Someday I’ll write down an actual pattern and post it. Basically you just make a wide tube with Tunisian in-the-round technique, using a double sided hook and two different yarns. Switch to a new type of stitch every 5 rows or so, try to alternate between curling and non-curling types. Once your bag is approximately half the intended height, or you run out of stitches you know, then exchange your forward pass yarn with your backwards pass yarn and repeat the entire first half. This gives you all the same patterns again, but switches the foreground/background colors. Once the tube is done, use a frilly cast off. Then, make a thin flat band, very long. Long enough to wrap all the way around the tube height-wise, with enough extra to make a good strap, and then enough extra again to match shoulder-width. Sew the middle section of the band to one open end of the tube, such that it is closed off, and then up either side. Take both free ends of the band, overlap them shoulder-width, then sew the overlap area together. Then it’s done!!
07-07-2025
For this one, the top half is green-on-pink and the bottom half is pink-on-green. The strap is made in flat stitch. The bands of stitches on the tube are like this:
- Bind off in pattern
- Wrapped reverse stitch
- 2×2 knit and wrapped reverse stitches.
- Simple stitch to back loop
- Offset cross stitch
- Smock stitch
- Knit stitch
- Honeycomb stitch
- Full stitch
- Reverse stitch
- Simple stitch
- Repeat all with the colors swapped
- A big chain, slip stitched to make round, with stitches picked up from the back bumps
In addition to the above mats/equipment, I also used:
- Size 10 Tulip bent tip tapestry needle
- Size 26 John James gold-plated tapestry needle
- 50wt Aurifil cotton Mako thread #BMK50-5013
- 5 OSY Tuscarora Mills cotton/linen dimity weave fabric #107-N
- Local beeswax
- Iron, ironing board