Crocheted Bike Bag

This weekend I got a new bicycle. It's the kind for just riding on the local streets and trails, but I am very happy with Bluebell.

My new bike and non-matching water bottle

It weighs a LOT more than my road bike did, though it claims to be aluminum.

The first thing I noticed about it was that I have no way to carry my cell phone when I am riding it, thanks to giving away all my fancy cycling shirts a while back. I usually ride in exercise pants rather than jeans, so I have no pockets.

But I know how to crochet! So, on Sunday when my devoted spouse was planting things in the front yard, I sat down with good ole Lily Sugar and Cream yarn and crocheted myself this little bag to hold my cell phone and maybe a chap stick. I need to take the phone because I track my progress with one of those free GPS exercise apps.

Bicycle Bag with Cute Buttons

I could have just made a big rectangle, but I like the way single crochet looks in the round better than back and forth. So, I did a little trick and ended up with a no-seam crochet bag. I made the button holes vertical rather than horizontal, so that the buttons would stay better when the bag is on the bike. I think it looks fun and practical. I could have used hemp cord, but it hurts my hands. And the same bag could be made weatherproof by using strips cut from plastic shopping bags. If I shopped at Wal-Mart I could get blue ones to match the bike.

(I also knitted a good amount on the alpaca sweater. I am on the home stretch.)

How to Make a Bike Bag

If, for some reason, you are dying to make one of these, here's how:

Body of Bag

Use sturdy cotton yarn and a crochet hook that will crochet the yarn tightly. I used an F.

Chain enough to be a little longer than your phone, no more than an inch longer.

Single crochet into the second stitch from your hook and sc across. Count how many stitches you have.

Sc into the side of the last stitch.

Sc into the BOTTOM of the row you just did. Make sure you crochet the same number of stitches (it's easy to skip a few, which I did the first time).

Sc into the side of your previous turning chain, then sc across your first row.

Continue to sc in every stitch around and around that first row. After a few rows you will see a pouch shape developing.

Keep going until your bag is about an inch longer than whatever you want to put in it.

Straps

My straps are 4 stitches in from each side, and 6 stitches wide. Each row will be ch2, sc5, turn. When the strap is a good length in your estimation (long enough to go over your handlebars with some slack), make the button holes.

Do 4 rows of just three stitches. Break yarn. Start where you left off and do 4 rows of 3 stitches. Go across and connect the two thin sections to return to 6-stitch rows, and crochet a few more rows. Repeat on the other side of the bag.

Buttons

Get nice big buttons and sew them on securely. I took my bag to the fabric store to be sure I got the right size buttons. You don't want to have your phone fall to the ground and get ridden over by your bike.

Crocheting Mitered Squares

I started on the knitted throw (baby blanket size) made with organic cotton over the weekend, but encountered a sudden lack of desire to knit. Instead, I read a lot and did a little crochet project.

Someone had asked me on Facebook, in the comments on the finished mitered square blanket project, whether it could be possible to get the same effect with crochet. I have crocheted a lot of squares in my day, but never mitered squares, so I messed around with my yarn and the lovely crochet hook I always carry in my knitting basket. The results do, I think convey the same effect.

Two squares of mitered crochet.

If you are interested in how I did the ones in the picture, building the squares from the outside in so that you can build each square on the next, and how I’d go on to complete a larger project in crochet, here are abbreviated instructions.

Crochet Mitered Squares

Use this technique to make mitered squares with self-striping yarn. You can change colors as you wish if you choose to make your own stripes.

First Square
Ch 42 (last two chains count as first sc in next row).
Sc in third chain and next 18 sts, skip 2 chains, sc 19. Ch 2, turn.
Sc 17, skip 2 sc, sc 18. Ch 2 (counts as first sc in next row), turn.
Sc 16, skip 2 sc, sc 17. Ch 2 (counts as first sc in next row), turn.
Sc 15, skip 2 sc, sc 16. Ch 2 (counts as first sc in next row), turn.
Repeat this pattern, with one fewer sc on each side of the skipped sts until the last row:
Skip 2 sc, sc, fasten off if changing colors.

Remaining Squares on First Row
From where you ended off with first square, ch2, pick up 19 sts across edge of previous square, ch 22.
Complete square as with first.

First Square, Second and Subsequent Rows
Chain 20, 20 sc in top of first sqare on previous row. Complete as with first row squares.

All Other Squares
Attach yarn where previous square ended. Chain 2, ch2, sc 18 sts across edge of previous square, skip two sc, sc 19 across top of next square in the row below.

Make a square or rectangle as large as you want, combining colors however you’d like. It’s easy to mimic quilt patterns, for example, using these squares.

More Resources for Your Perusal

There are plenty of ways to make mitered squares in crochet. I found some that you might want to use to make up your own blanket or other project. Just substitute a self-striping yarn to get the kind of effect in my sample. My taste would run to using thinner yarn and smaller hooks to get a more blended effect. Leftover sock yarn can be crocheted as wel as knitted, you know! It would make a nice sturdy vest fabric in crochet.

• A way to make them starting from one corner and making larger and larger rows.
• One very similar to what I made, but with nicer photos.
• Soemone did some interesting variants on the square linked above. 
• A commercial pattern from Bernat. It has solid squares, which shows how the texture can also be interesting.
• A tawashi (Japanese scrubbie to be made in a sturdy acrylic). It sould be good practice. 
• And now, for the most wonderful example, check out this beautiful shawl!! It’s the same technique, just with varied square sizes. 

More Grannies and a Fresh Look

I know a lot of people read my blog posts on Facebook, so they don't see the actual blog. But I look at it fairly often. I'd realized that my personal blog's template had not changed since 2005, so I looked around the new Blogger template customization tool and found something very cheery for it. That made me feel like this blog had grown stale. I like the logo my husband made for me (those are my knitting hands!), but I wanted to make it less wide and have a bit of my personality in it.

So, I found a picture with pansies in it, which made me happy, because they are my favorite flower and I collect things with pansies on them--that was just ME (admittedly, I wish I could use one of my own pansy photos for the background, but I'll live). I messed around with templates until I found something with my colors that was actually legible (a couple possibilities got the Lee vote of disapproval for readability). I also added a feature, which is a list of my favorite blogs. It shows the ten most recently updated faves, though I may cut it down to 5 if I decide that makes the sidebar too long.

Enough with Blogger Talk...

I did want to share with you a photo of the granny squares I am working on now, since I realize I only showed you the 43-year-old afghan yesterday. Anyway, here are some of the ones I am doing in my spare time, in the colors of the mitered square afghan. I will edge each in some as-yet-undetermined solid color before putting them together.

Yesterday I enjoyed a break from knitting by reading the spring 2010 Internet Crochet. There were a couple of cardigans I'd actually consider knitting, but this one project, Forest Petals Shawl, really impressed me. I don't know if I would wear it, but I sure think it looks cool!

The photos in the magazine really show you how the Lorna's Laces yarn enhances the holey pattern, or click the link to see more. I like this magazine a lot--there were also a couple of nice afghan patterns that look fun. I don't feel like I'm being unfaithful to my knitting because I also like crochet (see Jen's post on that topic--look at all those grannies!). I know where my big loyalty lies. Speaking of which, it's back to the mittens!

Hidden Project

Just a quick note: I was working on mitten #2 (the cuff is done!), I realized that I hadn't put one of my projects on Ravelry, and barely talked about it here.

Why should I be ashamed that I am working on a granny square afghan? It's a charity project, after all, and it's using up the leftovers from the mitered square afghan. Some needy child will love its cheerful colors! I work on it when I don't have anything mindless and portable to take with me, so mainly it's been worked on in choir. I am just making squares until I run out of each color. Who knows how many little afghans I will actually end up with!

Sure, lots of people make fun of the humble granny square. After all, it's the first thing many people learn to crochet. Wait, first thing, did you say? Take a gander at this! Yes, it's true. I still own the first thing I ever crocheted (it's wool, which may explain why it hasn't disintegrated much). I was just a little kid, and my grandmother taught me how to make it. (This is one of two, count 'em, two really nice things I remember her doing for me--she was an interesting woman, but when she didn't like you, you could tell.)

My first completed project, circa 1965.

I talk about this project often when I get the chance to teach someone to knit or crochet. You can literally see my progress in the squares. The first few are rather large and floppy, but they get smaller and more even as I get the hang of what I am doing. Only a 9-year-old would have the confidence to go ahead and sew them all together, even though the squares aren't the same size! But Child Suna was right--there's no need to be ashamed of your "learning projects." It's good to save evidence of where you were, so you can be gauge where you ARE later. I am really glad I saved this.

Notice that the center square is much larger than the ones to its left and right!

I wish I'd saved my first piece of knitting. My mom had taught me the year before I learned to crochet. I made a sky blue blanket for a fashion doll. I distinctly remember that it had a hole in it, and that it got either bigger or smaller. But, the doll didn't care. For a few years, all I knew how to do was knit garter stitch, but I got one of those green "learn to knit" books and figured out purling, decreasing, etc., and was off and running in my teens.

But back to my crochet project. Really, what's wrong with some "comfort crochet" every so often? My friend Jen has been going crazy with granny squares lately, and it's been fun to see her joy in the combinations of colors she gets, and how quickly the projects work up. I remember that feeling so well from when I was young, making dozens of tote bags, pillows and blankets for everyone I knew.

I have to say that I, too, am looking forward to completing all the squares and seeing how I can arrange them in interesting ways. If I end up with enough for multiple child-sized blankets, I can even edge them in different colors and get a really different feel! So, whee! It will take a while, but eventually, I'll have something fun to play with, with no shame at all!

Crochet Fun, and My New Favorite

I had a fun experience today at the yarn shoppe. When I got there, it was mostly just me and the owner, and we were looking at some old patterns and she spotted a crocheted scarf with ribbon wound through the rows of crochet. We decided to each make one, and had a lot of fun looking through all the Cotton Twist and Zen ribbon in the store. That's what the pattern called for. Then, I picked some other ribbon to make my brick red scarf, and she decided to use a different base yarn in black, but a nice pinky purple Zen ribbon as the weaving yarn.

I sat there and worked on mine all day, as I helped a lady with her knitting and talked to folks, while Pat went more slowly, since there were plenty of customers after noon. The fun part was that practically everyone who came in the store ended up buying yarn to make this scarf. We got a lot of yarn sold--enough for two white ones, a blue one and a green one that I can remember! It really shows how seeing a pattern being made can inspire sales. I finished mine this evening and will take it back to the shop for a sample, once I wear it tomorrow (it will be chilly enough to wear a scarf).

It was a lot of fun picking colors, and fun to make such a simple, yet effective project!

I've been working hard on Bridget, of course, and I am past the armhole shaping and last buttonhole, and moving toward the beginning of the collar! I am now hoping I have enough yarn to do the sleeves. At least the top of the front and back uses less yarn. As you can see, it most definitely is looking more and more like a cardigan.

The New Favorite

This picture shows a new pattern that popped up on Ravelry yesterday. It's called Dianna, and is by Jane Araujo, who has a blog in Portuguese. I even showed it to my old boss as the last thing I did on my work computer before I left! I think this is such a fun looking pattern--it's still not posted yet, but I am just dying to try this. It's like entrelac or mitered squares, but with lace. It looks perfect for a Jojoland, Noro or other yarn with slow color changes. I crack myself up when I fall in love with a pattern. It's such a fixation!

I'd type more, but I've been feeling a bit under the weather, so I am going to sleep. Happy Easter to those of you who celebrate. If you just got to enjoy Passover, I hope it was good, and if you are celebrating Ostara or something else, I hope it is a holiday with good food!

When Suna's Worlds Collide

8 of Pentacles, Whispering Tarot
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Many of you know that my other collection (besides balls of yarn) is tarot decks. Imagine my reaction when I found this on my newest deck, the Whispering Tarot, by Elizabeth Hazel. The card is the 8 of Pentacles, which usually depicts a young man working hard at some menial task (in my favorite desk, the apprentice is in a workshop churning out pentacle-shaped wooden plates). Here the protagonist is sitting with her cat and knitting a very large afghan. It's still a picture of repetitive work, and she still doesn't look totally thrilled at the task, but in the text, the author suggests she is happy with the product and glad it's almost done. I am really liking how the woman who did these cards did some interesting things without totally obscuring the traditional images in the cards (she did away with a lot of esoteric stuff and religious symbolism, which I do like--though she seems to have substituted Buddhist images for Christian ones, not sure why).

Well, I doubt you came here to read a tarot review (unless you are Jody or Tina), but if you are interested, you can still get signed and numbered copies of this deck, which is small but nice and comes with its book on CD rather than book form.

In good knitting news, happy days, the additional ball of Silk Garden Sock yarn arrived yesterday, so I was able to finish the Silky Kerchief border at Chicks with Sticks last night. When I came home, I washed it in lavender stuff and laid it out on the guest bed. I didn't use pins to block it, since it's garter stitch, but I did smooth it out. I hope washing softens it a little. As soon as it is dry, I will take a picture so you can see how it fits--it came out a medium-sized shawl that I think will stay on well with a shawl pin down by the ends of the borders. And I did get the shawl to come out fairly even. That is the best I could do!

In less good knitting news (technically, crochet news), I have decided to frog the Ocean Pearls cardigan. The back is just too small. I think I will try again one size larger, since the smaller needle fooled me by acting like it was making the right width, but it wasn't. Ugh, having to do all those bobbles will be a pain, but since I am better at them now, doing it over will look better. I am going to take a break from it, though. I will probably try to churn out the second Lace and Cable top that I said I would do for Suzanne.

At least I will soon get to start on new socks. The Hawaiian Leis are fast approaching the toe. I could either try to quickly make socks out of the remaining Silk Garden Sock, so I'd have matching socks and shawl, or do what I really want to do and make something pretty with some seafoam green yarn I recently wound.

And here's a final shocker: I even did a bit of work on Juno Regina last night. I did it sorta wrong, though, since I could not find the pattern. I am wondering if I should re-start that one...no, too much knitting in slippery silk. I'll just go back a few rows and keep plugging away at it. I need to finish that.

Loving My Crafts, Man

Kerchief Progress
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I can't help it, I just love my crafts. Both the projects I am working on right now are so pleasing to me that it's all I want to do. The kerchief that is going to be a shawl is soooo pretty that I can't put it down. Every row brings in yet another beautiful color in the main yarn, and the effect is quite rainbow-like. It will go with anything. It's about the size that the original pattern calls for, but I'm going to keep going and use up the whole skein of the neutral yarn--hoping that will be shawl sized. Then I will think, think, think about what kind of border I want to put on it. I'll do that with the rainbow yarn second skein. This will be one expensive shawl, but one that will be perfect for the office or just wandering around in the fall--it will go with anything. So far, the only color I don't see in it is orange. I wonder why there's no orange? The neutral Silk Garden Sock is very subtle, and really doesn't change colors much. I think it's natural wool colors. It just goes from natural to light tan to a very slightly darker tan and back.


I did manage to set the shawl down for a while last night and work a bit on the Ocean Pearls. The rest of the back should go pretty quickly, because I finished all the armhole decreases. I just have to make it long enough. I am starting the third ball of yarn, which bodes well, I think, for ten balls being sufficient for the project. That GGH Mystik is still a pain in the rear end compartment to work with, but is sure is nice and shiny. My pearls are going fine, though still it's hard sometimes to pull a loop through ten wraps of sticky yarn. That yarn gets caught on anything that comes near it, even little rough patches of skin on my fingers. Sigh, that's why I love natural fibers. They don't do that.

PS: I just saw that Knotions, another new online knitting magazine is now up. If you haven't seen it yet, do check it out. There is nothing there I am dying to make, but the layout is good, and they have some of the old MagKnits patterns.

Ocean Pearls Progress

Ocean Pearls
Originally uploaded by sunasak

Now that I have the name of the cardigan down (I think I called it Ocean of Pearls earlier), I should write more on this.

I feel a lot better about the project, even if it doesn't look like much in the photo. What happened is I took the advice from a couple of people on Ravelry, who said it works a lot better on a smaller hook. So, yesterday I got a size E at the yarn shop and tried that out. Um, well, THAT made a difference. I went from struggling and cursing with each bobble/pearl, so making at least 9 out of 10 of them successfully on the first try--no snagging, no sticking. Wow. So, obviously the thing to do was to start again. What you see is the second time I got that far on the project. The first couple of rows, which have a bunch of bobble, look a bit different than the later ones, but I think it will be OK. I am making the size 36 and the back is just a bit over 18", so I am pleased. I think 36" around would have been a tad too tight.

I think it also helped that I did the foundation chain much looser the second time around. There's nothing wrong with starting a project more than once--I seem to do that most of the time with garments, anyway. I am finding crochet just what I need to relax after a long day, and that is what I have needed (I did training rather than writing for the last two days, and 8 hours of talking to people tires my introvert self out).

I am getting a bit done on the socks, too, at lunched and at the yarn shop last night. I was so into all the good gossip and news items, though, that I really didn't get a lot done. The socks STILL are very fraternal, but everyone who sees them likes them a lot.Now I am doing the Tribute to Tie Dye with a new Hiya Hiya 40" circular, though. Using the two shorter size 0s was getting on my nerves. Not so much rattling needle doing magic loop. Aah.

So, hmm, I got new needles, huh. Did I get anything else, you may ask? Did I perhaps go a little nuts at the last Loopy Ewe Sneak Up? Was it because of the word "possum" combined with "sock"? Sigh, yes, it was. I had bravely refrained from another sock site's possum sock offering, but, dang it, when TLE got some, I had to get it, knowing there might not be any more avaiable for quite a while. So I splurged on two skeins of the Secret Garden colorway. It is definitely soft stuff. I can't WAIT to knit with it. But I will, given how much yarn I have. I may have to make yet another exception to the random choice rule for it!

And, of course I needed free shipping, so I got two other sock yarns, too. One is something I totally fell in love with the moment I saw it. It is Creatively Dyed Yarns' Luxury sock yarn, which has 10% cashmere. But I got it for the colorway, which is called "Winds of Change." I think it has every color in the rainbow in it, but subdued versions. And it is all mixed up and blended in really intriguing ways. It's not even all dark--inside the skein I just spied some lighter sections. This will be really cool to knit with.


And to round it all off, I got one more. It's a sport-weight semi solid that I got because it is all naturally dyed. It's Sapling, by Earthly Hues, and the colorway is a peachy thing "Peace." I think I mainly got it as a memory of this week, which I have dedicated to thinking about peace in honor of the people who were shot and killed or injured at a Unitarian Universalist church last weekend (been wearing peace sign earrings every day).

I sure love yarn. I guess it's not as bad for me as crack or ice cream.

Denim Ripples and Waves

Denim Ripples and Waves
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I finished my first set of two socks knit at the same time today. I think they took like 11 days, which isn't too bad considering some days I hardly knit at all and other days were marathons. I nearly used all the Panda Silk yarn, so I was sweating it a bit at the yarn shop yesterday. But I made it.

The pattern is Ripples and Waves, which is sold by the Yarnarian. Like I mentioned last week, I could not get it over my instep as written, so I widened the pattern by one set of yarnovers. My guess is that part of the problem was the silk/bamboo yarn, which has less elasticity than wool would have. If you make the pattern--try wool! I also think the way the socks fit on my feet might be better in wool, too, because in Panda Silk, they bulge out on the rows that don't have decreases in them (see close-up of foot). Note that the yarn pools differently on the tops versus the feet. That is because I made the bottoms 4 stitches smaller, since the stockinette spreads out better. It's amazing what that little difference does to how the yarn patterns!

However, I sure do love how the socks feel once I get them on my feet. This yarn really keeps my feet cool, and is just perfect for summer socks. I am wearing them now with my blue denim tennis shoes and my feet feel great, and they felt great even outside in 100 degree heat. That's good since I have to go to an outdoor party in a while...

And, ooh, bad ole Suna strikes again. I got yarn to make another project yesterday. I got yarn to make the Ocean of Pearls crocheted cardigan I referred to in the last post. There were only three colors of the specified yarn at the LYS with enough to make it, and I figured if I waited, there would not be enough and I would have to substitute. Now, speaking of that yarn, LOL. It's my least favorite yarn of 2007, ggh Mystik, the one I made my shiny green sweater out of last year. The one that got caught in my needles all the time and drove me nuts. However, I think the yarn will behave very differently in crochet, so I got ten balls of extremely vibrant "grape Kool-Aid" colored purple and will probably try out the pattern tomorrow night or later today. It will have to wait to really get going until I finish making the Cables and Lace top for my friend, but I'd like to see how the pattern looks. I am looking forward to a crochet project to break up the knitting a bit!

And, in my resolve to work on unfinished projects, I did at least take my Juno Regina with me to the yarn shop, and WOULD have worked on it if I'd finished the socks there! That's close to working on an unfinished project, right??

I was driven, inspired, induced, seduced or mysteriously drawn to start another pair of socks the moment the blue ones got off the needles, though. I just had to see how that yarn I dyed a few weeks ago would knit up. I really liked one of the patterns in the Pattern a Day Calendar last month, which is called Hawaiian Leis Socks, by Adrienne Fong. it looks good with multicolor yarns, and is a very well written pattern. It has an eye of partridge heel and garter stitch borders on the gussets. Very classy. I am doing them two at a time, as well. I should have a photo for you next time!

I hope you are having a great summer--I know mine has turned around with new job and less stress, so here's a wish for little stress and much knitting to all of you!

Honesty: It's Some Kind of Policy

I am not sure if honesty is the best policy, but it appears to be one of mine, regardless. I had a phone screening yesterday, and the woman asked me what the ideal job for Sue Ann would be. I honestly blurted out, "knitting instructor." Then I added, but you can't make a living at that around here! She laughed and said she needed to learn, so she'd bring needles next time she visited Austin. I then told about how much I'd like to help people figure out how to use software and help make software that met the needs of its intended audience. I think that is more what she wanted. But really, the ideal job IS knitting instructor!

Since I have no photo today, I recommend you go over to Fluffy Knitter Deb's blog and take a gander at her magnificent granny square aghan, which is all one huge square made out of leftover sock yarn. Well, actually, the last rows were made with new balls of yarn, since they were so big. I think it is one glorious piece of crocheting, and such a great use of the leftover sock yarn! It reminds me that I ought to work on the mitered square thing I was making out of my leftovers. Well, some day I will stop making new things...

...which reminds me, I have gotten through the frustrating section of beginning the sleeves on the Drawstring Raglan, which required using an extra DPN at first. I think it will end up looking fine after all, but yhou sure stretch out a couple of stitches when you start. You make the sleeves by casting on a bunch of stitches at the point where the sleeve would start, then going back to knitting the body. It is pretty hard to get your knitting cable to go through the contortions required, and even worse when the sleeves are on t he straight parts of the needles. But, I managed, as have others.

Belated Valentine Gift

Heart Doily
Originally uploaded by sunasak

I've been working away on doggie sweaters and writing up patterns, but I thought I'd stop and share with you a pattern for "adult booties" I made a couple of years ago. Consider it your belated Valentine's Day gift. It calls for specific yarns, but just get the right gauge and go for it. I wear mine a lot, and they stay on really well (a bonus). As usual, all suggestions and clarifications are welcome.

The pattern to the heart doily you see here can be found on CrochetDoilies.com and was found by my LYS friend Jamie, who just learned to crochet and made a much daintier pair of these just a week after learning to crochet. Cool, huh?

I made this one out of yarn from the discard bin at the shop (things that were damaged so they can't sell and we use to make samples). You can see on the edging, if you look closely, that it's full of sequins. How special! It's some Louisa Harding yarn. The center is, I think, Berocco Touche, but it had lost its label and was a bit dirty (someone had stepped on it). It makes a festive shop decoration, anyway.

So, happy knitting or crocheting, whichever you're doing!

Lucy Bag for Crochet

I was asked on a non-knitting email list if it was possible to crochet a Lucy Bag, since there are members of the list who simply don't want to learn to knit (picture is a sample of one I knitted). Also one of them has great difficulty with commercial instructions, so they wanted it "conversation style." Here is what I came up with. If you spot any obvious flaws, let me know. These are more "guidelines" than instructions, but might be useful to someone!

Lucy Bag for Crochet

Using 100% NON superwash wool, crochet a flat circle that is 1/3 larger than the ultimate diameter you want. I'd probably double the yarn and use like an I hook, double or maybe half double crochet. You want there to be spaces so that the felting happens better. It will look loose.

After you hit the diameter, stop increasing and just crochet along with the same number of needles. The sides will start forming. Make it 1/3 longer than you want in the end.

For the handles, I'd eyeball them. Pick up about 15 or so stitches at one point and make a rectangle 10 inches long. Attach the second end of it about two-three inches away from the first, making a fairly short loop. Then on the other end of the bag, sort of parallel, pick up the same number and crochet a 40-inch rectangle (these are the lengths from the knitting pattern). Attach that one a few inches from the first. Viewing a clock face as your circular bag, the attachments would be like at 11 and 1 on the clock and at 5 and 7 on the clock.

Felt the bag by washing in very hot water in a top-loading machine, highest possible agitation. You may need to run it through more than one cycle. To reduce lint, you might want to put the article in a pillowcase, securely fastened, but that makes it harder to check how felted the bag is.

To fasten, the long loop passes through the shorter one, then you can wear it on your shoulder.

The above is not based on actually crocheting one of these. Just an educated guess.

Copyright 2007 by Sue Ann Kendall. Thanks to Jodie Lucas for input.

And if you knit, buy a copy of the Lucy Bag pattern. It's by Two Old Bags and can be found many places on the Internet.