Letters and Crochet

It was in high school where I probably received the most number of handwritten letters. We always found a reason to write letters to friends. We also used to get a bunch from retreats. Last week, I went through my stash of old letters.

It's nice to read handwritten letters and see different hand writings. You see personalities reflected on each of them. Some add doodles. Some use different-colored pens. Some write to say something they've always wanted to say. Some just write out of boredom. 

The I found this one under my pile of letters.

We call it the "palanca box." A palanca is a slang term for a letter given to people who attend retreats. You usually put your personal thoughts about the person there, thank him/her for his/her friendship, or wish him/her well for this time to reflect. Obviously, this is not a box. It's this plastic mesh bag usually sold in public markets. I used to participate in this special retreat in high school and college called "Days With The Lord." I was rector for one batch. My co-rector and I wanted our batch's "box" to be special. We chose this simple mesh bag to contain all the palanca letters of the participants. 

Of course, I wanted to put something crocheted on it. I already forgot where I got the pattern for this motif. I remember owning just one steel crochet hook and 2-3 balls of yarn back then. I crocheted more or less 10 pieces of this and sewed them on the mesh bags.

Speaking of bags, I have somethings in the works which involves bags and crochet. I couldn't reveal much yet, but expect 2 seemingly traditional crafts come up with something bad ass. It's made up of two materials I really love - yarn and leather.