A house for a handmade umbrella

I have been parasol making again. A couple of years ago, I found a fairly unattractive brown floral print umbrella. While I did not admire the pattern of the canopy, it was obviously high-quality. The stretchers and ribs were well-oiled and still ran smoothly after a couple of years of use (and abuse), and while the umbrella is on the smaller side, the weight of the object gives you the feeling that it is good quality. It does not feel like a cheap, shitty umbrella. 

It is a keeper, and after the canopy developed a tear I thought it was worth repurposing, spending a bit of time to create something really special.

When I had finished the latest crocheted parasol made from a recycled brolly frame, I needed to make it a case. This was to have somewhere to store it in, with a strap to be able to hang it for when it is not in use. It could get damaged or dirty fairly quickly without one.

This is the second crocheted parasol cover that I have made, and I had neglected to make a case for the first one as well. Although I have made covers for precious treasures in the past, I had been avoiding this task.

It is time I stopped dragging my feet and made some covers!

I still have a bunch of pink wools from some previous projects, little scraps and small lengths. It’s easy enough to use them up on this small granny-square based project. I started by choosing my wools for the project.

To make the bags, I used treble stitch in a granny square-style. This would also be a good pattern to make bags to hold yoga mats or poster tubes. They have drawstring tops and tassels on the bottom.

I’ve directly attached the straps to the bags with crochet, no sewing. I crocheted them by chaining from the bottom to the top, turning the work and single stitching down the chain. Repeat until the strap is as wide as you want it. I’ve created a bit of an interesting pattern for some of the strap colours by putting the hook not directly into the previous stitches, but by biting the hook further down into the work and doing a longer style of single stitch…

…I know this explanation is a bit convoluted. I wasn’t able to work out what this stitch is called to find a how-to to share! Apologies. If anyone reading this knows what I have done to the band, and what the stitch is, please let me know.

After crocheted the first one in pink, it was a fairly simple step to dig up some more wool scraps and make one for my first parasol.

It was great to get these projects ticked off the to-do list. They are a bit of preventative maintenance to ensure that I can get the most amount of life out of the parasols I have put so much work into. Also, it makes the parasols harder to lose at night when you can strap them onto your body, or sling them over your back. It beats the risk of putting them down to do something with both hands and just….walking away from them accidentally.

Related;

Previous granny square (and triangle!) pillowcase projects. Each project leading up to this has been building my expertise in granny squares and pattern making…

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