Interweave Crochet, Spring 2009

Well, I have heard your call to know more about the Tremendous Tote. And here it is ;-)



Making bags is my favorite thing to do so having this pattern chosen for this issue of IC is a real treat. When making bags I think of things that I like to have in the bags I carry. I know that as a mom I tend to carry a lot of things, I also like to have a long handle so I can just throw it over my shoulder or arm as I chase the kids and I have, have, have to have a pocket to put my cell phone and keys so they don’t get lost. Once I have all the things in place that I know I want to add I begin to swatch and sketch.

For this bag, I wanted to make sure I made a tremendously large bag because (as a large girl myself) I know that large girls look silly if they carry small bags. A large tote really looks more proportionate to a larger frame. Well, with a large bag obviously comes some weight so the structure of this bag had to be such that it would be able to withstand the weight of the bag. That is why I chose to use 100% wool on the top of the bag and felt it. But wait, before I felted I took the opportunity to also add a pocket. The pocket will be felted along with the top portion of the tote which will make it super secure.

The reason I added the pocket to the wool and have it felted also is so that when I put items in the pocket it will not be pulling on the less hearty portion of the tote but on the sturdy felted top…I think this is perfect.

Another great thing about this particular tote is that the bottom part of the bag uses a bamboo/soy blend yarn that has a nice sheen to it as well as being totally safe to wash without getting harmed. This means that I can actually finish the entire bag then throw it in the washer to be felted without any worry of the bottom part of the bag getting ruined.

Also, this bag couldn’t just be a “large bag” it had to be an eye popper. So, I used the Fibonacci numbers when I did the striping and when I chose the number of colors to use. This makes the stripes not only strategically random but visually appealing. You can’t go wrong if you stick to this number sequence no matter what color you choose to put where.

After the tote is felted I wanted to make sure that the structural stability of the bag could be retained once I put things inside of it so I did line the inside of it. Since the pocket is attached to the top of the bag it is not necessary to line that part which means you will only be lining the part of the bag made out of the bamboo/soy blend yarn. Don’t worry, you don’t have to be a seamstress to line this bag! I finished it with a nice set of rolled leather handles that matched the colors of the bag and voila!