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Part 9 of CAL – finishing the bag

May 15, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment

Part 9 – the last part is here! If you’ve only just found my blog, don’t worry, head back and do, Parts 1 (main square rounds 1-6) , Part 2 (rows 7-9), Part 3 (finishing the main square) , Part 4 (small squares) , Part 5 (side strips) , Part 6 (finishing the sides) , Part 7 (gusset) and Part 8 ( strap squares) first. And if you prefer standard written instructions, head here.

PART 9 ATTACH THE STRAP AND FINISHING TOUCHES

Attaching the strap

First we’re going to attach the main bit of the bag to the strap and edge the strap. First, position one of the short edges of the strap next to the end of the gusset with wrong sides together, and strap facing you.

Pinned in place

Then, starting at the corner, work across the end of the strap and the gusset in double crochet catching one loop from each side for each stitch as before.

Double crochet across the gusset and strap end

At the corner, turn your work

Here I’ve turned the work and am starting to work along the side of the strap

and with the right side of the strap still facing you, work all the way along the edge of the strap. You’ll be working 1dc each corner space of a small square and 1dc in each stitch until you get to the end of the strap – so for each square, that’s one dc in the corner space, 9dc in stitches along the edge of the square and one dc in the corner space.

Here’s the side of one square completed

Now position the short end of the strap against the gusset, again with wrong sides together and the strap still facing you,

One side of the strap completed, turned again and ready to dc the other short end to the gusset

work across short side and the gusset, then along the other edge of the strap as before. Join with ss to first st. Fasten off.

Here’s the strap attached and edged

Final touch!

Finally, edge the tops of the sides by joining yarn in corner sp of gusset and with right side of bag facing, work in dc across the top edge (ie along the top of the small squares), finishing with a dc in the space on the gusset again. Complete other top edge to match.

Start in the corner and make sure it’s secured to the gusset corner too
Once the ends have been sewn, the bag’s finished

Ta-da! You have your spring bag!

Your bag is ready to go, but if you like, you could add a lining. There are instructions how to do this here.

I hope you’ve enjoyed following along and maybe learned some new techniques along the way. If you’ve made a bag, please send me a photo, or share one in the comments here, or post it on my Picking Up Stitches facebook page as I’d love to see them.

Posted in: crochet, Crochet patterns, granny squares Tagged: crochet along, crochet project, lockdown crochet, lockdown project

Part 8 of CAL – strap squares

May 11, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment

This is Part 8 of the CAL. Have you been following along? If so, you’re ready to go. If not head back and do, Parts 1 (main square rounds 1-6) , Part 2 (rows 7-9), Part 3 (finishing the main square) , Part 4 (small squares) , Part 5 (side strips) , Part 6 (finishing the sides) and Part 7 (gusset) first.. If you prefer to follow standard written instructions instead of the version with lots of pictures, head here.

PART 8 STRAP SQUARES

Make 12 or as many as you prefer for the length of the strap)

These are like mini granny squares, worked in groups of half trebles. There are only three rounds, the first two are regular rounds and then the third round is used to join a square to the next one – it’s a method called JAYG which stands for Join As You Go

Round 1: In a magic circle, work 2chain [counts as htr], then work 2htr, now a bit to repeat three times: (2ch, 3htr). Finally, work 2ch, and join with ss to top of the second chain. Fasten off. As usual you can start with a ring made up of 4chain stitches slip stitched together instead if you can’t do the magic circle.

First round of Part 8 of the CAL

How cute is that little square!

Round 2: Join yarn in a 2ch-space, and work (2ch [counts as htr], 2htr, 1ch 3htr), * in the next corner 2ch-sp work (3htr, 1ch, 3htr), rep from * twice, join with ss to 2nd ch. Fasten off.

The next round is only done on the very first square you make.

(For first square only) Round 3: Join yarn in a 1ch-sp in a corner, now work (3ch [counts as tr], 2tr, 2ch, 3tr) – this is the corner, * in the next space (ie between two groups of three trebles, on the side of the square), work 3tr, in the next corner space work (3tr, 2ch, 3tr), go back and repeat from * twice, then to finish, in the next side space work 3tr, join with ss to the 3rd ch. Fasten off.

The first square looks like this..

The first square of Part 8 of the Spring Bag CAL

Now comes the clever round that you work on each square you make from now on – it sounds a bit complicated, but as long as you remember that you’re aiming to join along one side of the square to the one you’ve already made, it should make sense. And I’ve included lots of pictures to help. But if you do find it too complicated (which I’m sure you won’t) then you could just make the squares all as the first one, then sew or crochet all the individual squares together. However, give the JAYG method first, you’ll be glad you did once you get the hang of it!

(All subsequent squares) Round 3: Join yarn in a corner space, and work (3ch [counts as a treble], 2 more trebles, 2chain stitches and 3 trebles),

* in  next space between groups of stitches on the side, work 3trebles, in the next corner space, work (3tr, 2ch, 3tr),

in next sp work 3tr.

Now comes the joining bit – you’re going to need to place your completed square next to the one you’re working.

In the next corner space work 3tr, then 1chain.

You need both squares together for this bit

Now put your hook from front to back through the bottom right corner of the completed square making sure the right side of that square is facing you (see the picture below).

and work a slip stitch, which attaches the two squares together.

Here I’ve worked a slip stitch and you can see that the two corners are joined

Now work 3tr in the corner space on your current square,

inset the hook into the space between groups of trebles on the completed square

and slip stitch here to join at this point too,

Here’s the beginning of the slip stitch – just need to pull it straight through the loop on the hook next
Slip stitch completed

then 3tr in the next space between groups of trebles on current square,

slip stitch through the next space on completed square again,

Hook through the space…
and slip stitch the squares together

work 3 trebles in corner space on the current square,

then 1ch, now slip stitch through the corner space on completed square,

hook through the corner space…
and slip stitch together

then 3 treble in corner space on current square.

Three trebles to complete the corner

– that’s the joining bit completed, so now just work 3 trebles in the final space on the current square,

Carry on making and joining squares in Part 8 until the strap is the desired length

and join with a ss to the 3rd ch.

Fasten off.

Now attach another square that you’ve worked two rounds on to the strip in the same way.

I’m sure you’ll soon get the hang of it once you’ve made a few.

You can make as many squares as you like depending on how long you want your finished strap to be.

Once that’s done, block your strap out, and you’re ready to complete the bag in the next part – part 9, which is here.

If you get stuck, just email or contact me on facebook, instagram or twitter and I’ll try to help. And don’t forget to share all your pictures on social media! #SpringBagCAL

Posted in: crochet, Crochet patterns, granny squares Tagged: crochet, crochet along, crochet project, lockdown crochet

Part 7 of CAL – making the gusset

May 10, 2020 by Annie Leave a Comment

Get ready for Part 7

Part 7 explains how to make the gusset and for this, you already need to have made the other pieces so that you can work out how long to make it. Have you been following along? If so, you’re ready to go. If not head back and do, Parts 1 (main square rounds 1-6) , Part 2 (rows 7-9), Part 3 (finishing the main square) , Part 4 (small squares) , Part 5 (side strips) and Part 6 (finishing the sides) first.. If you prefer to follow standard written instructions instead of the version with lots of pictures, head here.

Part 7 doesn’t seem to have many instructions, but there’s quite a lot of crocheting involved!

Gusset

Work 10ch, turn.

The initial chain stitches

Miss the chain nearest your hook and start in second ch, work 1dc in each chain stitch, turn. You’ll have 9 double crochet stitches.

The first row

Next row: 1ch, dc in each st along, turn. (Make sure you remember to do the double crochet in the first stitch after you’ve done the initial chain stitch – you should always have 9 dc in a row.)

Here, I’ve worked a few rows

Repeat last row until gusset is long enough to fit down one side, across the bottom and up the other side. Measure it against the bag side as you go, and don’t finish off at the end. You may need to adjust the length as you start pinning it.

Here’s mine when I’d worked 44 rows – this was long enough to fit down one side…

And here it is when I’d done 88 rows…

This is mine when I’d worked 126 rows.

I decided that was enough to start pinning in place. I’d then add more rows or take a few back when I’d pinned it all the way round, as then I could judge what fitted exactly.

Attaching the gusset

Pin one long side of the gusset around the main square with wrong sides together – going down one side strip, across the bottom and up the other side strip. Ease it round the corners when pinning.

Now you should be able to see whether the gusset is the correct length, so adjust slightly if you need to – either add a few more rows, or take a few rows back – and then finish off and cut the yarn. Here you can see I needed to add a few extra rows – you can see I’ve left the loop so I could just insert the hook again and do a few more rows.

Here, I’ve worked the extra rows to fit exactly
It’s then pinned in place

Now starting at a top corner, work 1dc in each st and edge of gusset along the side, again catching one loop from each piece as before.

Here’s the starting point for your joining double crochet stitches
Here’s how the edge looks as you go along

When you get to a corner, work 3dc in the same place, then continue along the bottom to the next corner, work 3dc in the same place again and up the other side.

Here’s the first side attached to the gusset

Now attach the other side of the bag to the gusset in the same way, being careful when you pin it that it doesn’t distort – make sure the place you pin the corners at the bottom correspond with the same points of the gusset as the corners you’ve already joined.

Pin the other side to match
Make sure the corner points match
Once you’ve completed that side it should look like this

Now go on to Part 8 to find out how to make the strap…

Share your pictures with the hashtag #SpringBagCAL and get in touch if you need any help.

Posted in: crochet, Crochet patterns, granny squares Tagged: crochet along, crochet project, lockdown crochet
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