Ta- Da!

I told you previously I was making this bag, but you have yet to see the finished item, so here it is:

I had done Tunisian crochet years ago, learning from my ex-MIL when a difficult pregnancy kept me flat on my backside for several months, and I had continued with regular crochet after, but hadn’t picked up my Tunisian hook in probably 25 years. Still, it’s just like riding a bike, you never forget, and I was binding off the bag body in no time! Fast, easy, fun and practical – all of my crafty requirements in one project – it doesn’t get any better than that!

I had very little problems following the crocheted pattern, my first time ever actually following a real crochet pattern, abbreviations and all, although I have crocheted for many, many years, just never with a pattern. It is one of my little goals for myself this year: learn to read crochet pattern and I think this was an excellent start! Overall I am very pleased, but would and likely will do, a few things differently. Still it will make a very fine knitting bag!

And there likely will be a next time or even two, as DD1 and DD2 have both expressed more than a passing interest in having one! I could definitely see adapting the pattern size as well for each girl’s particular style! And the Tunisian single stitch pattern makes a wonderful grid-like canvas for designing your own embroider work of art!

Things I would do differently: My stitch count for the round ends was dead on, and it matched up easily to the sides but the result was that the center of the rounds were a bit bulgy, I could either do less rounds and fudge the stitch count to attach it to the sides, or try crocheting the rounds with a smaller hook size as likely my gauge with the Tunisian hook used for the body was different than with the regular hook used for the rounds.

Also, I should have doubled the yarn used for the embroidering. I used the same worsted weight as the bag is constructed in, but it seems a little thin and the colors do not show as predominantly or richly as I would have liked. Again, good enough, but I’d beef it up next time.

Lastly, I will be changing the way the strap is attached to the body of the bag as I think with any weight, it will put too much strain on the stitches attaching it to the body. I think I’ll use some D-rings to spread out the stress from the strap, and I can actually join the D-rings to the plastic canvas lining for added security. I did put two buttons on for closures, as one just was not sufficient given the length of the opening.

Kinda cute, don’t you think??

Knit (or crochet!) on……