Crochet Chevron Tulip Bag Free Pattern

Namaste Friends 🙏,

Hope you and your loved ones are in the pink of health and enjoying beautiful weather.

Mumbai is sweltering and we are desperately waiting for the rains.

I am on a stash busting spree and decided to use my worsted wt yarn to make a bag.

Ever thought you could make a bag with one granny square? Yes, that's right this bag is made with only one granny square. And if you use two or more colours, it brings out the chevron pattern in the bag beautifully!

* This post contains affiliate links which if you use for any purchase, may yield me a small commission, at no extra cost to you. Thank you. *

 

So let's begin,

 

Skill Level:    Easy                    

Size:  Bag measures approximately 16 inches wide and 16 inches tall.          .

          The handle measures around 21 inches after being attached.

Materials:

·        Yarn -  Worsted weight cotton yarn* around 225 gms/ approx. 8 oz OR

          (75 gms of each colour if using 3 colours)  

·        Hooks - US 7 (4.50 mm),*   UK 7

.        Stitch Markers - 4  (Check out these super-cute markers on Etsy*)

.        Scissors*

.        Yarn needle*

.        Buttons - 4* (optional)

     

Notes:

·        This pattern uses US terminology.

·        Ch 3 at beginning of the round counts as stitch. 

.        The last corner on each round is made with (ch 1, sc) instead of ch 2.

Abbreviations: 

beg – beginning,  

ch - chain,  

st - stitch,

sk - skip

sp - space

sl st - slip stitch

nxt - next,

sc – single crochet, 

dc - double crochet

dc2tog - double crochet 2 stitches together

 

Instructions:  

The Base:

Ch 5, join with sl st to form a ring. OR use the magic ring.

Round 1:  Using colour A - Ch 3, working into the ring - 3dc, (ch 2, 4dc) 3 times, ending with ch 1, sc into 3rd ch of beg ch. (16 dc, 4 corner spaces)

Round 2: Ch 3, dc into sp below sc, * dc in each st across, in nxt ch-2 sp work (2dc, ch 2, 2dc), rep from *   3 times ending with 2 dc in last sp, ch 1, sc into 3rd ch of beg ch. (32 dc)

Rounds 3 to 9: Rep Round 2. In each round you will be increasing by 16 stitches.

Work the above rounds to get a base of your desired size. 

Feel free to make more or less rounds as required, as it will depend on the yarn you are using.

The Sides:

Round 10: In this round we will pinch the centre of each side to form an additional "corner".

Count the number of stitches on each side and divide by 2.  Since I worked 9 rounds I have 36 stitches on each side. Now place a marker between the 18th and the 19th dcs, repeat on the other 3 sides. As shown in the pic below:

Your base may have a different number of stitches depending on how many rounds you made for your base. Now let's begin,

Ch 3, dc in sp below sc, *dc in next 15 sts, dc2tog in the next 2 sts, sk nxt 2 sts (ie. the 2 sts on either side of the marker), dc2tog in the nxt 2 sts, dc in nxt 15 sts, in nxt ch-2 sp work (2dc, ch 2, 2dc), rep from * 3 times, ending with 2dc in the last sp, ch1, sc in 3rd ch of beg ch 3.

Rounds 11 to 16: Using colour B repeat Round 10.

Rounds 17 to 22: Using colour C repeat Round 10.

Round 23: Ch 1, sc in each st around working 3 sc in the ch-2 sps in the corners. Fasten off. Weave in all yarn ends using yarn needle.

The Handles:

You could use readymade store bought handles.

Since I had a lot of yarn to consume I made yarn handles.

 

Row 1: Using colour A, ch 91, sk 1, sc in each st till the end. Fasten off. (90 sc)

Row 2: Using colour C, attach yarn with sl st in 1st sc, ch 1, sc in each st till end. Fasten off.

Row 3: Using colour B repeat Row 2. Fasten off, Weave in all ends using yarn needle. 

Attach the handles by threading the ends through the corner spaces, fold about an inch, and stitch together. 

Repeat for the second handle.

I added the buttons later just as a design feature.

Next time I am going to try Tunisian crochet for the handles.

I hope you try this pattern. I will be using this bag for carrying my projects with me because I crochet EVERYWHERE!!! 😄😄

 

 

If you have any questions, suggestions, comments or you find a mistake or a typo in the pattern, please do write to me. 

Thank you for your time.

 

Contact me for online and offline personal crochet coaching, on Facebook or Instagram. 

 

Golden yellow crochet purse

Hello friends, I hope you had a lovely weekend. I have been busy trying out various patterns which may be the reason I have not blogged as frequently as I really want to. 

But unfortunately my crocheting has not gone as planned and I have frogged 3-4 projects recently as the results were not as expected. All the said projects have been for tops or boleros. For a long time now I have been wanting to make something wearable, something with measurements, something that is supposed to fit you. I know what you are thinking...there are tons of patterns out there. Yes, I know, but somehow the ones I like are on foreign language sites - Japanese or Russian with only diagrams for reference. So far I have not been successful in properly deciphering any of those patterns. Very frustrating and also a loss of precious time!!  :(

Inspite of all this, my WIPs basket is overflowing with the dozen odd projects going on simultaneously. But enough about PhDs, now I want to show you the FO I promised the last time. Yes the crochet purse that I was working on. 

I was going to show you the purse after finishing it up with a lining and zipper. But no... I have still not gotten over my fear of my sewing machine. And zippers!!!.....certainly on my bucket list but just not right now.  :(

So here is the Golden Yellow Crochet Purse:

I knew I had to make it when I saw THIS PATTERN.  The material is a cord, easily available in Mumbai as purse making cord. Also known as macrame cord. I used a 4.5 mm crochet hook.

The handle is a Pin-spiration i.e. an idea I found on Pinterest. It is made by braiding three cords and to make the cord I did 200 chains and then sc into each chain.

Here is a link to the TUTORIAL for the braid. If you are planning to use this method for a bag handle remember to make the cords a few inches longer than required as the resulting braid will be much shorter. My cords were 40 inches each and the resulting plait is 34 inches.

I am quite happy with the result of combining two different tutorials. What do you think?
Hmmm... a lining and zipper would really make this purse look so finished and lovely. Maybe I will give it a try soon.

And now, would you like a peep into my WIPs basket? Hehe...as if I need to ask!!

Any guesses what this might be?

I am not sure I have got the "heart" right, so will post about it after working on it some more.  :)

So, what have you been up to? Do write to me. I love your comments (a big Thanks to all of you) and I really look forward to them. 

If you come across a good pattern for a bolero do send me a link. Here's wishing you a happy successful week ahead.
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Crochet Pineapple Pouch

Wishing all my lovely friends a wonderful, happy and prosperous New Year. I hope 2013 will bring you a lot of joy, peace of mind and more importantly good health.

The first day of the new year, so a blog post is a must...isn't it? Okay I will admit that I am a little superstitious about this first day thing. I believe that things you manage to do on the first day of the new year sets the trend for the year ahead. It can be any little thing like getting up early, reaching office on time, cleaning my cupboard, calling up my parents, or even not popping that cupcake into my mouth, or not getting into arguments with anybody. It is silly I know but then its also fun.

So here goes, my first post for the new year.  :)

Over the years I came across a lot of patterns for sachets/pouches on the internet. But I just could not picture my "boys" appreciating dainty little sachets filled with potpourri hanging around the house. They are already doing me a big favour by leaving my doilies undisturbed. :)

Recently when I was busy hunting for the earphones for my mobile I realised that a sachet would be perfect for keeping them. They wouldn't get lost or damaged in the deep, dark recesses  of my handbag. 

I decided to try a pineapple design with a drawstring. I like this pattern as it is crocheted in the round and there is no seaming involved, the whole sachet works as one piece. It was a chart only pattern with no written instructions and did involve a few calculations to get it right. Also the pineapple motif is usually surrounded by shells but in this pattern it was flanked only by a set of dcs.

Have a look:

I have inserted a tissue so that you can see the pattern. The thread is Bliss knitting cotton crocheted with a 2.00 mm crochet hook. For the drawstring I used a spring loaded drawstring closure (no idea what they are called).

In goes the consignment! :)

Here it is with the drawstrings pulled.  I thought a tassel will complete the look. Do you think I should add a fabric lining so that nothing pops out or does it look okay?

This pouch will work well for lipsticks, prayer beads, keys, pen drives or even "unmentionables". In short, for anything small enough to get lost in your purse. What do you think? So, that is one project I can strike off my to-do list.

 Talking of lists, I do have my usual bunch of New Year resolutions: lose weight, cook healthy, less internet, more Pilates, less TV, more crochet, less sweets, more walking etc, etc. I would like to share this picture with you which sums it all up.  Haha.

via Facebook

See you soon. Take care. Happy crafting. Do let me know your first project for 2013.

Love xxx

Raining Gold

Hello, beautiful people.

I hope this new week has pushed off the new month to a good start. I am partial to this month... ;)

A warm hello to two new friends;
          Magdalene from Magdalinio dia xeiros
          Isabel from Coloresyganchos

Now if you are wondering whether it was raining gold here, sadly it was not. But I did manage to complete this light gold purse that I was making. I had shown you this purse when it was a WIP some time back.

Here is the finished piece:

 I has also said that I will be asking for your suggestions about the handles. Well, none of the handles in my stash were matching the yarn so I decided to make the handles with the yarn itself.

The yarn is light gold though it seems silver in the photo. Difficult to capture the right color with the camera.

It was not raining gold but it was certainly raining cats and dogs since Monday. Heavy rains starting at around 5.00  in the evening caused flooding of roads and really caused great inconvenience especially to office goers who were returning home. 

At times like this I am glad that I no longer have to go to work. But my joy was short lived as yesterday the power supply went off for hours. No crochet, no reading, no TV, no internet. Well, people were suffering worse things out there.... so I should really not complain. To give you an idea here are some photos from my balcony.

The roads got flooded within minutes.

Hubby and sonny reached home totally drenched. We were just getting ready for a candlelight dinner when the power supply was restored. Which is good as I had only one small candle!!

So, its buh-bye until next time.

Love xxx

Keep the change

Hello, Beautiful people! 

It feels so good to be back with you after a long forced break. What started as a slight cold with a painful throat quickly turned into a full blown viral fever with bodyache, sleepless nights due to bouts of coughing, watery eyes and high temperature. After hoping that it will subside on its own, on Thursday I gave up and went to the doctor for meds. Since Sunday I am feeling quite better, of course the fact that dear hubby was home, may have something to do with that :)

A big thanks to all of you for your kind words and get well soon messages. Dear Aishwarya thank you for the magical recipe.

A warm welcome to Autumn Thyme and Boo from Boocoos Blogthingy.

Dear friends I am so happy to tell you that I have now reached 50! Not in years of course but in Google Friends. Isn't that just fantastic. When I started this blog I was hoping that a few people would actually read it and that eventually over the months or years I would also have friends. But to reach 50 after just 3 months into blogging is just super cool. 

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL MY DEAR FRIENDS!!!

The last few days were dry in terms of blogging and crochet but I did manage to complete a few WIPs. One of them was to add the finishing touches to this cute little purse to be used for ... yes, you guessed it - Keep the Change.

It is from a free pattern on Ravelry called Floral Pouch. The purse has a small doily as its flap.

I used a pearl as a button for the flap. I think it is a cute purse and a nifty way to keep your change in one place. It will also make a lovely purse for a little girl to keep her hankie and some sweets.

 

The pattern is from a Japanese site and relies more on diagrams with only a couple of written instructions. I was stumped when the pattern called for a decrease in the number of stitches at the mouth of the purse and it took me a while, but after that it was smooth sailing. I am thinking of making a few more purses with different colour combinations.

So, do you like this cute little Change Purse? 

Another WIP I managed to complete was to read "STILLWATCH" by Mary Higgins Clark, who is my current fave author. A gripping plot with a really surprising turn of events at the climax. 

A very enjoyable read, I like murder mysteries. Due to crochet fever the books in my library are gathering dust. Pity!!

And while on the topic of murder mysteries, my current fave TV serial is "The Mentalist". I am not really sure whether it is the gripping storylines, the crisp editing or the dishy Simon Baker (as Patrick Jane) that is keeping me glued to the TV. All three reasons are good enough but especially the last one ....he he. I am a big fan of mysteries being solved "mentally" rather than by using DNA, fingerprints and ballistic reports etc which is why Agatha Christie is my all time favourite author. Don't you sometimes wish you could meet your favourite authors?

And now off I go to visit your blogs and keep up with the things you were doing in the past few days.

So, see you later and a Great Week to all of you.

Lovexxx

Tangled happy

Hi friends, I hope the new week has been treating you well.

A big hug to Stephanie at Crochetapy and LDH at With a Grateful Prayer and a Thankful Heart for joining us.

In my quest for crochet patterns, I came across this lovely site called Tangled Happy by Sara. Sara sources the loveliest of crochet patterns on the net and puts them up on her site with a link and a photo.

Sara also has a few of her own patterns on the site and recently I  made the Granny Stripe Boutique Bag. It looks really cute.

 

I used a pearl with gold striations as a centre for the flower.  And best of all, the purse is the perfect size for my cell phone.

That is all for today as I am down with a horrible cold and a really painful throat. But I will be back soon with one more cute purse I recently finished.

So till then, take care, happy hooking and lotsa love.

Knitting in public

For the past few days I have been reading a lot about knitting in public, yarn bombing, knit in public day etc, on the internet. Upon delving further I realised that the concept of yarn bombing does not hold any appeal for me. I mean why waste good yarn to cover things in public and then make them uglier than they were!! Things like cars, lamp posts, statues in parks etc,etc ?! And with the price I pay for my yarn, you will never see me yarn bombing Anything.

I also realised that I have always been crocheting in public, even before I came to know that there is a fancy term for it. I was working for a bank in Mumbai for 12 years. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) in spite of working in different branches my commute was always in the range of 15 to 22 kms. This meant long hours of travel either by train or bus. So the minute I got a good place to stand in the train (travelling in the local trains of Mumbai means 90 % of the time you are standing thru'out the whole trip) or a seat on the bus, I would pull out my hook and yarn and crochet away. This was the only thing that made the commute bearable. Also the fact that I usually prefer not to talk to my fellow commuters definitely helped matters...(ha ha).

It is difficult to follow patterns on a moving vehicle and fine thread too is difficult to manage, so I ended up doing projects which involved thicker yarn and repetitions.

Here are a few items I made during my long commutes to work:

 This maroon purse is my favourite. It has plastic tubing in the handles to keep their shape.

This is an ombre bucket shaped purse.

Lemon yellow purse with columns of bobbles.

Silver purse, the yarn is sparkly but it is not visible in the photo.

The lining for these purses was done by the yarn shop which included a small pocket on the inside and zippers. All these items have since been gifted away by me so these photos are all that I have now.

I must make a few more purses. I will keep you posted as and when I do that.

See you soon. Ta-ta.
Love.....

Been to knitaly?

"knitaly" isn't that a very apt name for a knitting blog.? It is also the place where I found this beautiful pattern for a crochet cell phone cozy and best of all is that she has very kindly given instructions in English too.

This is my cell-cozy. I think it looks pretty much like hers, don't you?

Now to find a green dress to match my cell cozy...ha ha.

See you later.