Hola Familia!!
My name is Ivonne, and I am the maker behind Montaño: Hand-Crafted Crochet. Before we dive into the pattern, I wanted to share a little about myself, and my personal journey with crocheting. I initially learned to crochet when our family received military orders to Italy. During our 3 year move to Italy, I learned to crochet in order to decompress from all the stress that I had been holding inside of me. My husband was deployed to Afghanistan (1 year), and things were rough while he was gone. Especially not being able to hear from him for months at a time. Being a first time mom also threw in so many more factors of stress, sleep deprivation, and much much more.
One day, my daughter and I walked into the military shopping center, and I saw a group of women crocheting. I immediately asked if they taught other people how to crochet, and if so, how often they met, what kind of materials would I need, and how soon could I start. Every Thursday, we would meet at the shopping center, with our yarn and my barely 1 year old, and I would learn how to crochet. Thankfully, I learned very quickly and eagerly bought crochet patterns.
Fast forward to today, I now have been crocheting for 8 years now and use crochet to help me cope with my PTSD. You see, I used to be in the military and during my deployment, things happened, and in order for me to cope with those memories or triggers, I crochet; doing this helps me calm down, helps me relieve stress, and helps me keep anchored.
I crochet items for both children, adults, and a few items for home décor. I started this business with creating items for my children, but then as my second child was born I noticed not too many things that I was interested in were for boys. So, I decided to create myself! My business has expanded since I first opened, but one reason still remains why I crochet, I want to create items that no one has seen before….and not just for adults. I like to challenge myself and this is one of the ways that I get to challenge myself, but also improve my skills as a maker. Well, here is a little about myself, I hope you were able enjoy the read... now… lets to go the pattern!!
Supply List:
9 skeins of grass cord
Sharp Scissors (I used scissors that are sharp enough to cut fabric)
Gloves
11.50 mm crochet hook
Measuring tape
Key:
Magic Circle
SC – Single Crochet
PM – Place Marker
CH- Chain
Sl St – Slip Stitch
Beg – Begin
Sk – skip
Pattern Notes:
Bag is worked in the round, to create the seamless look.
The bag is started by creating the bottom first, then the rows get progressively longer on only two of the sides to create the elongated look.
Grass Cord Summer Bag Pattern:
**NOTE** PRIOR TO BEGINNING YOUR BAG, SOAK THE GRASS CORD FOR 30 MINUTES IN HOT WATER. THIS WILL GIVE YOU THE ABILITY TO WORK WITH GRASS CORD MUCH MORE EASIER, THAN WORKING WITH IT DRY.**
Row 1 : Beg by making a magic circle, sc 8 times in the circle. Pull tail to close magic circle. Do not join, but pm (place marker, I used a long string of yarn. Please remember, that this market will be carried to the very end of the bag, so you need your string of yarn to be very long).
Row 2: 2 scin each sc, you should have 16 sc sts. Move marker (your marker should be moving behind and in front of the row that you previously worked on).
Row 3: *2 sc in the next sc, 1 sc in the next sc *repeat from * until you reach marker, then move marker.
Row 4: 2 sc in the next sc, *1 SC in the next 2 sc sts, 2 sc in the next st,* repeat from* until you reach marker, then move marker.
Row 5: 2 sc in the next sc, * 1 sc in the next 3 sc sts, 2 sc in the next st *repeat from *until you reach the marker. You should have 38 total stitches here. Undo the last two stitches and do 2 sc in each of the last two stitches. This will give your row a total of 40 sc sts instead of 38. move marker.
Row 6-10: 1 sc in each sc, until you reach marker, move marker.
An alternative pattern to this bag, is to make a basket! All you have to do, is repeat this row until you have you reached the height of your basket, join , slip stich, and weave in the tail.
If you’d like to make the bag, then please continue with the following rows.
Count from the marker 20 sts, place an additional marker at this point. You should have 20 sts left going back to your original marker. These two markers are the indicators of the side of the bag where you will be doing increases.
Row 11- 16: *2 sc in next sc, sc in each sc for the next 20 sts, 2 sc in next sc, sc in each sc until you reach marker, move marker, *repeat from* for row 11- 16.
Row 17: Sc across until you reach your original marker.
Row 18: Crocheting handles: Ch 20, sk 14 sts, sc in the next 13 sts, ch 20, sk 14 sts, sc in the next 13 sts. Sl st in next st, fasten off, weave in tail.
Give yourself a pat on the back!! Congratulations on taking on the challenge of working with a material that you would not expect to use while crocheting, but I gotta say, now you can enjoy your basket or your bag! It’s the summer market bag of your dreams in a revamped lady style. One of the benefits of working with grass cord, is that its 100% biodegradable, so if you feel its getting worn down, or it got torn or damaged beyond repair, you can toss it out safely knowing its not harming our wonderful mother earth. Don’t forget to share your projects with me on Instagram at @montanocrochet! Have a blessed day!
