Green.

Something about the color green triggers certain memories for me. Actually, colors in general do that for me. It’s how my brain is wired: a crazy juxtaposition of spoken words –  both from pop culture and my own experiences – and colors along with a heavy helping of loaded feelings. That’s how I remember things. I rarely can re-tell a story and give the play-by-play of it all, rather choosing to regurgitate it in a non-sequential order in the manner in which it was coded into my brain.

Think of my memory being like a long rope. Tied to the rope are smaller ropes that jut off in different directions, each coded with a piece of memory in no certain order. I can reach down and pick up the rope at any give point, tapping into just a part of something but not really knowing why it’s been placed there and if I’ll ever revisit it again.

Sometimes I can remember where I was standing or what I was wearing or doing when someone or something triggers that memory for me, never really recalling exactly what was said line-by-line, but rather how it made me feel and the general gist of the scenario. I’m not a gal of facts and history. I’d flunk at Jeopardy. Just sayin’.

So there I was two weeks ago trying to put together an idea of a pattern. I pulled out 7 skeins of “Luna” by Elann, a rich green color that I really loved.

Cypress Shimmer. What a great name. I quickly formed the idea to make a bag out of it because I was unsure if I had enough for a garment. It felt like a perfect Fall color. And I had a brown leather handle that would look awesome with the green.

Rewind a few days prior to this, I’d conducted a little online research about for crocheted handbag patterns. I’d quickly surmised that people might not be inclined to buy patterns that featured pre-bought handles. So I settled on coming up with something that was yarn-only and cool. But what to do?

I attest the rest of my inspiration for the Rhiannon Tote on subliminal messages because none of the thoughts for why I carried out this project the way I did were from my conscious memory. They were somewhere far down on that rope. In this case, you could say I started this project based on an inward motivation to do something, anything, and that I was moving towards my inspiration (Not the predictable order of things I suppose).

Braids. I had them in my head. Why? I didn’t know (at the time). I thought it would be cool to make a braided handle. It’d be sturdy. I could pad it for comfort. And it would be unique; I’d never seen a braided handle before.

Fast Forward to three days ago, I was struggling for a name for this newly created tote.

Inner dialog: “Green. GREEN!”

And then it was like weird science. I saw green. My brain spit out, “Rhiannon.” And then the lyrics came swirling in my head causing an earworm:

Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night
And wouldn’t you love to love her?
Takes through the sky like a bird in flight
And who will be her lover?

All your life you’ve never seen a woman
Taken by the wind
Would you stay if she promised you Heaven?
Will you ever win?

But why? GREEN! The cover of the Fleetwood Mac album is green.

And the braids? Rhiannon was a Welsh goddess. Celtic art is filled with knots and braiding. And why was this all on my mind? My step-father. He loved Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks. He took me to see her once when she was playing solo. It was one of the few concerts I recall going to as a child but I remembered how much he lusted over Stevie. His birthday would have been two weeks ago. He would have been 60.

Love ya Joe. Miss you lots.

Tags: bag, Crochet, elann, handbag, hook, inspiration, luna, pattern, purse, rhiannon, tote, yarn