Wooly Friends

One of my crochet tests from 2022 I haven’t shown you yet: Wooly Friends.

I tested this lovely pattern already in April last year. Actually it is a pattern for a baby blanket. It was featured (with UK terms) in issue 125 of Simply Crochet Magazine. Ana now published the pattern herself and it is available in US and UK terms in her Ravelry store.

Through testing, I have meanwhile collected a lot of blankets – although I have already given many away. That’s why I often think about what else to make out of a pattern. With this one I had immediately a bag in mind for all my different projects – but with only a vague idea of how to do it. In the end it took almost 3 months (including holidays and other tests) to get it done, but I am more than happy with the result!

How my bag came to life

Yarn and colours used

Stylecraft Special DK (100g = 295 m) in the following colours

I started the bag with two identical panels, worked over 4 repeats.

My panels were about 40 cm in width and 42 cm in height.

At this point I first thought about joining the two panels (with all the tails inside) and lining the bag. But then I decided to give it a little more storage space for yarn. So I made an additional smaller panel that now serves as bottom and sides of the bag.

I worked this additional panel over 235 stitches in single crochet. Like in mosaic technique: each row starting and ending with a border stitch, all the other stitches worked in back loop only, cutting the yarn after each row.
The tails on both sides are hidden in a small double border: front and back layer made with 3 rows of back loop single crochet.
The final bottom/side panel is a little (4 stitches in total) shorter than than the main panels.

Joining

I finally joined the panels with the slip stitches for the double border, just working through both layers- bottom/side panel and main panel – at once.
I have to confess: this was not my favorite part as it took a lot of patience and a lot of time to catch the correct stitches at the same time!

On the upper edge I skipped the middle 39 stitches with a chain to make the handles.

Double Borders

Front and back layers of the borders were made with 3 rows of back loop single crochet, three single crochets worked in one stitch for the corners (note: it‘s always good to use a stitch marker to mark the middle stitch).
At the upper edges the double border was just continued over the chains to form the handles.
All slip stitches and borders were made in Plum.

As I said, I am more than happy with the bag. After it was finally finished, I immediately started using it. Since then it has not been empty for a single day!