Project Notes: String Bag in Expensive Cotton

[redrose]

The string bag project is here.

I tried ursula1972's string bag pattern, found here.

Done with a 2.5 mm (size C) Clover hook and cotton yarn (Linie 12 Clip) (at $12.50 a skein, and a little over 1 skein needed, not cheap! (well, I do get a Guild discount. Yay Local Yarn Shop)). The yarn is 100% Egyptian cotton, mercerized. 100 grams to 166 meters. Suggested gauge is 26 rows by 20 stitches for a 10 cm by 10 cm swatch. Suggest to use 3.5 to 4.5 mm needles.

I don't like the handles. I did more than 48 double crochets in each handle, and the end result is a the chain stitches still carry the weight, though they probably cut into the hand less. I am thinking that the next one I make (size 3 crochet cotton) I will do single crochets over the handle, maybe back and forth 4 times instead of 2.

I also ordered this linen yarn, in sandalwood, with the string bag pattern. I do hope it's not Turkish stitch....



ETA: more detailed info about the cotton yarn.

Comments

[ursula1972.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that extra dc's over the chain would improve the handle - the 48 seem to be the right number to create a smooth fabric without it bunching up. Adding more would add a "ruffle" effect to the handle, but wouldn't cushion it.

For a more comfortable handle, it might work better to cord the upper edge - get a wide, round cord, and work the last (official) row of sc over the cord, stopping where the handle begins, and then working the return stitches after the chain as sc over the cord. So there would be a single length of cording going around the top of the bag and up and over the handles.

You could probably use knitting noddy cord for this, or the padded cotton cord you can buy for crafting.

Perhaps leave a few inches of tail at the beginning, and cut the end of the cord to match where the tail would begin, so that the join of the cording isn't right where the handle begins, but it is anchored along the top edging. Less likely to pull out that way.

Another handle idea

[ursula1972.livejournal.com]

Another way to spread the weight load through the handle would be to make the chain and anchor it as before. Then chain two, and anchor that point by doing a sc or sl st a few stitches before the chain anchor. Work 48 or slightly fewer dc over the chain, so that the top edge of the dc part is no longer than the length of the chain. Then anchor the top edge of the dc a few stitches away from where the chain started, so that the width of the handle lies in a flat plane when it is held up, rather than creating a "rainbow" shape with the dc standing up from the chain.

The top edge of the dc will be able to support the weight, almost like a second chain lying parallel to the first.

If you do a second row of sc around (probably a good idea) skip the stitch before and after the handle, so that you're encouraging the handle to be flat.