Crochet Purse for Cousin Niki (Military Wife)

 My cousin Niki Hull recently got re-married, her second marriage to a man that works for the Air Force.  She has been a single mom for the last few years, raising her daughter all by herself.  Niki's first marriage to her first husband ended because he refused to work, and would rather play video games than support his family.  Niki struggled to work several jobs and pay for their child alone, and she grew tired of bearing the majority of the workload.  Niki got a divorce from her first husband.  She stayed single for a lot of years.

All of the sudden, no one had ever heard of her second husband; we all heard that she had gotten married and were a bit shocked.  Niki's second husband,  Michael De La Rosa, worked at Nellis AFB, and is military single father of two boys.  The boys were around the same age as Nikki's daughter.  The family seemed to blend together well with the three children, and so in no time at all Niki was married again, and moved together with her new husband.  She seems very happier with her second choice.

She mailed me a Christmas card at Christmas of her family, and I forgot to mail one back, and so it was a little embarrassing on my part.  I had another idea that I wanted to do instead.  I found this idea that a crocheter made a "military wives" purse.  I saw all different kinds of examples, but non that I liked so well.  I thought this one would be interesting.  The double stitching is very tight.  I had never tried the crocodile stitch.  The top pink ruffle was the first crocodile stitch I had ever tried.  I rather liked it.  My only complaint about it is that it is so full and ruffled that towards the top, it began to stand strait out.  I recommend no more than four rows with bulk yarn.  It may be different with baby yarn or other yarn that is lighter in weight.  This project took more time that I thought it would -- about 2 1/2 weeks of hard work.

I have not yet mailed it to her, but I plan to soon.  So we'll see what her reaction is.  I hope she will like it.