Hi guys!

Two special friends of mine (Kay and Jo) have made me this gorgeous Jolly Chunky Bag with Scheepjeswol Stonewashed XL.  The pattern is available for free HERE on Attic24.  It is simply gorgeous and gorgeously simple!

The lining was chosen on my very first visit to the new Fabric Warehouse (in Uxbridge, London), right after I had first started making Sophie in the Stonewashed XL.  At first glance we thought the animals on the fabric were little scheep, making them perfect for the Scheepjes (Sheep) bag.  On closer inspection we realized that they were hedgehogs and Jo promptly dubbed them “Scheepjeshogs”.

I cannot begin to tell you how many special memories and nostalgic “nonsenses” are intertwined in this bag.  It represents all of my Sophie journey, as well as 4 wonderful crochet friends:  Jenny, Lynnette, Kay, and Jo.

*shakes herself*

Back to my beautiful bag!

Kay crocheted the bag…

..and Jo added the lining.

She also added some personalized bits and bobs like this super cute hedgehog button…

…and this “Handmade With Love” label.

If you look at the photo above, you will see that Jo actually stitched the lining to the handles instead of hand-sewing it like the rest of the bag.  She says that she learnt by trial and error.  And the stitches are hardly visible on the outside of the handles.  In fact, most of them aren’t visible at all.

My first glimpse of the bag-in-progress was when Kay came to help me with Part 13 of Sophie’s Universe.

I was amazed at how much more vibrant the Stonewashed colours looked on the bag.  In my large Sophie the colours are deceptively muted.

My next glimpse of the Jolly Crochet Bag was when I went to visit Fabric Warehouse at the end of April.  I got to look at the flowers…

…and I got to fool around with the bag.

Kay has kindly recorded the nitty-gritty of making Lucy’s Jolly Chunky Bag in Stonewashed XL, so if you want to make a similar bag, here are all the details:

Lucy’s Jolly Chunky Bag in Stonewashed XL

Pattern

You can find the pattern HERE.

Hook

Kay used a 5 mm Clover Amour Crochet Hook (US 8/H  UK 6).  You can find the whole set of Clover Amour Crochet Hooks HERE on Amazon (currently $43 – discounted from $72).

Yarn

I chose Scheepjeswol Stonewashed XL (available HERE from Deramores) in the following  9 colours:  Moonstone, Deep Amethyst, Corundum Ruby, Lemon Quartz, Canada Jade, Blue Apatite, Green Agate, Amazonite, and Yellow Jasper.  Deramores ships worldwide above a certain amount, by the way.

Kay used approximately 35 g of each colour, so I have a little bit left over to play with.

Pattern Adaptations (to allow for difference in yarn weight)

The first 3 adaptations were personal choice.

1. Magic ring to start.
2. Standing dc at the start of each round.
3. Invisible join at the end of each round.
4. 10 rounds of increases (necessary to obtain diameter of 23cm).  {110 st’s}
5. Rounds 11-29:  No increases.  {110 st’s}
6. Round 30:  Increase 1 dc at the end of the round.  This was necessary to make the scallop pattern fit correctly, due to the extra round of increases for the base).  {111 st’s}
7. Straps: 110 foundation sc’s plus 7 rows of single crochet.

Yarn Used Per Round

Bag

1. Blue Apatite – 1 g
2. Yellow Jasper – 1 g
3. Canada Jade – 2 g
4. Deep Amethyst – 3 g
5. Green Agate – 4 g
6. Lemon Quartz – 4 g
7. Blue Apatite – 5 g
8. Corundum Ruby – 6 g
9. Amazonite – 6 g
10. Yellow Jasper – 7 g
11. Green Agate (and all the following rounds) – 7 g
12. Canada jade
13. Moonstone
14. Deep Amethyst
15. Amazonite
16. Lemon Quartz
17. Corundum Ruby
18. Canada Jade
19. Blue Apatite
20. Moonstone
21. Yellow Jasper
22. Deep Amethyst
23. Green Agate
24. Corundum ruby
25. Lemon Quartz
26. Moonstone
27. Amazonite
28. Blue Apatite
29. Deep Amethyst
30. Lemon Quartz

Scallop Edge

Green Agate – 10 g

Straps

1. Blue Apatite and Yellow Jasper (foundation rows) – 10 g each.
2. Lemon Quartz and Canada Jade – 8 g each.
3. Amazonite and Moonstone – 8 g each.
4. Corundum Ruby and Deep Amethyst – 8 g each.

Flowers

One in each colour except Canada Jade – 3 g each.

Leaves

8 in Canada Jade – 10 g for 8 leaves.

I absolutely LOVE my bag and I would like to say thank you to Lucy for this simple pattern.  Also a massive thank you to Kay and Jo for making me feel special beyond words with their generous gift.

My Jolly Chunky Crochet Bag is just big enough to fit my small Sophie in (up to Part 18 in the photo below).  I am almost too scared to use it in case it gets grubby.  I say “almost”, because there is no way in the world that I would NOT use it.

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