Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Crocheted Yoga Mat Bag--Pics and pattern


This is the yoga mat bag I created my very own self. I started yoga classes and didn't have anything in which to carry my mat. Namaste from knitty.com would have taken forfrickingever to make, I don't own SnB Nation and didn't want to buy it for one pattern, and all the other crocheted mat bag patterns I've seen on the net are just, well, kinda ugly. So I pulled some cotton yarn from my stash and set to work on my own. I wanted something more open and airy so it would be pretty and so my mat could breathe. (I don't know if yoga mats need to breathe, but it seemed like a good idea to me.)
Materials:
4 1/2 oz. Sugar n' Cream cotton yarn; color midnight magic
Crochet hook size I
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Pattern stitches:
Beginning V-stitch--ch 4, dc in same st as beg ch-4
V-stitch--(dc, ch 1, dc) in indicated stitch

Starting at the base of the bag:
Ch 4, join with slip stitch to form a ring.
Rnd 1: Ch 3 (counts as first dc in this and every round), 7 dc into ring, join with sl st to top of beg ch-3. (8dc)
Rnd 2: Ch 3, dc into same stitch. 2 dc in each dc around. Join. (16 dc)
Rnd 3: Ch 3, 2 dc in next dc, (1 dc in next dc, 2 dc in next dc) around. Join. (24 dc)
Rnd 4: Ch 3, dc in same stitch, 2 dc in each dc around. Join. (48 dc)
Rnd 5: Ch 3, dc in back loops only in each dc around. Join. (48 dc)--turning round. This and the rest of the rounds will form the tube of the bag into which the rolled up mat resides.
Rnd 6: Beg V-st in first st, (skip next 2 dc, V-stitch in next dc) around, join in 3rd ch of beg ch-4. (16 V-sts.)
Rnd 7-33: Sl st into first ch-1 sp, beg V-st, (V-st in next ch-1 sp) around. Join in 3rd ch of beg ch-4.
Rnd 34: Ch 3, (dc in ch-1 sp, dc in next 2 dc) around. Join to top of ch-3. (48 dc)
Rnd 35: Ch 1, sc in same st, sc around. Join. Do not finish off! Continue with strap.

Strap: Ch 70. Avoid twisting chain. Slip stitch to top of beg ch-3 on round 4. Sl st in next 2 dc (the last two dc in round 4--you're working backwards from the beg ch-3--email me if this is confusing). Turn and work 1 dc in each chain stitch back up to the top of the bag. Sl st to round 35 and across the stitches at the top until you are two stitches on the other side of the chain. Turn and work 1 dc on the opposite side of the chain in each stitch back to the base of the bag again. Sl st in an adjacent st on round 4. Finish off and weave in ends.

I was going to try to add photos to illustrate the top and bottom of the strap and show you that, yeah, they're not pretty, but they work, but blogger is not cooperating. I've tried uploading the pics three times and they're not showing up. Oh well.

I added a drawstring to mine. You can just make a chain about 20-24" long and thread it through the dc on round 34. Enjoy!