An improvement on the rope-crochet purse! I’ve crocheted an oversized rope shoulder bag. For this project I chose a 2mm rope for a medium-drape. The bag is heavy, but soft and pliable, and does not stand on it’s own.
I learned a few things about crocheting a flat-bottom from my last project, and this time I crocheted into the third-loop after making the spiral bottom to turn the sides up at a sharp 90-degrees. What do I mean? To crochet this bag, you start with single-crocheting a spiral oblong bottom (I only added stitches at the ends, and I didn’t turn the work. When the bottom was the desired size, I did a row of single crochet into the third-loop to create a sort of corner row, with loops one and two facing perpendicular to the rest of the rows.
I used those perpendicular loops to bring up the sides, single-crocheting in-the-round straight up. It was a very straight-forward knit at this point, with my favorite…no counting! When the sides felt a good height I found the center stitch on each side of the bag and started reducing stitches on one half to form a triangle. From there I did the strap in one continuous piece and started adding stitches again at the other end to form the other triangle. When the two sides of the bag were symmetrical, I cut the spool with a long tail and made one invisible seam to join the bag together. It was all crocheted in one piece.
The bag can be worn on one shoulder or cross-body and feels substantial in weight and structure. I loaded it up with books and a full metal water bottle for the photo above and the shape did not deform. I think this bag will be a great tote for the beach or the library. The neutral color and natural material feels timeless and minimal. Another added benefit is that if I were ever caught in some unexpected survival situation, this bag can be unraveled for some 400-yards of cordage!
