Back to Class Bag

in this photo there are 2 books and 4 balls of yarn in the bag

*** A huge thank you to my followers!!The revenue from my adds on this blog and my youtube are paying for my books so a HUGE THANK YOU for helping me go back to school*****
I am returning to college to finish my degree now that my boys are getting older, so I had to make a cute crochet bag that could hold a text book! Now I have been lining a lot of my projects lately and I need a sewing break! So I didn't line this bag however if you are rough or want to load your bag up with lots of books I recommend you line it with cotton or something stronger. The bag I made has about 8 pounds of books in it and it stretches but can hold about that weight for limited use such as going to class! This bag is perfect to be used to hold your projects, yarn, magazines, and other things all the time for heavy use!

4 ply yarn
J / 6 mm hook
 and H hook
optional ribbon to weave in and out of the hdc ch1 spaces.
I used Lion Brand's Pound of Love and had over half the ball left over!



The bottom of the bag is worked by holding 2 strands together at once

Row 1
FSC 14 times
Row 2-34
turn, ch1, sc in the next 13sc

The sides are worked in the round

Use only one strand for the rest of the bag, ( for a slightly bigger and stronger bag use double strands through out)
Round 1 starting at a corner sc in every stitch around, work 3 sc in each corner.

* note, I avoid joining and chaining whenever possible when working in the round, i don't like the seam, however feel free to join and ch1 for every round if that is your preference *

Round 2
 place a stitch marker hdc in each stitch around,
Round 3-4
hdc in each stitch around on round 4 ch1, skip 1 and join for the last stitch
Round 5
ch1, hdc in same stitch , ch1, skip 1 stitch,* hdc,ch1, skip 1 stitch ,* repeat until the end of the round.  * if your stitches don't match up at the end skip one extra space* chain one and join to first hdc
Round 6
ch1, hdc in first space, hdc in each hdc and ch space.
Round 7
repeat round 5
Round 8
repeat round 6
Round 9-12
1 hdc in each hdc on the last stitch of round 12 ch1, skip 1 and join for the last stitch
Round 13
repeat round 5
Round 14
repeat round 6
Round 15-18
1 hdc in each hdc, on round 18 ch1, skip 1 and join for the last stitch
Round 19
Repeat round 5
Round 20
repeat round 6
Round 21
repeat round 5
Round 22
repeat round 6
Round 23-24
1 hdc in each, on round 24 ch1, skip the last stitch and join to the first.
Round 25
ch1, sc in first stitch, sc in each stitch and join with a slip stitch to the beginning.

In this photo there is a book, a magazine 5 hooks and 2 big balls and three little balls of yarn in the bag! 

** optional to weave ribbon in and out of the hdc, ch 1 spaces

Handles
Using a size H hook
fold your bag in half to find the center of your short side.
place a marker and count ten to the left and ten to the right, place markers
you should have 21 stitches in between your markers

Row 1
attach yarn and ch1, sc in the first stitch, sc in the next 20 stitches
Row 2-5
turn ch1, scdec , sc in every stitch but the last 2, scdec
Row 6-35
turn, ch1, sc in each stitch
Row 36 and 37
turn, ch1, scdec sc in all but the last two scdec

weave in the ends and trim tails

repeat for the other side

tie both ends as shown in photo for a cute bow

for an off center in front of your should bow try making one side 30 rows and the other 44

before i added ribbon I tested the bag and here is a zoomed photo of it holding eight pounds of books :) 

CHECK OF MY YARN/CRAFT Parody Video here