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The Crocheted Outer Bag
The pattern:
The crochet pattern for this bag is from Willow Crochet. (not an affiliate as of this date) Though the crochet stitch itself is simple and repetitive, keeping track of where you are in the pattern can be a challenge. Or at least it was for me. Fortunately, I have overcome my tendencies to despair if a project is not perfect and figured out how to balance out small mistakes that were far enough back in the project that re-doing them would probably have kept me from ever finishing. I have also just completed her tiger sweater, which I will show at the end of the post.
If you can follow directions, this project is not hard for someone with at least confident beginner skills. However, I would not recommend it for newbie beginners. I think a person should have several other easier projects satisfactorily completed before trying any graphgan projects. This is because changing the colors requires understanding the different parts of a crochet stitch in ways that I know I wasn’t solid on until I had done several projects.
The other main challenge with graphgan crochet is getting the yarns tangled. You need to have several spools of yarn attached at the same time. The graphgan portions of such projects are not easily portable, though I have managed them some on longer car rides.
The yarn:
The pattern recommends wool yarn, specifically from knitpicks.com, (not an affiliate as of this date) however, since this bee bag was my first graphgan project of this type (photo of first corner to corner graphgan project below), I decided to go with less expensive acrylic yarn from Lion Brand.
If you look at the pattern, you can see I went with a denim-like blue for the background instead of the pattern’s recommended turquoise. I would do it again. I am very pleased with that color combination and how the design still stood out, but the bag is more versatile for various outfits. I did use wool for the tiger sweater and am very pleased with the affordable Wool of the Andes brand. So much so that I invested in enough of it to make a wool blanket for our kingsized bed.
The Custom Lining
The design:
The lining was my design. There are not any instructions for a lining with the bag pattern. As I mention in the slideshow/video combo, I used techniques and designs explained in my book Sew Your Favorite Hip Bag, which is also linked to by the cover photo in the side bar. For clarity’s sake, let me emphasize that I am NOT saying the pattern for this particular lining is in that book, but clear instructions for very similar pockets and zipper closures are in the book.
To create the base pieces for the lining, I traced the outside of the bee bag. I added seam allowances to those measurements, as well as a tiny bit of ease, to give the lining more of a relaxed look and feel. Then I decided what type of pockets to place where inside the lining and cut the pieces and zipper lengths accordingly.
The thing that almost tripped me up was the orientation of the top zipper. This zipper needs to be attached basically with the lining wrong-side-out. I think you can see what I mean by looking at the photos.
The lining fabric:
The lining is a “duck cloth” I purchased at Hobby Lobby. It is a medium twill-type fabric. They have had it there the last couple of years. I did prewash it, as I do all my fabrics. Bags may not get washed a lot, but if they do, it would be sad if the lining shrunk and ruined it all.
The attachment:
Using a double strand of regular sewing thread, I hand whip-stitched the lining to the bee bag. I worked in the space between the inside of the bee bag and the outside of the lining, similar to doing a hem. My goal was to use stitches small enough to be hard to see, but big enough to securely hold the lining in place without tearing the yarn. Having a lot of stitches should also keep it strong.
I chose to have the zipper sit about 1 inch below the top of the outer bag. I used a dark blue thread that is pretty much invisible on the outside of the back. In the photo below, you can just make out the stitches below the top zipper tape.
The video below gives an overview of the project, with more photos and a video, but not any specific instructions. The first photo in the video show the bee bag panels pinned down for blocking.
Other Graphgan Projects
Tiger sweater:
I finished the tiger sweater a couple of weeks ago. This isn’t the first sweater I’ve crocheted, but is my first graphgan sweater. The back and sleeves are simply solid orange, so they went comparatively quickly.
I made many mistakes on this sweater. If you look closely, you can see my finished tiger face is not symmetrical. I am not sure exactly where my counting go off, but I adjusted course without ripping anything out. I’m pretty sure no tiger has a symmetrical face anyway, haha.
Also, I somehow messed up when counting for the front shoulder extensions, so they do not match. Again, I decided it looked close enough and it was unlikely anyone would know unless I told them or they studied it carefully. If a person is inclined to count the stitches and point that out to me, more power to them, but I might point out that imperfections often make things more valuable!
There were two options for the neck band and I chose the less bulky one.
It’s hard to tell from the photo, but this is the large size. I am about 5 foot 9 inches tall and of average build. The sweater is comfortable on me. Not tight and not baggy. I have just ordered some fabric swatches from Mood Fabrics to sew some pants and a skirt to go with the sweater. I’m sure it would go with my blue jeans, but I wanted some other choices a little more polished. Maybe I will write a post about the swatches and ask for your input!
The fox corner to corner (C2C) poncho:
A couple of Christmases ago, I decided to make ponchos for all my grandchildren for gifts. I had 16 grandchildren at the time. Naturally, I had underestimated how much time that would take, so even though I began in September, some of them got hats. BUT one lucky 5 year old grandson got this fox poncho.
The pattern was for a largish square on a C2C crocheted blanket. To make the back of the poncho, I just blanked out the face, so it looked like the back of the fox. The border on each square was added to make it the desired final size. Then I stitched the two squares together on one side. leaving a hole for his head.
Comparison of Graphgan Techniques
I think the C2C graphgan method went faster. Though I think the fox is adorable, this method would have to be done in very small yarn to have the same possibilities of design as the method used in the bee bag and tiger sweater.
Would I use any of these methods again? Sure. I would use either method, depending on the particular design and item being crocheted. I expect the C2C would be mostly for larger items, like blankets or larger bags. I’m not exactly sure what to call the other method, because it is still just using basic, simple crochet stitches and changing colors as directed.
I don’t have any immediate plans to start another crochet project, but a recent blanket designed by Willow Crochet has caught my eye, with all its butterflies and flowers.
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