The evil knitters are back.

Here is a creative way to:

• Use up all that crazy yarn somebody gave you, while
• pleasing the small diva in your circle of family or friends. (Mine are going overseas en masse to surprise some young ladies I've never met.)

To make this wonder, you will need:

1. A small knitting loom, with 24 pegs.
2. A loom knitting hook.
3. A yarn needle and a pair of scissors. Or a cooperative cat with sharp teeth.
4. About 50 grams of yarn. The crazier the better: fuzzy yarns, yarns that look like feather boas? Just the thing. Or multicoloured soft yarn. If it's wild and preferably fun to touch, your diva will love it. Don't make it for yourself, grumpy old retired person. Make it for the young and free of spirit. Or Cactuscafé. Channel your inner hippie.
5. Two (2, a pair) brightly-coloured small plastic bangles, about 3 inches/7.5 cm in diameter. You can buy these in discount shops sometimes. You can also find them in bulk from party suppliers. Your online shopping source will be sure to have them. They usually come in plain or the kind that look like entwined strands, see picture. I'd go for the fancy kind, if you can get them. Adds that haute couture touch the first-grade set just love.
   
   Match them by colour, or go all Paris Runway on them and put two different colours together. They'll think you're a genius (or colour-blind).
   
   What? Oh, the bangles are the bag handles. Do keep up.
6. About an hour and half, less if you're fast.

Here's how to do it:

1. Keep in mind: You start with the handles.
2. E-wrap 12 pegs on your 24-peg loom.
3. Straight-knit the first row by passing the working yarn in front of the peg, then looping the bottom yarn over it.
4. Turn around and knit your way back, ewrapping and knitting to the end.
5. Ewrap back and forth until you have six rows.
6. Ewrap the other 12 pegs. Do one straight-knit row and five ewrapped, knitted rows.
7. Get out your bangles.
8. Hold a bangle next to one of the knitted rows, on the inside of the loom. Loop the bottom row over the bangle and over the pegs. Knit the two loops of yarn. Stop.
9. Do the same thing for the other bangle and the other rows. You now have two bangles wrapped with yarn, sitting somewhat awkwardly on the inside of the ring. This is normal. Do not panic.
10. Take up your working yarn and knit around and around the loom. What pattern? Oh, you can knit simple single stitches, or knit-a-row-purl-a-row, or knit two-over two, which is what I do. Depending on the yarn, I might even go hog wild and knit one-over-three, which works really well for those things that look like feather boa material.
11. Knit until the bag is about seven inches/18 cm long.
12. Make three more rows, using the pattern Knit 2 pegs, Purl 2 pegs. Don't remember how to purl? We've got you covered.
13. Lay down the knitting hook. Loop the working yarn 2-and-a-half times around the outside of the loom and cut the yarn there.
14. Thread the working yarn through the yarn needle. Go once around the loom, putting the yarn behind the knitted pegs, but looping them through the front of the purled pegs, in a 2-2 pattern.
15. Use the knitting hook to pull all the purled stitches (the ones you've strung together with the yarn) off the pegs. Tighten the loop by pulling the yarn. (Gently. This is not a strength sport.)
16. Go around the loom again, this time on the outside. Loop the thread through all the knitted stitches. Use the knitting hook to pull them off, tightening the loop as you go. Remember to loop the yarn through the first two stitches again, just to be sure. When you've got them all pulled together, you should have a nice, tight star in the middle of the bottom of the bag – assuming you can see it through all the fuzzy yarn.
17. Pass the threaded yarn through the tiny hole in the centre of the star to the inside of the bag. Turn bag inside out. Knot the yarn, and thread the end once around the inside of the bag before cutting off the yarn.
18. Admire work intensely. Show it to your spouse, your kids, your dog and cat. Pretend surprise when they do not proclaim you a creative genius. Sulk for at least an hour before starting another bag.

Once you get the hand of this, you won't want to stop. You will be looking for victims. . . er, lucky recipients of your handiwork. Donate your work to a charitable organisation. Or go and find out if a shelter, hospital, or other institution in your area needs play items for kids.

You can make bigger bags, of course. As long as you can find handles for them. Use a larger hoop, and buy purse handles in craft shops. They're pricey, though. You could also make a letter D-shaped wooden handle in your woodworking shop and use that. Remember to keep the straight bit thin enough to get your knitting around. Experiment.

If you make any bags like this, send us the pics. We'd love to see your crafts! (Seriously. No, we're not being ironic. Insanity loves company.)

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