Stained glass Window Crochet Holdall

This lovely bag has a patchwork look about it achieved by adding rows of one main colour in between blocks of contrasting colour which highlight the multi coloured squares. It’s made in a tapestry style crochet which I’ve made simpler for this easy to make bag.

My inspiration for this bag was a blouse design I saw in a clothing catalogue. I knew immediately the material design would look good translated into a crochet design. For my bag I chose colours that blended together but using contrasting colours would look just as good and produce a wonderful pool of colour for your bag. By using brighter colours for the square inserts you would produce a stained glass effect.

The double crochets stitches (single crochet) used in this design show the colours to their best effect and gives a more rigid dense structure perfect for a bag. Before finishing your bag, it’s worth lining your bag stops it stretching and to prevent it being damaged.

The main points to remember when making this bag is to carry the yarn across the back and front. When working the front keep your yarns to the back and carry the main colour along the back, be careful not to pull this too tight. When working the back carry the yarns along the side facing you.

I added big tassels for more interest and thick chunky carrying strap which is long enough to fit comfortable over your shoulder. Grab the pattern here.....

My Flower Bag

You know how it is..... A new book of crochet patterns sets you off to a head full of ideas. This happened to me about a month ago. I have plenty of patterns for crochet flowers and patterns incorporating flowers, some of these are new and some are vintage. But its always good to see new ideas or older motifs used in new ways.

About the same time I'd also made a visit to one of my favourite wool shops 'Little Lamb' in Helmsley in North Yorkshire and rummaged in the 'odd balls' basket. I came away with some Sirdar Sunggly, Sirdar Crofter Sirdar Bamboo. The bamboo I particularly like, it has a lovely sheen.

I could instantly see how good a pattern for small flowers would look made in the bamboo. I'd chosen a rusty red colour for the bamboo, rust for the Sunggly and a blue/rust mix for he Crofter. Putting my ideas and inspiration from the new book together with the lovely Sirdar yarn and I decided to design a holdall. My reason was to have another  place for my crochet projects. I already have the shelves in my work room, a large basket with a current project or design, another basket with a commission I am working on, but you can never have enough!

I  started by creating some of the flowers and trying out the Sirdar Snuggly in double crochet (US single crochet) and borrowed a cross over treble stitch I'm using for a throw. The pattern for the holdall is now in my Ravelry store.....

The holdall was lovely to make and I spent some very relaxing warm summer evenings in the garden with the dogs.