A year ago, a friend of ours was returning from Russia and made the mistake of asking whether I’d like something from there. Well obviously, I asked for yarn. After seeking advice online, I asked for cotton and wool yarn in sweater quantities. He more than delivered on his assignment. Since then I’ve tried to do several things with the cotton yarn, but unfortunately, it is not a glossy kind and my usual demon of Garment-Fear® kept me from actually using the yarn for its stated purpose.
A few weeks ago, however, someone on one of my mailing lists sent a link for a new free pattern at NaturallyCaron.com which looked innocuous enough, but was quietly screaming my name!!! I hastened to add it to my Ravelry queue and found it had me so mesmerised that I was upset there was no photo to represent it. Well, there was no answer for it but to make it myself. The world had to know the pattern existed.
Here it is, the Chakra bag.
And since you’d like to know, here are the details.
Yarn: Kamteks Khlopok from Russia (Khlopok = cotton), about one-and-a-half skeins. (Each skein had 250m yarn).
Hook: Size 3.00mm
Pattern: Chakra Bag from NaturallyCaron.com (and here’s the Ravelry pattern page, and my project page).
Time: 3 days from start to finish. Seriously quick.
Size: 11″ x 7″ x 2″
Extra #1 As I said, it was screaming to me :p
#2 I love the textured stitch, and the pattern it forms. The shape of the finished bag is also interesting, only my poor finishing makes it not stand out. Next time, I will not take any shortcuts, but I shall sew a proper lining (the story of my experiences with lining a bag will follow later).
#3 The said lining is cut from a length of Vietnamese silk my father brought back for me in December 2006. I still have enough left to line another bag perhaps. I was hoarding it for something special, but decided enough was enough. Here’s a glimpse of the inside (not much more, because my finishing is really sad).
#4 There is a slight error in the strap instructions, which have you start off with Ch 10 and then begin the first row with Ch 2 and hdc (US) across to give 8hdc, but obviously, either you ch 8 to begin, or you omit the ch 2 at the beginning of Row 1.
#5 I drastically shortened the length of the strap because I know it would stretch anyway. I took it out into the wilds of Bangalore last weekend, and I’m gratified to report the stretching was minimal (or not noticeable enough for discomfort at any rate). Perhaps it was because of the rigidity given by the reverse sc edging. On the other hand, the width of the strap and the cotton yarn made it one of the most comfortable bag handles I’ve ever misused. I was carrying my camera, my cell phone, the iPod, extra camera batteries, a packet of wet tissues (which despite being touted as containing aloe vera and having no alcohol still left my face dry), pen, address book, small diary, wallet and sundry other necessities for a weekend away.
However, next time, I’d prefer to make the strap width wise rather than lengthwise, because I read on one of the Ravelry forums (fora?) that that would reduce the stretching. Which seems logical enough, wouldn’t you say? It would also have the added (and much required) benefit of making it easier to sew the edges to the sides, because we could then do one joining stitch in each stitch of the strap. Row-wise, I can *never* pick up the same number of stitches on both sides of something, so this one has lopsided er, sides. Also, the strap has an odd slant, which puzzles me. Perhaps the nature of the hdc makes it bias?
#6 The pattern would have you use needle and yarn to sew the pieces together, but I relied on my trusty hook instead, and have no complaints. I also loved the definition given to the edges by the reverse sc.
#7 My poor bag has no fastening yet. I’ve been saved by the overlapping flap, but I need to find (a) a good fastening (b) a purselet for small things inside. I tried looking for magnetic buttons in Bangalore, but the fellow, despite me talking to him in Telugu which he knew, would have me buy a packet of 100 magnetic buttons for Rs 1,200. That would see me giving out magnetic buttons as hostess gifts for the rest of my active life.
#8 The original yarn appears to have a sheen, which mine doesn’t but that’s ok. Hey!!!!! That reminds me of the sparkly stuff I picked up in B’lore. It’s meant for a bag anyway, so why not use it with this pattern? Huh, huh? Brilliant! Cindy, isn’t that a brilliant idea?
I enjoyed making this bag. Apparently it’s been added to 28 queues on Ravelry, but no one else has begun making it yet. Why not??? Go get your hooks!
20 comments
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July 20, 2008 at 4:19 am
sara
WOW!!! Everything about this bag is awesome!
July 20, 2008 at 4:44 am
Deneen
I love the bag, it’s beautiful! I saw the pattern and then say “D” hook and backed off. I’ve been working on something with a G hook for ages now and honestly, I need a big hook project!
July 20, 2008 at 6:41 am
Umme Yusuf
I also love the bag, stitch pattern, shape and all.
July 20, 2008 at 6:52 am
Andrea (noricum)
What a lovely bag! Gorgeous silk lining too!
July 20, 2008 at 7:49 am
Rima Aranha
Super cute. I especially like the lining.
July 20, 2008 at 10:06 am
mazhalai
SO cute! i want one in pink!
July 20, 2008 at 10:34 am
purlycues
Love the bag , specially the lining is gorgeous!
July 20, 2008 at 11:17 am
iaminchennai
The lining is beautiful… The bag came out very nicely..
July 20, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Yasmin
Thats a very cute bag. I totally agree about the bag handles. I like them wide too. And your lining is lovely too. I’d say nice finishing .
And thanks to you I now feel the need for another ‘me too’. I just have to make this one- and I have so many projects on the go right now! And no cotton yarn !!!
July 21, 2008 at 3:32 am
Sangeeta
Absolutely gorgeous! Inside and out!!
July 21, 2008 at 4:29 am
Smellyann
It’s really nice! I love it.
I wouldn’t begin to know how to do the lining, though.
Good job, as usual, dearest! 😀
July 21, 2008 at 8:17 pm
JulieT
Oh, LOVELY! The bag, the lining, everything. Wonderful project.
July 21, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Vicki
This is lovely!! I have been carrying a old bag for a long time, this one might need to be my next one.
good work
Vicki
July 23, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Tanja
A beautiful bag, I like the color.
Greetings from Germany
Tanja
July 23, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Debbie
Beautiful. I agree, the texture stitch is really pretty, and unusual (in a good way). And a good plan to use that pretty fabric for the lining.
August 26, 2008 at 7:13 pm
Jo
The pattern at NaturallyCaron is no longer available, I get errors when I go to the page.
February 14, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Kissiface
I loved this pattern when I first saw it and would still love very much to make it but I can’t seem to figure out if I am interpreting the pattern correctly when I start. I don’t want to crochet for 2hrs just to have to start again. Jo, I printed the pattern recently so I beleive it is still available. Try getting it through ravelry.com.
February 14, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Kissiface
Oh..I forgot to mention. The pattern is at NaturallyCaron.com.projects/chakra/chakra_1.html
December 2, 2009 at 12:24 pm
We haz a model! « Where is she now?
[…] of it with a lot of yardage and still have odd amounts left. Other projects from it include my Chakra purse, a Fat Bottom Bag, a cabled baby bib, another bib I find I didn’t blog about that I used the […]
December 14, 2013 at 12:35 pm
Cathy the Bagg Lady
I have this pattern listed in my Ravelry library. However, I cannot locate it on the Caron Database. Do you by chance have a copy of the pattern? I would sure love to have it as I want to make this purse for my nephew’s wife.
Thank you, Cathy the Bagg Lady
my email address is: raggz2baggz@gmail.com
my blog address is: http://raggz2baggz.com