T/W BAG CAL: FINISHED

Nov 17, 2015

Our Road Trip a.k.a Tool/Work In Progress Bag is officially over, and it was a little bumpy in some places but overall I hope it was enjoyable.

This bag is perfect for carrying around our projects when we are on the go,  it can be worn as a backpack or as front bag.

We learned 3 techniques/ stitches: Star/Marguerite Stitch, Trinity Stitch and the most challenging to me was the Catherine Wheel/Starburst stitch.

I learned a few things: the Catherine Wheel technique can be tweaked to your liking and you can make more changes to a completed project,  if you don’t “feel” the design. Remember it is over when you feel it is over/completed.

I had to change the button from top to bottom because I did not like how it looked at the top of the bag, when I sewed the button to the lower part of the bag, I “heard” a click …. it looked perfect now 🙂

Here is my bag:

 

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If you took the trip and made your own unique bag please ping back so we can all see it, if you chose to do so 🙂

Well, thanks again for coming along on this Road Trip and I hope you enjoyed it.

T/W BAG CAL DAY 5

Nov 12, 2015

We are almost there CALers 🙂 Are you all caught up? I hope so.

Today, we want to sew on the “tool box” on the single crochet section we did  just after the trinity stitch. Use a large needle (anyone will do) I used a carpet needle to sew on. I am confident you know how to sew 🙂

Today, we want to sew on the “tool box” on the single crochet section we did  just after the trinity stitch. Use a large needle (anyone will do) I used a carpet needle to sew on. I am confident you know how to sew 🙂
Next, we are making the flap for the tool box: we are using the Catherine’s wheel/Starburst stitch.
The Catherine’s Wheel/Starburst stitch had to be changed up a bit, if you do not mind I want you to adapt this stitch to fit your bag, I will tell you how I did mine 🙂
I started out with 20 stitches plus 6 and 1 just like in the You Tube tutorial but instead of 3 chains separating the single crochets I did only 2 chains and instead of  3 SC  I only did 2 SC. Next the clusters was only 5 double crochets instead of the 7 shown in the video.  Because of the bulky yarn everything had to be downsized for it to look and fit properly.

Homework : chain enough stitches to fit your bag to your body use pins to make certain you have enough arm room, check photograph.

 I am sewing on the handles the way you see it in the photograph, next, please sew the flap on. I will share the way I did mine.

Let us stop here, we have enough homework 🙂

See you tomorrow to wrap everything up.

 

 

T/W BAG CAL DAY 4

Nov 5, 2015

Hello Artisans, I hope you have done all your homework and the body of the bag is completed.

Today, we want to work the button and loop that closes bag. I am using  chunky yarn, so I had to unravel my yarn and this gave me several strands which are thinner and perfect for a button. 

Then I chose a hook size that fits this thinner  yarn.

This method is used to cover my button: chain 4 and close with a slip stitch (SS) then chain 1 and do enough half double crochet in your circle to fill it up, then close with a slip stitch. Next,  chain 1 and go around doing single crochet (SC) in each space add 1 or 2 single crochet,  if it is getting too tight.

Test to see if it covers the head of the button and if it does,  then you want to start decreasing with the button in place, when you are finished covering the button,  it is time to sew it on your bag.   
First,  you fold the bag in half, this will give you the center where you want to sew  your button. Then use either yarn or thread (I used the same yarn I used to cover the button) to sew button on, do a good job because it is going to get a lot of wear and tear.

Then do enough chains so your button can pass through the loop, close with a slip stitch. Please check pics.

 Now, you are ready to start the pouch that is the “tool keeper”. I chained 25 but you can adjust that number then you turn your work and single crochet in each space, continue adding rows until you have a nice square big enough to house your hooks. I used up all my striped orange yarn in the middle of a row, so I switched to the new color. This altered my plans, so I decided to crochet all around the square (like when we made the bottom of the bag). I did this to tie in the new color and made it look like it was “intended” 🙂

Let us stop here to give you time to complete this homework, if you are so inclined then sew on the tool bag, but I will show that in the next post.

 

T/W BAG CAL DAY 3

Nov 3, 2015

Today we want to work on the flap of the bag. We are using single crochet and the star stitch.

Tips: you can switch colors for the flap. After the flap is complete go over the whole area with SC this will give it a finished look and keep everything uniform.

I am not using the row number here because it depends on how many rows you did of SC, so please single crochet 3 rows, all around the body of the bag.

 

Next, chose the front of the bag, we are going to work only on the back part. Start at the corner : chain 3 and do a double crochet (DC) in the same chain, then DC in each space from previous row,  until you reach the next corner, do 2 DC in the last chain, stop chain 1 and turn, and single crochet (SC) until you reach the other corner.

  

  
  
 Next row: chain 3 and then DC in each space from the previous row, so you should have 2 rows of DC and one row of SC. Now we are decreasing and we are using the star stitch.

Star stitch: chain 1 next pull yarn through each space until you have 6 loops on the hook yarn over and pull through all the loops and close with a SC, repeat until you reach the corner, make your last star and chain 1 and turn.

Starting in the eye you chain 1 but then you want to do 2 SC in each eye until you reach the last star where you will put only 1 SC to match the other side.

Chain 1 and then repeat the star until you reach the other corner, because we are working on the back and turning to work on the front, the star will only show up on one row.

Next do another row of SC, this time go all around the bag cut the yarn and secure the ends.

  

 Check the photographs and ask me anything you do not understand 🙂 I know sometimes it is difficult to understand what needs to be done.

T/W BAG CAL DAY 1

Oct 30, 2015

I am excited that today we are leaving for a short relaxing trip. I hope you have all your supplies and all the stitches memorized and practiced and mastered.

Tips: the foundation is standard for a bag, we won’t turn our work when we reach the last chain we will continue on the underside of the foundation.

Okay, so let us start with Row 1: chain 20 then 3 chains this will work as our first double crochet (DC) skip one chain and then DC in each chain when you reach the last chain you DC 7 times in that last stitch, this is the corner, do not turn your work continue with one DC in each chain working on the underside of the foundation chains.

When you reach to the last chain (which is really the beginning chain) you DC 7 times in that chain, put a marker if you wish, and slip stitch (SS) your row closed.

 

Row 2: chain 1 and a do a half double crochet (HDC) in the back loop of  the same first DC from the previous row repeat  in the next DC, this will give us an increase. In other words, you should have 2 HDC in the first two DC from the previous row.

 Continue with only 1 HDC in the back loop of each DC, when you reach the last 2 DC you should crochet 2HDC in each of the these 2 DC, just like you did at the beginning  then slip stitch to close the row.

Row 3: we want to do the trinity stitch in this row and the next few rows, close this row with a single crochet (SC) 

You have the liberty to do any amount of rows you desire . I did like 4 or 5 rows . I changed colors for this stitch.

  

  
  
Let us stop here for today.