Welcome to day five of the Stylecraft Blog Tour! Fancy a free pattern and a chance to win a whole caboodle of yarn, regardless of where in the world you are? Read on, Macduff…
So, just for the benefit of anyone who is new round these ‘ere parts, (hello at the back, there), a few months ago I co-judged Stylecraft yarn’s competition to find a new shade for their range of Special DK. With me were the editor of Let’s Knit magazine (who waited very patiently in the car park before we went in, whilst I finished knitting the skirt I’d designed and knitted for the occasion), plus Annabelle from Stylecraft and Lucy from Attic24.
And Stylecraft, being wise, decided to produce a limited edition pack of all ten of the shades that we shortlisted. Hurrah! The duck egg (top right) was the ultimate winner, by the way. The pack will be on sale from 13th October.
So… you want to win a pack of all the yarn pictured above? ‘Tis easy! All you need to do is enter here. The link will be live today (29.09.15) from 10.15am until midnight GMT. The competition is open worldwide.
And if you’re new here, welcome! Do have a mooch around, click the button you’ll see beside/below this page to follow the blog, and come and ‘Like’ on Facebook, too. Thank you!
But you’ll need something to make with all that lovely yarn, too, regardless of whether you buy it or win it, won’t you? Hmmm…. Let me think for a minute… How about… THIS SHOULDER-BAG?!!!
It has a neat flap and a little magnetic clasp to keep it closed:-
It was a lot of fun to design:-
Want to knit one? No, don’t look at me like that: it’s actually pretty quick and easy to make, as long as you’ve tried fairisle/stranded knitting before. The front and back panels are worked in the round, starting from the outside and working in with decreases on every round, so there’s no yucky purling fairisle. (Can you tell that I hate purling fairisle?) The strap, sides, and underneath are worked in one big round, too. Only the reverse of the strap and also the flap are knitted flat: but let’s not think about that.
The panels are joined with single crochet stitches (that’s double crochet in UK terms), but if you’re not a hooker, you can always use blanket stitch to attach the pieces.
I’ve put together a free pattern in case you’d like to make the bag. CLICK HERE TO ACCESS IT! And you’ll find a Ravelry link HERE. And I realize that most people don’t want more than about a million photos in their patterns, so I’m going to put a few photos of the making process here, just to give you a bit of a visual aid. Do comment below with any questions or – horrors! – errata. Here we go:-
And again. See this lovely mitred corner forming?
And when things get too tight, we swap from a circular needle on to DPNs:-
The reverse side looks like this:-
Beginning the second side:-
And here are all the components, ready for joining:-
I used single crochet stitches for joining and for edges, all in Duck Egg:-
Edging the strap makes it neat:-
It’s worth the effort of lining the bag:-
And then suddenly, you’re DONE!
And the blog tour? Well next it’s The Patchwork Heart, so do scurry over there tomorrow morning to look at her design and have another chance at the giveaway.
Ok Phil. You are too clever for your own good. This is heaven in knitting. I love those mitered corners. Love the design its all so clever and beautiful.
Says she who can invent and knit a funky hat in 2 hours with no pattern!! Seriously, anyone reading this, go and see Selma’s blog. You won’t regret it.
It is fantastic! I am no knitter, but I can see the amazing work that goes into something like this. Wonderful!! xx
Thank you for such a generous comment. 🙂
I love this. I want this. I love, and want this SO bad I have just headed off with determination to save the PDF. I have NO idea how to knit this. I guess I am going to have to learn o_O
Meh, it’s easy. You’ll be fine. I’ve seen how brilliant you are at crochet: you’d find knitting easy.
o_O
That’s beautiful ?? it kind of makes me want to learn how to knit!
Thank you! And knitting isn’t hard. Go on…………..
Haha! I’ve got enough crochet patterns to see me through at he moment, if I ever feel like a change, I will be heading towards the knitting needles, have no fear lol
That’s amazing, but I could never make that. But I can make lots of other things with yarn, though. 🙂
Corine
Thank you (and you COULD make this. It’s only knitting…)
Wow! What a fabulous pattern. Thank you so much. I really hope I’m lucky enough to win but if not, I will definitely try to buy a pack of the limited edition yarn to make the bag anyway. PS I am in awe of the reverse of the knitting, soooo neat!
Good luck! I think the yarn will be on sale from 13th October. (And thank you for your comment on the reverse, but that was a LOT of ends to weave in…)
Could the flap be done in the round with a steek?
It could. The Stylecraft Special is acrylic so not ideal for seeking, but it would work with a wool yarn. Do you dislike purling stranded work as much as I do? !
I’ve not yet had a project that called for it but have read that learning to knit from right to left is easier for some than purling fairisle. Knitting in the round is always my go to technique, I prefer seemless unless it serves a purpose and cutting my work doesn’t faze me
Yup, I agree with everything you’ve said here.
Thank you so much for the pattern, it was a good read! LOL. I really do hope to try and make it, someday… 🙂
Thank you. The pattern isn’t difficult, honest!
I love the bag as much as I love the yarn – no, better. I’m going to give her a go ……. who knows what hair-pulling awaits? But at least I can crochet! Yay!!!!!!!
It’s not hard! Honest! You can knit socks: thus is easy in comparison.
I think I’ll be you when I grow up, even if I am already older!!!
Are you sure???? You do realize that’ll involve living in a pigsty because you’re too disorganized to tidy, being perpetually behind at work, and drinking too much wine! (And you look younger than me in your photo.)
THAT BAG is AMAZING!
I’ve entered most days, what they heck I’ll enter again – would love to make this bag :p
jenny xx
Glad you like it, but maybe I should have embellished it with some zombies…
I love the yarn! I followed the link, I visited, I liked them, I looked and saw a number of things I really really like – but they didn’t let me have an entry in the giveaway…………
Oh no! Are you looking from a mobile? They’ve posted something on the Stylecraft FB page saying that some people are having problems entering from mobiles. Try from a laptop or tablet? Sorry about this. It’s definitely open internationally.
No, I’m on my laptop. It isn’t that important in the big scheme of things though 🙂 Not to worry. xo
Oh no! I think they had problems yesterday too. Someone complained on their FB page and they asked that person to email them directly to be entered. I know it’s a pain and a hassle, but that’s an option. I’m sorry this is causing problems. It really is supposed to be a worldwide competition. I understand nowt about Rafflecopter so can’t offer any wisdom.
Helloooo! Just popping my head round the door. I’m the newbie hiding at the back. Thank you for visiting me as it has enabled me to discover your fantastic blog. I’m looking forward to a good read once I’ve got my cake out of the oven! X
Oh! Did somebody mention cake? I found your blog via Selma at Eclectichomelife. I look forward to reading more.
Amazing project!
Thank you!
Love the mitred bag design, and I really love the stripy inside of the handle! It’s amazing how the projects all look so different considering they’re using the same yarns. Just combining the colours in a different ways changes things totally! Did you ever manage a sewn lining?!
¿como participar? Me gusta mucho ese paquete, gracias
La competición se ha cerrado en este blog, pero usted puede entrar para los próximos 3 horas a http://thepatchworkheartuk.blogspot.co.uk/
muchas gracias!!
What a challenge and the detail. WOW
I love the bag. I admire the talent that produces such a beautiful pattern. A question for you does crocheting an edging on curled stocking stitch fabric make it lie flat?
Thank you! The short answer to your question is, ‘it depends’! Crochet is of course more rigid than knitting, so it certainly can help keep a stocking stitch edge flat. Whether it does will depend on (i) how many rows of crochet you have. You’ll need several: think about how many rows of knitted garter stitch you need to prevent curling at the edge of stocking stitch – at least 6. You’ll need an equivalent number of crochet rows. (ii) Whether you’re working a flat or tubular piece with a crochet border at the bottom, or whether you’re working something like a square with a crochet edge all the way round. In the latter case, you can probably get away with fewer rows of crochet. (iii) Don’t forget to block your work! That can help enormously.
Hope this makes sense. Am happy to discuss further, especially if you have a very specific project/problem in mind.
Hi, I love this pattern and it’s the first one that jumped out at me when I bought my pack. I struggling a bit with the decreases though. It says on the pattern to slip 2 and pass the 1st stitch over, I’m fine with that, but the chart says to change colour at the same time so I’m just wondering how I do that first stitch? Thanks in advance for any help
Thank you! I’ve just seen your comment as I’m heading off (sleepily) to bed, so is it OK if I reply tomorrow, please? I hope you don’t mind waiting until then – you’ll get a much more coherent answer than you will now.
Hi, of course that’s fine. I’ve packed away for the night anyway. Thanks for getting back to me so fast 🙂
Right. Home from work. Kids in bed. Now I can concentrate on your question! (Thank you for posting it, by the way.) So, you’re talking about the ‘special’ decrease that occurs only at the beginning of each round, yes? And the problem you’re concerned about is that you’re trying to introduce a new colour, yet the slipping-and-passing-a-stitch-over just keeps bringing up the old colour. Yes? Well that’s OK, and in practice you introduce the new colour with the stitch after this special once-in-a-round decrease and begin the chart with the second square of colour. This seems weird at the time, but once you’ve worked a few rows, this funny little fudge helps to soften the jump from one round to the next. It’s difficult not to make it quite loose, though, and it may need a bit of reinforcing as you weave in your ends later. I hope I’m making sense. If not, I’m more than happy to discuss further. An alternative is to work the entire thing with the k2tog-SSk decreases, because the ‘jog’ as you changed rounds probably wouldn’t be a major problem on this pattern. Good luck! And as I said, get back to me if this isn’t making sense… Best wishes, Phil
Reblogged this on Bella89blog.
Love this bag. Really beautiful colours, it ticks all my boxes.