Instructions for the Chart “Crochet Bag with Little Bells”
Size
Top circumference – 48 cm, height – 16 cm
You Will Need
- Nora yarn (50% viscose, 20% metallic polyester, 100 m/25 g) – 25 g each of dark green and green; Decora yarn (100% viscose, 100 m/1 skein) – 1 skein each of yellow-green melange, red-orange melange, green-blue melange, blue-green melange, blue-violet melange and bright pink-violet melange, plus matching sewing thread
- 1.5 mm and 2.5 mm crochet hooks, approx. 20 x 70 cm of green panne velvet
- approx. 20 x 70 cm of firm fusible interfacing S520 (= buckram)
- 12 golden bells, 16 mm diameter each
- 4 round eyelets for punching, 6 mm diameter each
- 4 green or clear buttons, 10 mm diameter each
- approx. 75 cm of green aquarium tubing from a pet store
Stitch Patterns and Charts
Textured Pattern
Number of stitches is a multiple of 14.
Work in dc, 1 round at a time, as follows:
Round 1 (dark green yarn). Important! In this round, work all stitches as front/back post stitches, inserting the hook away from you into the dc of the previous round for every stitch: * 1 sc, 2 hdc, 2 dc, 3 tr, 2 dc, 2 hdc, 2 sc, repeat from * 7 more times.
Round 2 (green yarn): * 1 tr, 2 dc, 2 hdc, 3 sc, 2 hdc, 2 dc, 2 tr, repeat from * 7 more times.
Work rounds 1 and 2 a further 14 times, working the stitches of round 1 as regular (not post) stitches.
Little Bells
With Decora yarn, make a magic ring, leaving a long starting tail, and work in the round with a 1.5 mm hook according to the chart.
Instead of the first dc of each round, work 3 turning chains. End each round with 1 sl st into the top chain of the first dc. If needed, use a sl st to move to the start of the next round.
Numbers indicate the rounds.
Work the post dc of rounds 3-5 into the corresponding dc or post dc of the previous round.
Work rounds 1-5 once.
Gauge
26 sts x 19 rows = 10 x 10 cm, worked in the textured pattern.
Pattern Pieces
Making the Bag
Cutting
From the panne velvet, cut piece 1 twice on the fold and piece 2 once, adding 1 cm seam allowance on all edges. From the interfacing, cut piece 1 twice on the fold and piece 2 once, without seam allowance.
Crocheting
Starting from the center of the bottom, with dark green yarn and a 2.5 mm hook, chain 46 + 3 turning chains instead of the first dc, and work in rounds along the starting chain as described below, working 3 turning chains instead of the first dc of each round. Unless stated otherwise, work 1 stitch into each stitch.
Round 1: 4 dc into the 5th chain from the hook, work 1 dc into each of the next 43 chains, work 5 dc into the last chain, then working along the opposite side of the starting chain, work 1 dc into each of the next 43 chains = 96 sts. End this and every following round with 1 sl st into the top chain of the first dc.
Round 2: work in dc, working 2 dc into the 1st, 5th, 49th and 53rd dc, and 3 dc into the 3rd and 51st dc = 104 sts.
Round 3: work in dc, working 2 dc into the 3rd, 7th, 55th and 59th dc, and 3 dc into the 5th and 57th dc = 112 sts.
Continue working the sides in the textured pattern; to shape the bag, in round 7 and then in every 4th round 5 more times, work the middle tr of the 1st and 5th repeats as 2 tr each, so that starting from round 27 there are 9 tr in the middle of each of these two repeats = 124 sts.
On even rounds, work sc into the increased stitches.
When the sides measure 16 cm = 30 rows, cut the yarn.
Make 12 little bells with the yarn shown in the photo.
Finishing
First, iron the interfacing pieces onto the wrong side of the matching panne velvet pieces, centering them. Then place the two piece 1s right sides together and sew the side seams. Insert piece 2 (= bottom). When sewing the seams, stitch along the outer edges of the interfacing without catching it.
Fold the panne velvet extending above the top edge to the right side. Then insert the velvet piece into the crocheted bag, wrong side to wrong side, and sew both pieces together edge to edge along the top.
Punch 4 round eyelets as shown on the pattern piece 1.
Cut the aquarium tubing in half. Fold 2 lengths each of green and dark green Nora yarn, 60 cm long, in half. Thread a strong sewing thread through a needle, pass the needle through the loop formed by the folded yarn lengths, and use it to pull the yarn lengths into the tubing pieces. At 0.5 cm and 1 cm from the ends of the tubing, pierce or drill 2 small holes through the tubing, and sew the handles to the bag from the wrong side through the eyelets, sewing on the buttons at these points on the outside.
Finally, sew the metal bells onto the crocheted little bells using the leftover yarn tails, and sew them evenly along the top edge of the bag.
