Crochet bags as stash-busters

Posted on October 7, 2022 by Margaret Ford

I’m probably not alone in having accumulated lots of the “novelty” yarns of the nineties and noughties. You know the kind: hairy, glitzy, chunky, loopy and often all these in the same ball!

Time, I thought, to get rid of them. How? I doubt anyone would want them as they are very “yesterday”.

I no longer use thick yarns myself, preferring to crochet finer threads that give good stitch definition.

Yet the thought of simply throwing them away didn’t appeal. What a waste.

Sooooooo…….why not crochet some bags of various sizes that I can use for shopping as well as for storage?

This was one of the first. A large bag that actually informed the colour scheme for a refurbished family room! All double crochet (US single crochet) with yarns combined when necessary to maintain the weight

As a switch from chunky to fine, I plied some very fine hand-dyed weft threads bought in weaving villages in West Timor with commercial embroidery threads to make a pouch for the mobile phone and the credit card when walking….the cord is a Romanian lace braid.

This phone bag was sheer indulgence in using colour. I haven’t ever used it because it’s so lairy.! Again, the cord is a Romanian lace braid

I strengthened the base of this larger bag by cutting thick cardboard from a box of wine and covering it with plastic wrap so it wouldn’t absorb water if any was around. Then I encased the base in black fabric and inserted it into the bottom of the bag. The bag handles are lovely. The consist of a spiral crocheted cord with a flange on each end. This makes it easy to sew the handle neatly onto the bag. Instructions? See this youtube video: youtube.com/watch?v=7dKQ-gP2U6A&t=31s

A cute little bag made for a Secret Santa in one of my textile groups.

There is REALLY thick yarn in this one. Spot the hair of my Rag Doll cat!

A bag trio. The one on the right looks very sad. It once had a purpose which was to hold lots of yarn but since I put more cupboards in it hasn’t had a real job.

Sometimes bags become vessels! How? When the one in the first image on this post is stuffed! Quite sculptural.

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1 Response to Crochet bags as stash-busters

Lin says:

October 7, 2022 at 10:40 am

They look fabulous Margaret, much better than throwing the out!

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