I love calico!

After making the first draft pattern for The Calico Bag, I am now making another Calico Bag to troubleshoot the pattern. If you’re interested in this as a Crochet-Along (CAL), feel free to join in. And if you like this pattern and make a finished object, please let me know; I would love to see finished work or modifications of the patterns I make. If you’re on Ravelry, you may find me thru this page.

Work on the bag handle started last night and finished today. Below is a photo of the handle in progress.

Calico bag handle in progress.

The handle is worked in the round, and the entire 55 rounds should make a handle approximately 15 1/2 inches long. The color pattern of the handle depends entirely on your creative decisions. You may also refer to the tail of your calico cat for inspiration. Remember, stuff the handle with kapok (or other filling material) as you work. One pod of kapok is enough to stuff the handle. Below is a photo.

Preparing kapok for filling.

Crocheting the seams of the bag

For the bottom of the bag, I decided to use sl st as seaming method, and sc for the sides of the bag. Below is a photo of the seaming in sl st, worked on the wrong side of the bag. I used white yarn.

Sl st seaming for the bag's bottom.

For the sides of the bag, I decided that the sc seaming method would be more flexible and thus suitable, in contrast to the sl st seaming which is much tighter so I used for the bottom of the bag. Below is a photo of the seaming in sc, worked on the wrong side of the bag. I used a color that matched one of the two sides of the bag.

Sc seaming for the sides of the bag.

And finally here is the handle and the body of the bag ready for assembly.

The handle and the bag body ready for assembly.

Bag Lining and Snaps
You may also sew a lining for the bag (line the bag before attaching the handles), and use magnetic snaps instead of Velcro strips. Here (photo below), I have sewn a lining for the bag and used magnetic snaps. Thanks to Mimi Alesis for the tips on attaching magnetic snaps.

The Calico Bag can be lined with fabric, and magnetic snaps can be used instead of Velcro strips.

To attach the magnetic snaps, I crocheted two circles the same color as the bag lining and slightly larger than the snaps. Then I attached the snaps to the crocheted circles and sew these to the bag.

Attaching the magnetic snaps.

After making the first draft pattern for The Calico Bag, I am now making another Calico Bag to troubleshoot the pattern. If you’re interested in this as a Crochet-Along (CAL), feel free to join in.

Materials

I used acrylic yarn for this project. Some locally manufactured yarns tend to have uneven thickness, especially the Familia brand. So I just try to adjust by changing the tension of the stitches or changing hook sizes.

Acrylic yarn.

The Turning Chain
After writing the pattern, one of the first things I noticed was that I didn’t write about the turning chain.

In actual crochet work, I needed a turning chain in order to move on to the next row of stitches.

What is a turning chain?

According to Edie Eckman’s “The Crochet Answer Book”, a turning chain is the little chain worked at the beginning of a row to bring the hook up to the level of the stitches to be formed on the next row.

Making one ch at the end of the row. This ch serves as turning chain for the next row.

In single crochet, the turning chain is a single chain stitch. You make 1 ch at the end of the row and then you turn the work. Then you insert the hook into the last sc of the previous row.

Where to insert the hook

With The Calico Bag, I consistently insert the hook into the front loop of the stitch.

Inserting the hook into the front loop of the stitch.

Whether you insert the hook into the front loop, back loop or both loops of a stitch makes quite a difference in terms of the appearance of the fabric. Inserting the hook in one loop rather than two loops also makes a softer fabric.

Counting stitches in single color

If you are like me – hopeless at counting stitches – then this simple counting system might help. This applies to rnds 1-8 of the bag’s front section which is done only in one color, white (and where I have the most trouble counting!), as well as to any row with long blocks of the same color.

While working, I get distracted very easily and I lose count. So I count stitches only in multiples. for example, when making a row of 45 stitches, I count in multiples of 5. Counting 5 stitches is short enough not lose count when distracted and I can put down my work after the fifth count if I need to attend to something, and just get back to counting from 1 when I pick up again.

Changing Colors

In the pattern, I wrote that each color be worked in a single length of yarn unless the color changes were only 1-2 stitches apart along a single row. In the latter case, you can carry the unused yarn along the wrong side of the bag so it hangs there but not too tight or too loose. If you want the wrong side of the bag to be clean, you can catch and work around the unused yarns when you work the next row.

Rnd 9 of The Calico Bag: Changing from white to ginger.

To change color within the same row, work the sc until you have two loops on the hook (as shown in the photo above). Pick up the new color with a tail of about 6 inches. YO with the new color and pull through both loops on the hook. Continue with the new color.

Rnd 9 of The Calico Bag: After a single stitch in ginger, white follows again.

In the photo shown above, there is only one stitch in ginger and the next color is white. Since the distance between the colors is very short, it is not necessary to work each color in separate strands of yarn. Below is the back of the work after making 11 rounds.

Rnd 11: Showing the wrong side of the bag.

As shown above, the yarn can be carried loosely at the back of the work. If the loose strand is just 3-4 stitches long, you can stitch over it in the next round. If it is much longer, and if there are two strands overlapping (this can be bulky when worked over in the next round), you can just use a new length of yarn for each color, the loose ends of which can later on be woven in.

Here is the right side of the bag showing the color changes.

Below is the front of the bag, the complete 26 rounds, showing the color changes. The completed piece measures approximately 9 inches x 5 1/2 inches.

The front of the bag showing the right side.

The wrong side of the bag is shown below (gives an idea for a furry version of the Calico Bag!). In places where the distance between color changes is wide (say 3 or more stitches), I use a single length of yarn. Otherwise, I carry the unused thread on the wrong side of the work. It looks rather messy but the ends of the yarn are yet to be woven in for a cleaner look.

The front of the bag showing the wrong side.

Here, work on the back of the bag begins. The blocks of color on this part of the bag are larger and is thus actually easier to crochet since there are less complex color changes.

The back of the bag showing the right side. The rows of alternating ginger and white colors begin at round 9.

Below is the back of the bag showing the wrong side.

The wrong side of the bag showing the yarns carried across the rows.

I try to work as cleanly as possible with the wrong side of the bag, at the same time, taking care that the right side of the bag is not jeopardized. For example, working over the loose yarn tend to make the rows bulky and worse, some of the color show through the stitches. I try to avoid this as much as possible.

NEXT UPDATE: The handle, assembly and other new addtions.

Update: The pattern for The Calico Bag is now available for download as a PDF file.
See The Calico Bag Free Pattern.
There is also a Crochet-Along for The Calico Bag at CAL: Calico Bag (Turning chains and changing color)
and CAL: Calico Bag (The handle, assembly and finishing).

Nature is an important source of techniques and ideas for patterns and color schemes. Here, I turn to my calico cat, Kitty2, for inspiration. She is now over a year old. We found her in early October last year under a tree outside our apartment, apparently abandoned. She was was inside an open plastic bag indicating that someone had thrown her over the fence and fell right under the tree.

My dear calico cat Kitty2.

Now, Kitty2 is a gigantic cat! I took several photos of her and turned her coat markings into a pattern for a crocheted bag. Below is a photo of the finished bag.

The pattern on this side of the bag is based on Kitty's face.

The body of the bag is made from two sections, front and back, of the same size but different markings. The bag is worked in single crochet, except for a small section where the ginger and white colors mesh (as shown above) where I used front post double crochet alternating with single crochet. It is also possible to make the alternating colors in sc stitches only.

The photo below shows the other side of the bag, worked entirely in single crochet. The handle of the bag is a crocheted cylinder stuffed with cotton.

The pattern on this side of the bag is based on Kitty's body.

The side seams of the bag was crocheted together with single crochet, and the handle was sewn to the bag.

Here is the sketch I made to determine the color pattern for the bag.

Sketch of Kittty2's body and face.

And here’s another photo of Kitty2 when she was still a little frisky kitten.

Kitty2 when she was a pain in the ass.

I would like to make this purse again, this time, paying more attention to the methods that I should use in changing color in crochet. I used the stranding (or stranded) method (carrying the yarn across the back of the work) in the project, and have found it to be very messy and difficult especially when it came to making the purse handle: it was just too difficult changing colors in such a small piece. Perhaps the intarsia method (as used in Tunisian crochet) would be cleaner and easier – then that would be the opportunity to learn Tunisian, and eventually,Tapestry crochet.

Note: No animals were harmed in making the Calico Bag.