For my momma's upcoming birthday, I crocheted her a purse. She got it in the mail today so now I can post photos of it! I recycled a metal clasp from another purse and started by crocheting right onto the clasp, and then building it down from there. I used Lion's Brand alpaca yarn (same as I used for my elephant), which I love the look of, but the alpaca hairs really shed all over and I wouldn't recommend it for anything that is going to be WORN, which is why I just use it for purses and amigurumi. And it's really soft, so the purse was really flimsy... I had to rig some metal wire inside to keep its shape, and kinda sew that into place, and then I hand-sewed a lining to go inside as well. (I'm still kinda scared of my sewing machine, so I decided hand-sewing was the way to go). It definitely isn't perfect craft (I'm not much of a sewer), but I'm pretty happy with it. And my momma sounded excited about it, so that's what matters.
![mom's purse, closed](http://www.youarenotyourjob.com/kendra/uploaded_images/mom_purse_closed-753635.jpg)
![mom's purse, open](http://www.youarenotyourjob.com/kendra/uploaded_images/mom_purse_open-765093.jpg)
![mom's purse, closeup](http://www.youarenotyourjob.com/kendra/uploaded_images/mom_purse_closeup-765454.jpg)