Tote Bag Tutorial

Hello everyone,
 I love this house. We moved in here last July and it really suits us. Our computer desk sits right next to the kitchen window. I love looking out to see what is going on out in the neighborhood. Right now it is snowing, again. I love the snow. We are expecting another huge storm on Thursday. I work 3/4 of a mile away from my house, so it doesn't bother me when it snows. I walk to work anyway.
 I have been working on a tote for the Everything Zen group on Ravelry. I promised one of our members a while back that I would write the pattern and post a tutorial. I think she wanted a video tutorial, but that would have taken me forever and it would have been really long. So I made the bag and took a LoT of pictures. The rest of this post is about this bag.

The body of the bag is made in one piece and then the sides are sewn up. The straps are made seperately and then attached with buttons. I used white cotton, worsted wt. and an H hook. The stitches for the body of the bag are hdc.
 You start in the middle of the bottom of the bag and work off of both sides of the foundation ch.
 To start ch 48.  Hdc in the third ch from the hook (2ch in the beg. counts as the first hdc, here and throughout the pattern) and hdc across. You should have 47 hdc. Turn and ch 2, then hdc across. Repeat until you have 6 rows.

When you get to the end of row 6, ch 9. Fasten off.

 Then at the other end of row 6 attach yarn with a slip stitch in the last hdc and ch 10. Hdc in the 3rd ch from the hook.

Hdc across, there should be 65 hdc.

Turn and ch 2, hdc across. Continue until you have 8 rows with 65 hdc. This is where I changed color. I used scraps and have four colors in addition to the white. I did two rows of purple here.

Change back to white and crochet four rows. Then the next color change. All the way to the last color change.

Here I crocheted four more rows in white and then fastened off.

Now for the other side. Turn your work around, right side facing you still. Work into the bottom of the foundation chain. 47 hdc.

Kind of hard to see, but you can do it. :)  From here you follow the same directions as the first side. 6 rows of 47 hdc. The ch 9 and fasten off. Attach yarn to opposite end and ch 10. Hdc in to 3rd ch from hook and hdc across for a total of 65 hdc. Same as first side. 8 rows of 65 hdc. Then the first color change, two rows of that color and then four of white. Until you have something that looks like this.

Now you are ready to sew the sides together. This is easy. Fold the longer piece in until the ends meet in the middle. I used the whip stitch to sew them together. I used one piece of yarn for the bottom and sewed across to close, then, with another piece of yarn, I whip stitched up the side.

As long as your stripes match up, you are good to go. Once you get the sides sewn up and you have the body of the bag, then attach the white yarn, with a slip stitch to the top row and sc around. I did two rows of sc to finish it off.
Next are the straps. For these I chained 93. In second stitch from hook sc, then sc across. I changed color and crocheted 92 sc stitches across the top of the white row of sc. Fasten off. Then attach different color to the bottom of the white row and sc across, working stitches into the bottom of the white row. Fasten off. Then to finish the strap, attach white to either side of strap. Hdc to the last stitch in the row. Work three hdc in the last stitch and work three hdc evenly along end of strap. Then three hdc in first stitch of new color and hdc to the end of that row. Again, at the end of the row, three hdc then work three hdc evenly at end edge, thn three hdc in beg. stitch. Hdc to where you started and fasten off.

 Make one more strap. I then attached the straps by sewing buttons on with the cotton yarn I made the bag with. Here it is.

And the bottom.

I really hope you can follow this pattern. It wasn't hard to make, I just worry about my pattern making skills. If you have any questions at all, leave me a comment and I will do my best to answer. Happy stitching. :)



PS. I got the Liebster Award from Jennifer at Thistlebear. I will blog about that tomorrow. Thank you Jennifer.

Stash Busting

Here we are half-way through February. I have so many projects in my head that I want to make. I started looking around my basement and my living room and I have a lot of yarn. I have enough for several blankets and then some. I decided to clear out some of it, I always want to make room for more projects and more yarn. I have a bunch of Debbie Stoller's Bamboo Ewe. I love it, but it isn't being made anymore. I am using it up. When the yarn is gone this project will be done.

I like how this is turning out. I started with the granny rectangle pattern and then a row of granny squares. Six granny rows and another row of granny squares. I will continue until I am out of yarn. I really don't know if it will be afghan size or bed size. I am out of purple and yellow. I think the pink and teal will be next to run out. I am really enjoying this one and actually had to use my math brain a bit for it. People who know me well will know what a challenge using my math brain is. I think it looks kind of neat though, and well worth the figuring.
 The other stash buster is for all of my dk yarn. I have a lot of bits and bobs of Stylecraft left over from my Stylin Ripple and I was going to order more. Then I just started making squares with them and pulled out the other dk yarn I have and thought I should make it all up and see what I have before I order anything else. This is the Stlyecraft.

These are a mixed assortment of the other dk yarn.

I

Put it together and there may be enough for an afghan or blanket.

For once I don't have 10 WIPs either. Just these two and a bag I am doing my best to write a pattern for and make a tutorial for. The bag is simple, the tutorial is a challenge for me. I will have it done sometime this week and it will be for a CAL in the group, Everything Zen, that I help moderate.
 I hope everyone is having a good week and I will talk to everyone soon. :)

Autumn's Afghan Ta Da

Hello,
 How is everyone today? I am having a wonderful Sunday. I finished Autumn's afghan, the one she designed all by herself. I have to admit that I didn't like it until I started to put the border on. I don't think my husband did either. When I started on the border last night, he said 'the border really makes'. I agree. Now I kind of like it.

She likes it. I still want to make one of these patchwork granny blankets with random color placement and with the colors that I like. This will be her sofa blankie now. It was so easy to make and easy to take one skein of yarn with me to work on the squares whenever I had time somewhere. I would just make a square and leave it unfastened. Then when I went to join the squares I would pull back what I needed to join. I used the join as you go and for most of it I was doing just that. It was only the squares I made away from home that I would make and pull back a little to join. Not a bad way to do it. You have just as much yarn as you need that way.
 We are still having snow and I am still loving it. Will and Autumn are out in it right now sledding. They will be very cold when they get home. I have a couple of hours to myself though and I am loving it. Lazy Sunday. I never even got out of my pajamas today. Not much point now. I will talk to everyone soon. :)

Three Things, Snow, A Ta Dah and A Granny Rectangle Tutorial

Hello,
 It is snowing! A lot. Crazy, yesterday it was in the high 50's F and raining. Fifty degrees in January is almost unheard of in this part of the country. Overnight it began to snow. I actually love days like this. Work and school are cancelled, my husband is off today too, and it is so pretty outside. This was at 4:30 this morning...

This was at 5:00...

Perfect day for building snowmen and then blankets and cocoa with a movie.

 Last Thursday we were in the middle of some very cold weather. Around 0 F. I made a cowl with some yarn I got for Christmas.

Once again, excuse my just out of the shower face and hair. I should probably think about this before I take these photos. He he. The cowl is so soft. Lion Brand Yarn Hometown. Just chain a circle as big as you want and sc in the back loops only. Don't turn at the end, it took about an hour to make.

 One project I have been working on is a granny rectangle blanket.  I don't like a chain foundation to show, I think it looks uneven. So here is what I came up with...

Ch. 31, then dc in the 6th ch from the hook. Work a dc in each stitch until you have 21 dc.  Join to the first ch with a slip stitch. You should have a loop at each end with 5 chains.

For the second row, change colors. I do it on the side, three dc's from the end.

When you get to the ch 5 loop, stitch 3 dc then ch 3 then 3 dc then ch 3 then 3 dc. That will make your end nice and rectangular.

The next row is where it starts to look like a granny square, only it is a rectangle. When you get to the corner you do 3 dc, ch 3, 3 dc. Just like a granny square. Easy peasy. Continue rounds until the blanket is as big as you want it. I am making a blanket for our couch, I haven't gotten very far yet. I am using up all of the rest of my Bamboo Ewe. I don't think it is being made any more. Bummer.

I hope this pattern is easy to follow. I will talk to everyone soon. I am going to go play in the snow now. :)

Ripple Scarf

Hello,
 It is very cold here. It was almost 50 F/10 C yesterday and today it is 9 F/ -13 C. I think that is crazy. I am wearing my new scarf today. I finished it on Friday, my friend, Heather, gave me the yarn for Christmas. Here it is...

Don't mind me, no make up and just out of the shower but, I wanted to post this before anyone woke up and I had to get busy. We had the family over yesterday for a late Christmas yesterday. Today we have to go down to see all of them to talk about what to do with all of Will's parents things. They are both gone now and we have to figure out the house. Not much fun but we have to do it. Autumn is up now and Will is getting up. I have feed them and then we will be on our way. I will talk to everyone in a couple of days. :)

Tuesday's Tallies

Hello,
 I have a new One-A-Day project. I finished my Granny Love blanket and we have been sleeping with it on our bed for the last two nights. I love how big it is and how it covers my blanket hog husband and myself on these cold January nights.
 I finished it on Sunday morning and decided to make the blanket that Autumn designed my new One-A-Day project. I had to order a few skeins of yarn to get enough and it should be here tomorrow. I started the blanket already though. I am going to stick to her design. At first I was trying to tell her it would look better if the colors were random and that we should use more colors. Then I stopped myself. She designed it and I promised I would make it for her. Here is what I have made so far...

This one will not be bed sized. She has several of those already. I like making blankets. I think this will be a throw for snuggling up on the couch.
 I am really happy that Fiona has taken over hosting the link party for the One-A-Day group. I was afraid it was gone forever. Thank you Fiona. She also has a lovely blog that you should pop over and read.

 I also made a hat yesterday for Autumn. I moderate a group, Everything Zen, on Ravelry and we are making several hats for our January CALs. Mine turned out very different than the pattern, but I used a larger hook and dk wt. yarn instead of fingerling.

With this yarn you can't even see the design. Oh well. I will talk to everyone soon. I have a lot of projects coming up that I will share soon. :)