Last week, I stumbled on a pattern for a crocheted stash bag just at the moment that I was trying to figure out how to organize my extensive yarn stash. Designed by Whitney Van Nes, the pattern is nothing short of brilliant. I finished my first stash bag on Sunday, and I have been consumed with a fever for this pattern every since. Today, I finished my second one, but eventually I was unable to avoid my current crochet project bete noir, and I found myself having to face the return of the Many bag.
My second effort was made using Bernat Super Value worsted weight acrylic yarn, in what I consider a very attractive shade of red. It had been languishing in my yarn annex for far too long, and I decided that it would work better as a stash bag than a dust collector. While I am reasonably pleased with the result, the yarn has more drape than is useful when you want to make a bag or a basket that holds its shape:
Delighted by the progress I had made on the stash bags, and consequently my nascent steps toward organizing my yarn, I decided to take some of the finishing/getting organized mojo that the crocheted stash bag seems to impart, and I tackled my most recalcitrant project: the Mamy bag.
The first order of business was to make a proper hexagon using the same colors in the same order I had used in an errant pentagon that had found its way into my bag-to-be. Made one evening when I was crocheting while distracted, this pentagon had worked its way into the Mamy bag before. And, as before, I needed to remove the pentagon, and replace it with a properly executed hexagon.
Once I had safely made the replacement piece, I removed the offending pentagon and quickly replaced it with its hexagon compatriot:
There are a few details to work out with this bag, not the least of which is what to do for the handles/straps, but this evening, I began toying with a ball of yarn I had nearby, and it looks like I just might finish this bag before February ends.
Related post: Celebrating Bastille Day with crochet
Love the colors of those motifs! Hey, how did that stash bag work up? Quick? Enjoyable?
The stash bag seems to almost work itself. It is quick, fun, and when it is finished I have a place to put yarn that has not yet become a stash bag. It is awesome.
I love this stash bag more than the first one. Maybe because its in my fave colour, red!!Love the way your Mamy bag looks so far!!
I have to agree that the color is amazing. It will be quite something once I get all of my stash in stash bags.
i loved the idea
i have some skeins that are not good for anything, but a stash bag is wonderful
and the more bags i do, the more stash i have to organize either
It is a completely brilliant project. My hat is off to the designer.
Wow, it took awhile but got your page to load finally. Then it took almost 30 seconds for the comments to load. You might try one of those tester things to see how fast or slow your page loads. They’re free, just google page tester or something like that. Haven’t done it myself in awhile so forget the exact name.
Love the colors on your bag, very pretty and bright. Your stash bag looks cute; but wouldn’t be large enough I don’t think for the stash I keep at my chair side…then there’s all the yarn in plastic bags and tubes in the basement on my shelves. Love yarn, we do! lol
Sandy
Thank you for letting me know about the loading. My husband is going to be moving my blog to a faster server AFTER he does a beta test with another website he manages.
I wrestled with the Mamy bag for a good part of the day today. I am making s.l.o.w. but steady progress.
As for the stash bag, I started making my third one last night. I plan to keep making them until all of the yarn that remains has a bag to be in. 🙂
Love the colours in your Mamy bag…truly gorgeous!
Can I ask how many different colours you used.
I keep putting off making one because the colour choices seem a bit scary.
Love your blog….I’ve been reading it for a while and really enjoy it!
I just did a quick count, and it looks like I used about 16 colors. I will warn you, the bag as it is configured is gargantuan. I have a somewhat smaller one sketched out that is only 30 hexagons (as opposed to the 48 that comprise this bag).
What you can do is just start at the top and work your way down, hexagon by hexagon. That way you have an idea of whether or not it works. You also might want to try limiting yourself to 8 colors or so just to get a feel for it. Toward the end of the project it took me forever to finish the last few hexagons as I agonized over each round.