder bag until it falls apart but I hope someone else will enjoy traveling light with well-chosen stripes.