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This is my eighth design in the Dumplin’ bag series. This bag coordinates with my Great Bear Hood.

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My hobbies include knitting and thinking about the next time I’ll be knitting. - anonymous

IMPORTANT NOTE: This is a checklist pattern, each round is ritten out for easier tracking and checkboxes are placed for marking off upon completion– however, this makes the pattern significantly longer – check to see the pages you want to print before starting.

PATTERN NOTES: This bag is knit first as a flat bottom rectangle in garter stitch and then picked up around to knit the sides to the drawstring double knit top casing. I highly recommend matching the weight of your yarn to the pattern yarn weight that is ecommended. (For example: this pattern recommends bulky weight yarn = 109 yards 100 m per 100 grams (3.5 oz).Using a skein with significantly fewer or more yards will result in a
different product.)

YARN: 3 skeins chunky/bulky weight yarn (in 1 or 2 colors, 100 g (109 yds /100 m) AND 1 skein fur or novelty yarn

I purchased iridiscent shoelaces from Amazon for the drawstrings.

Link for Amazon Felt Purse Insert (6 colors)

A Note from Cori Eichelberger about her inspiration for this pattern.

I grew up on the plains of South Dakota, but in the largest city in the state, Sioux Falls. There were three high schools and a lovely large mall; so not the small town or rural upbringing that many people think of when I would say South Dakota. I was raised there, the daughter of a pharmacist and a nurse, with two younger brothers. There was a winter ski area just outside of town and my mother loved to ski. Waterski or snow ski, it didn’t matter. She grew up making people pyramids on skis behind fast moving ski boats on a small lake in Worthington, Minnesota. And, as we got older, she made sure that her three children all learned how to ski. However, short those early runs in the snow were, honestly, about 30 seconds. I remember spending all day going up and down using an old tow rope that ripped up our gloves and caused people to fall and get tangled up with one another often. Then throughout the day, running around in the lodge in our giant ski boots, getting hot chocolate and pizza slices with friends.
Above are photos of Great Bear Ski area, just outside of Sioux Falls, which began as an old gravel pit with one tow rope and two runs (although this is a more recent photo than when I skied there in the 1970s). There was no chair lift, no ski bumps and little in the way of grooming the snow. Dennis and Jerry built the first chalet at the ski area (photo on the right). So when I decided to design a lovely hood for winter weather and needed a pattern name, I reminisced about my childhood and it certainly brought up some lovely memories. Thus, the Great Bear Hood and Dumplin’ Bag.

Tech edit and graphic design by Corrina Ferguson.
Photography by Cori Eichelberger.
Test knitters were Helen Woodcock and Jane Johnson.