The Crochet Guild Australia provides its members with a monthly newsletter, which offers enormously rich content.
Some of the segments they feature are interviews with well-known and emerging designers, interesting paid and free patterns yarn stores, special crochet techniques and more. I have been lucky enough to receive and test a hank of hand-dyed Daffodil Road in Boysenberry for a yarn review, which is a fine merino sock yarn, 400m/100g, recommended hook size 2.75mm.
At first, I considered making a pair of socks like I did for a yarn review for Scheepjes’ Downtown, but then I thought it would be fun to make a little bag instead.
I used an Image Overlay Crochet pattern for the border sections and the main body that is reminiscent of the borders and the (yet to be released) Heather square of the Wrapped in Jamie CAL.
The bag can be crocheted with a rectangular or a square base and the pouch has a round base.
Image Overlay Crochet is a technique based on overlay crochet, where we write stories in yarn, crocheting the background layer and the image layer at the same time, using a special abbreviation and IOC specific techniques.
Once familiar with the techniques and the special abbreviation terminology (formerly known as ’Petranese’), these patterns – though officially classified as intermediate/advanced – include enough support in form of photo and video tutorials plus Masterclasses for the technique, that even a confident beginner can tackle the patterns.
You should be familiar with basic (US) terminology, confident with counting rounds and stitches and know your stitches from slip stitch to double treble. Tables with the most commonly used abbreviations, punctuation and stitch explanations for our basics, (like sc, hdc, dc, htr, tr, hdtr and dtr) are included in the pattern documents.
The instructions give many options for working the main body of the bag or pouch, which means you can give your project your very own individual touch.
Lots of video tutorials are provided for special stitches and techniques and the pattern comes complete with charts for each of the parts and a photo tutorial.
If you are unfamiliar with Image Overlay Crochet terminology, you can download the IOC basics document via the link provided (included in the pattern purchase or available separately in the shop) or visit the IOC Basics Masterclass which is currently in preparation and should be available soon.
This pattern was released on the 1st of June 2023, just in time for the Crochet Guild Conference in Sydney.
You can find it here:
If you can make it to the conference in Sydney, you can purchase a kit including some hand-dyed (by me) yarn, some beads for adding a bit of bling, and, of course, the (printed!) pattern.
Luna’s Pouch and Bag pattern is named after my granddaughter, who I have not seen in quite a while. She lives on the other side of the world and is a little princess who loves bright colours and texture. I made the first version of the bag for her birthday and I look forward to seeing her use it.
As mentioned before, this pattern can be adapted to make a number of different items.
You could, for example, use the border section to make a bookmark (here shown with other bookmark patterns)…
… or to embellish part of a little pouch for a doll or a child…
…or use it to make a double-rimmed storage basket. And this is only using the decorative border section!
Not just a bag!
Or what about spicing it up with some pearls and elongating the whole design for a bottle holder?
Sooo many options!!
One of my testers for this bag, for example, used a VERY variegated yarn, which I usually don’t recommend, but which I think turned out a nice and ‘rustic’ looking option.
She also replaced the thick cord with a Romanian cord, which again changes the overall look and feel of the bag.
Here is what Lynley from Crochet To Dye For says about her pattern test:
The version below was made in Pima Cotton 4ply that I hand-dyed in the colourway ‘Miss Fisher – Silver Lady’. It would have been the ultimate companion for the Crochet Guild’s Gala Dinner, because I blinged this one up with some pearls. It would have perfectly complemented my colour scheme had I not forgotten it at the stall… Ah well, there will be another opportunity.
Gauge is not important for this pattern, unless you want to make it in a specific size.
I used
- 105g/approx. 420m of Daffodil Road 4ply yarn (80% Merino, 20% Nylon) in Boysenberry for the purple slim base bag
- 126g/approx. 510m of hand-dyed fine Merino Sock Yarn (80% Merino, 20% Nylon, 4ply) from Bendigo Woollen Mills (blue pouch)
- 62g/approx. 240m of hand-dyed Pima Cotton 4ply in Colourway Miss Fisher – Silver Lady
and a 2.5mm hook for all versions.
Size:
Slim Base Bag (purple): 23cm x 20 cm
Slim Base Bg (silver): 18cm x 20cm
Round Base Pouch (blue): 22cm x 29cm