This cotton cakes tote bag is made crocheting with double strands of Caron Cotton Cakes yarn. The Lavender Fields Tote Bag is chunky, durable and fast to make. Keep reading for the free crochet pattern.
Crochet a Durable Tote Bag with Caron Cotton Cakes
I have seen several examples of using double or even triple strands of the cakes yarns, and I LOVE the effect it creates! Not only does it provide a lot of visual interest because of the mixed colors, but it also does a better job at hiding the abrupt color changes.
And this yarn....this YARN! It is not like your typical cotton yarn. Technically it's a cotton blend, and it is just lovely to work with! Much nicer on the hands than your traditional "washcloth" cotton yarn. It is perfectly suited to make this pretty tote bag - so of course I had to remake it with this yarn! And the double strands mean this bag works up quickly too. So get some Caron Cotton Cakes out of your stash (cmon...I know you have them in there!) and whip up a bag or two 🙂
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Lavender Fields Tote Bag - Free Crochet Pattern
Supplies:
- Caron Cotton Cakes (‘Lavender Fields’ pictured) or approx. 600 yards of a comparable worsted weight yarn
- J/6.0 mm crochet hook
- Scissors - I always keep these travel scissors in my hook case
- Yarn needle
Abbreviations (written in U.S. terms):
- st/sts: stitch/stitches
- sl st: slip stitch
- ch: chain
- SC: single crochet
- HDC: half double crochet
- DC: double crochet
Gauge
6 sts x 5 rows = 2” in HDC
Finished Size:
- Height of bag without strap: 15.5"
- Height of bag with strap: 25"
- Width of bag: 13.5"
Pattern Notes
- The ch 4 at the beginning of Rounds 8 and 9 (and all subsequent repeats) counts as a DC+ch stitch. For all other rounds, the ch sts at the beginning to not count as a stitch
- The handle length can be adjusted to whatever suits your needs. I recommend working 5 extra SC into the ch space (eg. if you chain 40, SC 45)
- This pattern is worked with double strands of yarn. To get the fun color mixing, I intentionally made sure my skeins were at very different points in the color changes from each other.
- In Round 1, you will be working first along the front side of the chain stitches and then along the back
Instructions
ch 39 (remember to work with double strands)
Round 1: (Front side of ch) SC in second ch from the hook, SC in 36, 2 SC in last ch. (Back side of ch) SC in 37, 2 SC in the last st of the back (this will be the first st you worked into on the front). Join to first SC of the round with a sl st (78)
Round 2: ch 1, *SC in 38, 2 SC in next st. Repeat from *, join to first SC of the round with a sl st. (80)
Round 3: ch 1, SC around, join to first SC with a sl st. (80)
Rounds 4-7: ch 1, HDC around, join to first HDC with a sl st. (80)
Round 8: Ch 4 (counts as first DC and ch 1), skip 1, *DC, ch 1, skip 1. Repeat from * around (you will have 40 ch 1 spaces), sl st to the 3rd ch of the beginning ch 4 to join.
Round 9: sl st into the first ch 1 space. ch 4 (counts as first DC and ch 1), skip 1, *DC, ch 1, skip 1. Repeat from * around (you will have 40 ch 1 spaces), sl st to the 3rd ch of the beginning ch 4 to join
Round 10: ch 1, HDC around, join to first HDC with a sl st (80)
Rounds 11-25: Repeat rounds 8-10
Round 26: ch 2, HDC around, join to first HDC with a sl st. (80)
Round 27: ch 2, HDC in 15, Ch 50, skip 10, HDC in 30, Ch 50, skip 10, HDC in 15, join to first HDC with a sl st (160).
Round 28: ch 1, SC around, working 55 SC into the ch spaces for the handles. Join to first SC with a sl st (170).
Round 29-30: ch 1, SC around, join to first SC with a sl st (170). At the end of round 30, fasten off and weave in ends.
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