Mix it Up Bags

 Are you ready to play with lots of color, texture, and just mix it up?

 My newest free pattern is here, so you can knit OR crochet your own Mix it Up Bags!  (Download the free pattern here!)
 If you’ve been in the shop lately, you’ve seen me working on some fun little explorations of color and texture, all in the wonderful brand new Organic Cotton Sport.  This yarn was recently released by Blue Sky, and as a Blue Sky Maker it is my goal to find new paths of expression through their beautiful natural fibers…. and so the Mix it Up Bags were born!

The more I decide to drop the rules and play to my own intuitions, in my projects and my life, the happier I am for it . :)  This project uses colors outside of my normal color palette, in unexpected combinations.  Keeping true to the ethos of going my own way completely in this project, it uses both knit AND crochet techniques.

:)

Now before you hit the back arrow, you don’t have to use both techniques!  There are options in this pattern for fully knit and fully crochet bags, or the option to Mix it Up!!

Let’s push everything aside and let your creative expression guide you! I suggest getting a bunch of colors you like, picking two that might be interesting together, and then start swatching.  These little swatches give you an idea of how the colors look together in either the crochet or knit stitches in this project.   If you end up liking the little swatch and finishing it, it can become one of the pockets!

Come to our Swatch Party on Sat. Aug. 3 where we’ll have lots of colors out on the table, finished swatches to look at, and help in getting started!  We’ll be Mixing it ALL Up during Crochet Academy on Aug. 3 and Knitters and Crocheters are invited!

Mix it Up Bags are the perfect summer project.  Made in light and airy Organic Cotton, small and easy to transport, quick gratification, and a choose-your-own-adventure process, what more could you ask for?  It’s low commitment and truly fun, great for bringing along to wherever summer brings you.  Use them as project bags, gift bags, or find your own way to have fun with the Mix it Up Bags.

Get ready to mix up some fun little carry bags  bright and joy-inducing colors mixed with linen stitch texture.

The patterns uses both knit and crochet techniques, so mix and match textures and colors to customize yours.  Two drawstring styles and optional pockets make it fun to make more than one, and gives you a chance to use a little knitting as a crocheter, or vice versa.  Mix it all up and explore endless possibilities. A project to help you let go, play, and unlock your creative flow.

Take your expression to the next level and deck it out with beads and pins.  Mix it up and make them yours.

The inspiration to play with color like this came from two of my friends, Mary and Beth.  They both have a fearless and fun approach to color that makes me ask - what in the world is there to ever fear about color?! --or design, for that matter?!  Or anything creative involving what we do?  

In my opinion, there is no reason to follow rules in creativity, except to give yourself a challenge if you desire to do so.

As a lifelong lover of earth tones and neutrals, it has been liberating to dive fully into bright, loud, color -- even pink!!  It’s amazing how you can get it into your head that you don’t like a color, or other design feature, and then to discover the fun you can have when you give those unexpected colors a real try in your projects.

So I’ve been taking a bit of a cue from that and throwing wild on top of wild lately.  I’m noticing it hits with people as a refreshing “needful thing”.  They end up walking out of the store with anything that has True Joy written all over it in the form of bright, exuberant color.

 This project has just been a truly fun opportunity to play and get a little experimental.  Not only did I go wild with the color, I also didn’t hold back on mixing crochet and knit stitches!  It’s totally optional if you don’t want to do it, but I personally love to mix them, and so…

I’ve designed a pattern for both knitting and crochet, with the option to mix it up and use both!

There are similar-looking linen texture stitches in both knitting and crochet, and I think the two complement each other quite marvelously.  The bag elements - body of the bag, the pocket(s), and the drawstring all can be made with either knit or crochet.  Want to just knit some bags? You can! Want to just crochet? You can! And if you want to mix it up like the crazy creative I know you are, let’s go.

How to make them -

The bags are really very simple.  You will knit or crochet a long rectangle that is divided in the middle with a ridge which allows it to fold in half.  At the top on either side you will fold the top edges down along more ridges and then connect them to the body of the bag to create a little tunnel for your drawstring.  This part can be made in a contrasting color like I have done in mine.  After the main piece is created, you can make some optional pockets!

What’s funny is the idea to even have pockets came from my little swatches laying around.  I had made swatches of the Organic Cotton Sport to see what it was like, and what stitches looked good with it.  I also played with different colors in these tiny sample rectangles.  I encourage you to do the same!  It’s fun to just have some little patches of different colors you have mixed up here and there!  Then you can throw the unexpected pops of color onto the bags as you’re making them.  This is why it makes it more fun if you make multiple bags at the same time!  You take the colors from one bag an throw them on to the other in the pocket, or drawstring.   This makes it more candy for the eyes, and makes the set magically cohesive.

(I’m going to have lots of colors on the table for you to play with if you come to the Mix It Up Swatch Party!) I’m honestly pumped to release this little project and hope people take off with it.  It’s been a mojo-maker for me, for sure.

Again, I love neutrals, and long, tedious charts of instructions, and sophisticated simplistic style to my core, but something about throwing all subtlety out the window and chomping into a gushy bunch of saturated pigment really does the creative soul good.

Make.
Do.
Play.

Then MIX IT ALL UP, and Enjoy. :)

Click here to Download your Free Mix it Up Pattern!