THAT Treccia crochet bag

Lots of people have admired the little bag that Brigid made from a Mondial Treccia gradient pack and so many have asked for the pattern that I've had a go at duplicating it.

For those who don't know it Treccia is a Recycled Cotton, aran-weight yarn that comes in a chain of 7 skeins of related colours - arranged into a gorgeous gradient.  (See all the colours here).

The bag is worked almost entirely in double-crochet stitches (UK terminology) .  It has a rectangular bottom, worked in rounds, you then continue with no shaping until you reach the handle.  The handle is made by working some chains instead of crocheting into the previous round, then double-crocheting into the gap and carrying on until you run out of yarn.   A sort of recipe is below, but if you prefer fuller instructions in your patterns, there are some lovely patterns out there that you could try:

• Tote Bag by Lucy of Attic 24 (UK terminology)
• Cute Carry All by Yarnspirations (US terminology)

Treccia Crochet Bag

Materials: you will need one pack of Mondial Treccia yarn, or 2 balls of Kitchen cotton - Aran/Worsted Weight.

A crochet hook to match your yarn.  For Treccia I would suggest 5mm.  For my Kitchen Cotton lookalike I used a 4.5mm hook

Abbreviations

ch - Chain
dc - Double Crochet
st - Stitch

Note:  throughout you will work in a continuous spiral i.e. you will not join your last st to the first st of the round. Instead you will simply work into the top of the first stitch and continue. 

Base:

Make 16 chain.

Rnd 1: Work 14 dc into the ch, starting with the second ch from the hook.  Work 3 dc into the last chain.  Now work 14dc along the other edge of the starting chain (working into the remaining loop). Finally, work 3 dc into the last ch.

Rnd 2: Place a marker to help you keep track of the beginning of the round.  Work 13 dc,  3 dc into next st, 1 dc into next st, 3 dc into next st (forming the short end of the rectangular base), 14 dc, 3 dc into next st, 1 dc into next st.

Rnd 3: 1 dc, 3 dc into next st (this should be the middle stitch of the 3dc group of the previous round), 15 dc, 3 dc into next st, 3 dc, 3 dc into next st, 15 dc, 3dc into next st, 2 dc.

Rnd 4: 1 dc, 3 dc into next st, 17dc, 3 dc into next st, 5 dc, 3 dc into next st, 17 dc, 3 dc in to next st, 4 dc.

Continue in this way, increasing the number of stitches along the sides of the rectangle by 2 each round - both on the long and short sides, until your base is the size you desire. In Brigid's original she worked the base until the end of the first colour.

Main Body:

Continue working one dc into each st without shaping, thus forming the sides of the bag.  When the bag is almost as tall as you wish, form the handle, as described below.  Brigid's original has a handle at the point she joined in the last colour.

Handle:

Lay your work flat and decide on the width and position of your handles.  I made mine approximately 1/3rd of the folded width.  I marked the position with a couple of stitch markers, making sure that the handles would be in the same position on each side and would cover the same number of stitches.

Work in dc until the first marker.  Now make as many chain as the number of sts between your markers.  Skip the dc between the markers, then continue working 1 dc in each st until the next marker.  Repeat the chain and skip the dcs between your second set of markers, then complete the round. Your work should look something like this:

Next rnd: Continue working 1 dc into each st until you reach the handle.  In each handle gap work the same number of dc as chains from the previous round, into the gap.

Continue as before, working 1 dc into each st until you run out of yarn, or your bag reaches the size you wish.

You're done!

I hope you found this helpful, and look forward to seeing many more beautiful little handbags.