Crochet Bag- Happy Holidays

As promised, here is the crochet bag pattern, before Christmas......just.

Why does everything become so hectic at this time of the year? The days rush on by, the weather mostly heats up & so do the tempers of the drivers & shoppers- so much for good cheer to all men- more like look out for No.1 or I'll run you over if you get in my way!

I am watching a storm cell move in, from my sewing room window-the sky an eerie colour, with the occasional flash of lightening & roll of thunder in the distance, looks like it will be quite a storm, if we get it.

Tomorrow our 4 year old GS, his father (our no1 DS ) & his Mum arrive for Christmas-the little one has more of an understanding this year just what this is all about & told me it was only 4 more sleeps when he rang me the other day. There is nothing like having a little one in the house for Christmas.

I may have thought I finished all my sewing but some friends & DD had different ideas- they had me doing towels with names on them-these are turning out to be very popular , especially as they don't have to pay for the monogramming! Makes for a really lovely gift for them to give. While I was at the sewing machine I decided I needed to have a few gifts in stash so embroidered 8 silk covers to slide on over satin (cheap) coathangers- these look lovely when finished & I've found they make a good stocking filler.

My friend Mary gave me a good belly laugh the other day- I have my bra class on her site (http://www.andsewitisnet/ ) & when she gets questions relating to making bras or fitting problems she sends them onto me.

One lady wrote that she was a size 34 K & was having problems getting a bra to fit or even a pattern to make her own. What could she do?

Mary's DH has the same first 4 letters in his name as mine & she thought she forwarded the email onto me with her added "Any suggestions?"- it went instead to her DH- who replied back to Mary

"keep away from sailors"-talk about laugh, it gave me my belly laugh for the day!, I was so glad I didn't have my morning toast or tea in my mouth at the time!!!!

Happy Holidays to you

Here's the pattern I promised you: If you look at my pic you can see the change in colour- this is what you get when you crochet in bed with a lamp- you don't see what you are grabbing!

Crochet Shopping Bag

Requirements

2 balls (50g) 72m/78 yd cotton 8ply (or similar)

6.0 mm crochet hook

Ability

read a pattern

crochet

Abbreviations

sl-st- slip stitch,

dc, double crochet (or single crochet for the Americans)

Dec- decrease. worked as follows over 2 stitches

hook through st of previous row, yarn over hook, pull through, insert hook into next stitch of previous row, yarn over,pull through, yarn over, pull hook through all 3 loops on hook.

Tension- its not that important, as it after all a bag-as long as its not too tight or too loose.

Don't get too worried if your stitch numbers don't exactly match mine- just don't do the decreases over the handles.

Base

with 6mm hook & yarn either start with a knot or slip stitch, make 3 ch,join with sl-st to make a circle,

Row1. 2ch (counts as stitch), 7 dc into ring, join sl-st to top of 2ch

Row2. 2ch, 1dc in same stitch, 2dc in each st to end of round, join sl-st to 2 ch (16 sts)

Row3. 2ch,1 dc in next stitch, repeat to end,join sl-st to h

Row4. as row 2 (32 sts)

Row5. as row 3

Row6. as row 2 (64sts)

Row7. as row 3.

Pattern. Body of bag.

place marker if desired (I never worried about it)

5ch,miss 1dc, sl-st into next dc, repeat until end of round reached.Do not 'finish' round, just keep going.

Continue with 5 ch, sl-st into ch loop of previous round until length desired.

20 rounds if you are tall & want a biggish bag

15 rounds if you are short or want a smaller bag

these bags will hold lots & stretch in both directions!

Mine is a few more but its HUGE! (probably a little too long)

Top & Handles

when you've reached the length you want after last sl-st, continue

2dc in same loop as sl-st, 3 dc in next loop, continue to end of round, join sl-st to first sl-st of round.

2ch,1dc into each dc of previous round, join sl-st to 2ch. repeat this row.

next row.

2ch, *1dc in next 4 dc of previous round, decrease on next 2 stitches* repeat to end, join sl-st

Handles rows

Row1. 2ch, 1dc in next 10 dc, 25ch,miss next 20 sts, 1dc into next 20 sts of previous round,25ch,miss next 20sts, 1dc into next 10 sts, join with sl-st to 2ch.

Row2. 2ch, 1dc in each dc & ch of previous round.

Row3. 2ch, 1dc, decrease over next 2 stitches, repeat (decrease) to handle, 1 dc in each dc of previous round along handle, then dec (as before) to next handle, 1 dc in each stitch along handle, dec (as before) to 2ch, join sl-st. Tie off.

Finished.....well, sort of.

I've finished! Not a gift for anyone left to make- I can't believe it....never before have I been this organised....and probably won't be ever again, either!

Not only have I finished, I've cleaned my sewing room up & tidied it as well-completed it off with a thorough vacuum through as well. It must be a full moon or something.LOL

This week I wrote my list out of everything I needed to get done & as we had a function Friday night & then backed up for another lunchtime one on Saturday I knew I had to be well organised to get it all done.

Larissa, one of the RN's from work ,asked me to put an initial on some bath towels- seems her DH doesn't like the thought of sharing his towel with his young sons in case they wipe their backsides on his towel- apparently his backside on his towel is OK!.....so that was 8 towels as she brought me in 2 sets to do. Nice & quick & easy as I multi hoped them. One thing I did find out was that the embroidery arm does not like the weight of 2 bath sheets & 4 bath towels on it- it made some terrible noise & I quickly removed the hoop & started again for the last 2 bath sheets!

Next were the Xmas serviettes- 20 of them to have a design in the corner. I found a design I had in my emblibrary collection- edited it & came up with a simple, lower stitch count design. Took me a couple of nights to complete these-did 4 to one hooping-and managed to strip bed & clean up while I had the red colour going through.

My machine does not like RA thread. I'm not sure why it doesn't like it, but it doesn't. Every time I tried to use the RA it would shred & break constantly,so I slowed the speed down-which makes the whole process take longer, but then the trade off is I can multi task while its doing its thing!

Saturday saw me finish the serviettes, make 2 tablecloths, 3 tote bags, 2 receipt book wallets & my GS a pillowcase!

Sunday I had an easy day- made my MIL an embroidered bag which I filled with goodies for Xmas & a V pillow case for my friend, Marge, as part of her Xmas gift! While the machine was stitching out the design I wrapped all the Xmas presents & started making a list of everything I need to pick up.....

Even though I'm this organised I still haven't actually gone shopping to buy any one a gift....not even sure when I'm going to get time to go.

Do I get up at sparrow fart next Saturday & brave the crowds for that mad rush of Xmas shoppers, do I order online & hope whatever I order is in stock & is delivered before Xmas-or do I just give them all money & tell them to go buy their own....sounds perfect to me!

DH likes me to buy him something. I have suggested many a time that we buy what we want for ourselves- give it to each other to wrap & put under the tree-we'd get what we want that way-but no, he likes to do it the traditional way.

I thought I had his gift all worked out. I'd been sneaky. He had wanted a macro lens for his camera & I was with him when he was asking about it in a camera store. I picked up the brochure & marked the one he was after....ah, the perfect gift.....just had to order it & surprise I got you what you wanted.

Well that was the scenario.

He went & ordered it 2 weeks ago! ARGHHH!!!! I could have shot him. When he showed me the new lens I told him I was going to order him one & showed him the brochure.....he back tracked & said I could pay for that one (no way) or buy him another type (done your dash)....so now I have to come up with something else.

A ticket to my friend Ruth's place is looking perfect.....she lives in Canada! he always wanted to see real snow! He'll get it there!LOL

My crochet bag is making slow progress-I'm nearly to the top-so not long now before I have the pattern worked out. Should be done by the end of the week.

Pauline's easy shopping Bag

For all my friends that wanted to know how I made my bag, here is the pattern- easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Its shown here holding 2 queen sized bath towels & it's not even at full stretch!


Pauline’s easy shopping bag
This bag is very flexible in what requirements you need & what you knit it in. You could do it in 4ply if you like or even heavier yarn. There isn’t a tension that is critical- it’s not like it has to fit. If you want to do a really big bag then get another ball of yarn, but be warned this bag stretches & stretches & will hold lots-so you don’t want it too big or it will be too heavy to carry.

Great thing is it fits in your handbag without taking up much room & can be pulled back into shape when you take everything out of it.

Requirements
2 x 50gm balls of 8ply knitting cotton or similar. Craft cotton would work.
5.5mm crochet hook (use bigger or smaller if you change the yarn weight)
5.5mm circular knitting needle. (use bigger or smaller if you change yarn weight)

You need to be able to;
Crochet
Knit in the round

Tension
Not important, but should be looser than you would normally knit up your chosen yarn.
The instructions are very easy-& can be adjusted to suit your requirements- on how big or small you want the bag.

Abbreviations
Sl-st slip stitch
dc- double crochet (single crochet for the Americans)
ch-chain
k2tog- knit 2 stitches together
yfwd- yarn forward

With 5.5mm crochet hook & chosen yarn make a slip stitch start & do 3 chain, join with a sl-st to form a circle.
1st row: 2 ch,7 dc into circle, join with a sl-st into top of 2 ch. (2ch counts as a stitch)
2nd row: 2 ch, 1 dc into same space , 2 dc into the top of each dc of the previous row, join with sl-st to top of 2ch. (16dc-first 2ch counts as stitch)
3rd row: 2ch, 15 dc into top of dc in previous row, join sl-st into top of 2 ch.
Repeat 2nd & 3rd rows, increasing every second row until the base of the bag has at least 64 dc’s- you can go to 128 but you’ll need more yarn & this is a really big bag.
Take loop from crochet hook & place on circular needle-knit up 1 stitch from each of the dc’s of the last row. You should have the same number of stitches as you had dc’s & you need an even number of stitches to do the knitted pattern.

Continue as follows:
Mark beginning of round.
K2tog, yfwd-repeat to end.
Repeat this row for as long as you want the bag- about 55 rounds. Do more rounds if you want a bigger bag-you need to have about half of your last ball of yarn left (if using 50gm balls).

Either cast off REALLY loosely or chain cast off with a crochet hook- it needs to be very loose or you won’t get your goodies in your bag easily! Do not cut yarn. Leave last loop on knitting needle & transfer to crochet hook.
2 ch to commence round, 1dc into each stitch of cast off row-if you had 64 stitches then you’ll have 64 dc’s in this round. Join with a sl-st.
Next row: 2ch, 1 dc into each dc of previous row, join sl-st
Repeat this row twice.

Make handles:
Mark the top of the bag roughly into quarters.
2ch, dc into each dc of previous row until you reach the first mark (I used pins).
Make a chain adding about 5-10 extra chains than the stitches that are between the marks (if you have 17 dc between the pins then do 25 chains)-dc into the next marked spot on the bag. Dc to next mark & repeat chain, dc to beginning of round & join sl-st.
Next row: 2ch, 1 dc in each st & ch to end, join sl-st to beginning 2ch
3rd row (handles)-2ch, 1 dc in each to end, join sl-st to beginning 2ch
Repeat 3rd row once (you could do another row, but if you make the handles too thick they will be uncomfortable to carry)

Tie off. Sew in end. Admire bag. Fill it with goodies. Expect comments wherever you go.

Few things to note.
If you make the handles too long then when the bag has stuff in it they tend to get longer & longer. This is not a shoulder type bag- more like the string bag my mum carried but the holes are closer together so things don’t fall out as easily.

This pattern is really just a basis for you to work on- add or subtract as you like to give you the size you like.

Please send me a pic if you make this bag. If there are any massive mistakes in my instructions please let me know- this if the first pattern I've written for anyone but me to follow!