Crochet Japanese knot bag

Hi there!!!!

Hope you are all well and I wish you a GREAT 2017!!! We all deserve a good one!!!

My last blog post is from 7/12/2016 ...... it was time to be back!!!!

Today I'm going to show you a little project that took few days to be completed, because of the use of a small number of granny squares and of the simple construction : a Japanese knot bag !!!

It all started with a simple granny square ...

... and very soon there was a second one ...

... and joining with the "as-you-go method", there were soon more to crochet the first panel of the bag to be ...

... and in no time we had even the second panel ...

Once the two panels were joined, I had to add a simple border along the top (2 rounds of single crochets, US crochet terminology) ...

Then, it was time to add the handles (still granny squares, but smaller of one round) with the peculiarity to be asymmetrical ...

You have to make the longer handle pass through the loop of the smaller handle and you will have something like the following ...

The pattern is from of one of my Japanese crochet books ...

and the bag is shown on page 25 ...

I was working with 2 different hooks (5,5 mm and 6,5 mm), because the yarn for the common background was thicker than the other yarns and, for the same reason, the shells of the background are only of 2 DC (double crochet) and not 3 !!!

See you soon, xxxx Alessandra

Mittens !!!

During the last #ldjcrochethookup on Instagram, hosted by Ashley of lazydaisyjones (you can find her blog HERE), on DAY 23 we had to submit : MITTENS !!!

I never crocheted a pair before !!!
Luckily I found this Japanese crochet book with this picture on the cover ...

.... and inside (on pages 6 and 7) I find the pictures of these lovely mittens ...

So, I collected my 4mm hook and the following yarns :

Patons FAB DK shade 02342 petrol
Katia MERINO MIX shade 4 red

I had to modify the original pattern, adding a couple of rows both for the mittens and thumbs, and it came out nicely, with a floral design on the back of the glove ....

They are very easy and quick to crochet and the crocheted cord (in a contrasting colour) gives a nice touch to this pair of mittens !!!

A lot of you ask where I buy my Japanese crochet books ....

Well, my collection is made of books I bought while living in Jakarta (Indonesia) and when travelling to Singapore. In fact, in both places, you can find an amazing bookstore chain known as KINOKUNIYA and it was heaven !!!!

I found, yesterday, the folowing WEBSITE and I hope it could be helpful !

I know that you can buy these books even via ETSY or AMAZON ... have a look!

Another tip : you can "read" Japanese crochet books via ISSUU, a digital publishing platform for magazines, catalogs and more, as they say!!

I wish you luck with your book search and remember that this month celebrates MOVEMBER...

xxxx, Alessandra

My first PONCHO !!!!!

I picked this book from one of my bookcases...

... and on page 26 I fell in love with this design ...

.... any personal "revolution" from the original pattern??? ;oD

Well well well ...

For sure, I did use different yarns and colours (from top to bottom) :

Pure Gold DK 005 midnight
Filati Sandilane ATOMO 26 silver
Robin Double Knit 0027 grey
Pure Gold DK 036 ivory
Kartopu AK-Soft K657
Pure Gold DK 059 azzure
Kartopu AK-Soft K634
Moda Vera LUMINO 80280225 neon yellow

and around the neck : Pure Gold DK 206 blossom and some silver grey from ATOMO (see list).

... and the hook was not a 3,3mm as suggested, but a 4mm, so my poncho is bigger than the original one .... !!!!!

... I was excited when it reached the right size to try it on ... my lady manikin ...

... but still some rounds to add ...

.... neck detail...

... some blocking ...

.... and it's DONE !!!!

The fringes are made both with the yarns used for the poncho and some little extras, just to brighten it up a little more ...


My son Tobia took a couple of pics with me wearing this blue beauty ... ready ???? ;OD

.... Such fun, right ???

xxxx Alessandra

Another scarf from a Japanese chart !

Scarves and Japanese crochet books are a kind of obsession of mine ... I know, but there is nothing wrong with it. I love these books for a lot of reasons, especially the styling and the graphs... I find hard sometimes to follow a written pattern, because each designer has her/his own way to put down directions and they can omit something that for me, instead, is necessary to understand the design/motif. Furthermore, not knowing any Japanese word (mostly because I cannot read it!!!), I feel better because I avoid the reading of superlative adjectives attributed to the crochet works displayed , which maybe are simply nice and not so extraordinary .... I just look at the picture and I value by myself if it's worth it or not the hard work : so simple!!!

So, in one of my favourite books (you can see the cover and the picture of the chosen pattern ai the above picture), on pages 22/23, I found the "Zigzag Border Muffler", while the chart is on page 73.

The design calls for a certain brand of yarn and a small hook (2,25mm), but I decided to use my yarns (ELLE PURE GOLD DK : 003 spritz, 074 sage, 202 honey, 205 salmon, 206 blossom and 208 clover and Kartopu Lake 1001 grey) and, consequently, different hooks : 4mm (with the colourful yarns) and 5mm (with the grey yarn, even if I'm sure I could use a bigger hook!).

With these differences, my scarf came out different from the one pictured in the book! My scarf is bigger than the one given : 230cm (without fringes/pompoms) x 30cm !!! The scarf from the book measures : 104,5cm x 19,5cm !!!!! If you consider the fringes, which are 10cm long, my scarf's length reaches 250cm!!! Not bad!!! ;oD

I really enjoyed to crochet this ripple pattern and how it changed, just adding a new colour ...

I really like the contrast (well seen on the back of the work) between the thinner yarns and the chunky grey and the result is lacy and cosy at the same time ...

Another personal touch is given by the fringes : the original pattern shows just the pompoms ...

Even though there were some tails to trim, the scarf was quick to crochet, ready for my shoulders in the next chilly days, as in Mozambique winter is the now season (!!!!) ...
Ready to wear, as you can see ...

xxxx, Alessandra