Don't Lose Your Marbles

One of my dad's hobbies is collectible marbles. As I now know, a run of a particular machine-made marble includes marbles with numerous swirl patterns, each with its own name and level of desirability. So, part of collecting these marbles is sorting and examining them. Toward that end, I decided to crochet some sorting bowls for my dad for Father's Day.

I made these using the Nested Birds Nests pattern from Think Crafty Thoughts. The pattern is available for free as a Ravlery download. You'll have to sign up for Ravelry to get it, but it's well worthwhile to sign up if you're looking for free patterns.

The nests come in three sizes, and I made three sets of nests. There's one in each size in each color. The yarns are all I Love This Cotton! from Hobby Lobby in Brown, Forest, and Woods Print. They worked up quickly and are SO cute. They would really make nice little organizers for paperclips and office stuff or jewelry or anything little you need to keep together.

I especially like how the final row curls in to create a little bit of a lip. I think this is more pronounced in my version than in some of the others people have posted on Ravelry because I used a fairly tight tension.

After finishing all my bowls, I decided he might also need something to take his marbles with him, so I made what I'm calling the Mobile Marble Bowl. It's basically a flat-bottomed bag that converts to a bowl when the sides are folded down. I'm planning to write up instructions and share them in a separate post, so this is just a little teaser for that project.