Claire De Lune

I need to break them down twice to finally happy enough wit the result. From the beginning the name is Claire De Lune, in the process I called it Scary Night (my husband insisted to add people hung their head at tree branch on the chart). Yes and it was scary night until I attached the moon.
The bag is about (11x4x10) inch. Here are some pictures of the finished project

front view

back view

If you are interested in making one, leave a comment and your email address. I'll send you the color chart in excel workbook format.
Thx, Happy Crocheting!

TOSCA TUCK BAG

This past few months have been a 'tosca theme', I'm not a shopping-type-woman, or in short a shopaholic, but when I do, I'll purchase something with this shade of color. And...anyway the yarn was never meant to be a purse, clutch, bag or hand bag or something in common, I wanted to make a shrug or cropped cardi from this yarn. I almost finished with my project when I realized something was wrong. This type of yarn, beside getting more and more expensive every year, it's shorter than before. Ugh! I didn't expect this. So there  I was, thinking about continuing or stopping.

I chose stop and it gave me a chance to use my brand new tunisian crochet hook for the first time. No pattern here (sorry) but I'll tell you how I made this bag. The finished bag is about (25x10x25) cm

The base of the bag worked in tunisian simple stitch, a rectangle about 25x10 cm. The straps also in tunisian simple stitch .

To create the body, pick up and knit around rectangle edge and work in circular needle. It's a little tricky sometimes when knit in circular based on rectangular edge, but after some rows, it's getting easier and as smooth as usual. Work straight for 5 rows, and make the very bottom tuck. If you're not familiar here is how you make tucks. After the 1st tuck work 8 rows in st st, and repeat the tuck process. Repeat this until you reach your desire height. 

   

The closure is up to you, snap button, zipper, i-cord rope, anything will do, but because I LOVE privacy to what inside my bag I choose zipper, and I found inside lining is useful, especially when working with zipper. I sew the zipper with the lining fabric, and hand-sew the zipper (which had already attached with the lining) with  the bag. Here it is the result!

I was so lucky found zipper that matched the color of my yarn, but not without an effort. I came to a shop inside a traditional market that looked like the zipper had been there like forever. It's so dull and dirty and I need to wash it thoroughly before sewing it.But it's worth the result.

Happy Knitting! (and crocheting)

KNITTING WITH TUCKS

We need to fold across the knitting piece to create tucks (this is similar in making hems). The number of rows are depend on how long/big the tucks will be. Tucks usually work in st st, on the right side fold the knitting piece along the row and knit each stitch on the needle together with the back loop of each corresponding stitch of the previous or several rows below.

Imagine you are working tucks at 5th rows, so you need to knit all each stitch at the top together with the back loop of all corresponding stitch 4 rows below. For me, it's better to work with crochet hook instead of knitting needle. What I do is insert the crochet hook at the front loop of the 1st stitch on the working needle and through the back of knitting fabric I'll hook the back loop of the corresponding stitch below and pull a loop from there (on the picture above it shows in red dotted line). Do this across the row while transferring the loop to knitting needle. After the tuck is done continue to knit as usual or work another tucks.

Tucks consist of few rows give a corded effect to the fabric