This colorful bag makes a dandy gift bag. It dangles comfortably on your wrist to hold your purse essentials, or your current one-skein or spinning project. It’s a wonderful way to highlight some of your most special leftover yarns!

The bottom of the bag is knit flat from a provisional cast on. Stitches are then picked up and the bag is finished bottom up in the round.

The sample bags were all knit in Paton’s Classic Worsted Wool for it’s ability to be strong, soft and flexible. Of course, it also means you have the ability to felt it later if you’ve a mind to do so.

Knit in 4 colors, each color section used less than 2 ounces of any one color.

The tuck sections give stability and allows you to frame a particularly lovely yarn. It’s a wonderful way to use up that extra special yarn you have leftover from another project, or to coordinate with other accessories.

I wanted a small knit bag that didn’t have any side or bottom seams or weakness at the bottom like a crocheted circle bag would. I kept tearing out the seams on my bags and thought there aught to be a way to knit one without those weak points.

So I messed around until I made this one.

I wanted it to sit upright without falling over, be easy to open and close, be large enough to hold a few essentials or a ball of yarn and a small knit project, but be small enough to sit beside me on a crowded bus.

I wanted something changeable, something I could make colorful and fun or decorous and staid, or patterned to highlight some knit technique or other, but strong and likely to last, and a bit feminine pretty to boot.

AND I wanted it to be fairly easy, with a few short difficult parts being okay. And I wanted it to be pretty easy to line later if I wanted to do so.

That’s what I was aiming at.
I think I hit it on the head, eh?

Finished Measurements
Small - 3.5 x 4 x 4 inches, Large - 3.5 x 4 x 6 inches

Materials
4 coordinating colors worsted weight wool yarn; Less than 500 yards total. Samples used less than 2 ounces/60 grams of each color.
Set of 5 US Size 4 (3.5mm) double pointed needles
Set of 5 US Size 5 (3.75mm) double pointed needles
16-inch US Size 4 (3.5mm) Circular or Straight needles 2 removable Stitch Markers
Yarn needle
1 yard smooth waste yarn
1 yard thinner smooth waste yarn for lifeline (optional)

Note - Adventurous Beginner or Intermediate

Pattern includes:
Knitting in the round on double pointed needles (dpns), Stockinette, K2tog decreases, YO increases and picking up stitches.

Gauge
About 6 st = 1” over stockinette stitch
Gauge is not drastically important, but you’ll want a firm fabric especially on the bag bottom and decorative band, so adjust your needle size accordingly.

Stitch Key
K - knit
P - purl
YO - yarn over
( )* - Repeat directions within parenthesis stated number of times
K2tog - knit 2 stitches together knit wise through the front loops

Sample test knit and edited by Judith Miller.