Free Crochet Pattern – Cool Stripes Bag

Do you love to use striped or variegated yarns in your crochet, or are you more like me and tend to stick with solids, heathers, and tweeds?

As much as I love the beautifully colored yarns (there’s plenty of proof of this in my yarn stash;) ), I have always had a hard time finding just the right design for them. I was beginning to believe that these yarns with shorter color changes were designed by the yarn companies for knitters, not crocheters!

I recently received an e-mail from Red Heart Yarns asking if they could send me a skein of their newest yarns to play with and Red Heart Super Saver Stripes was one of them. Who am I to turn down free yarn??? But then the anxiety set in… “What on earth am I going to make with this? STRIPES?!?!?! The color changes aren’t long enough for crochet. Am I going to disappoint them?” Eek!

Then the box came and I was super excited that the colorways they sent were hues of blue…my favorite!!! I laid them on a table where they could stare at me for a few days until they finally told me what they wanted to become (no, I wasn’t expecting the yarn to talk…I haven’t lost my marbles 😉 ). Then one day it hit me…of course it was when I was on a 10 hour drive back from my daughter’s and I couldn’t crochet. So I did the next best thing. The next time I stopped for gas I drew a quick sketch and a note with my idea so I wouldn’t forget. The very next day, the Cool Stripes Bag was born and the rest is history! I hope you enjoy this free crochet pattern!

Moral of the story (as you’ll see), self-striping yarn is also made for crocheters. 😉

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Materials

• Yarn: Red Heart Yarns Super Saver Stripes  (stripes 5 oz / 141 g / 236 yds / 215 m / 100% acrylic)  (If you’re making your bag the size shown, you’ll need only 1 skein.) Colorway shown: Cool Stripe
• Crochet Hook: I/9/5.50mm, H/8/5.00mm (My favorite crochet hooks are the Clover Amour Hooks, I’ve never had an ache in my hand since switching)
• Scissors
• Yarn Needle
• Locking Stitch Marker
• D-Rings (2) 1.5″ (optional)

Gauge

• In herringbone hdc: 11.25 sts X 9.5 rows = 3″

Difficulty Level

• Easy

Finished Size

• One Size: 10.5″ W x 10.5″ H (does not include strap)

Stitch Abbreviations

• ch: chain
• sl st: slip stitch
• sc: single crochet
• Hhdc: Herringbone Half Double Crochet Stitch
• yo: yarn over
• st(s): stitch(es)
• RS: right side
• WS: wrong side
• SM: stitch marker

Special Stitches

Notes

• I tend to crochet on the tighter side. You may need to go down a hook size (or two) to meet gauge if you crochet on the looser side.