The Paris Stitch Pouch - A Free Crochet Pattern

Hi hi beautiful people, and welcome to my first ever pattern!

im so thrilled to be sharing this pattern with you. A few weeks back I shared a tutorial for the Paris stitch here on the blog. After writing it up I got thinking, what cute fun accessory can I turn this stitch into. I played around a tad, and eventually came up with this.

Ta daaaa!

Fun, funky and bright, a cute accessory pefect for summer. so without further ado scroll down and the pattern will be waiting.

Materials

You  can use any yarn and hook for this project depending on the look / feel you want your pouch to have, or the size you want it to be.

I used a 4mm hook and Stylecraft  acrylic DK yarn in sunshine, turquoise, and cream. For a pouch with a finished size of 15cm high unfilled and with a base of 15cm in diameter.

Scissors

Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Pattern notes

written in uk terms

YO - yarn over

Ch- chain

Dc- double crochet

Trb - treble crochet

Inc - two double crochet into one stitch

Hdc- half double crochet

The base of the pouch is worked in continuous rounds. I used a stitch marker to mark the beginning of each round ( similar to amigurumi method).

The Paris stitch will be worked into the last round of the base. The Paris stitch is made from a set of stitches divisible by 3+1 extra stitch. To make the bag bigger or smaller just add or eliminate rounds based on this stitch count.

Ensure you have the correct number of stitches after every round.

1. Dc 6 into a magic circle (6)

2. 2inc in each stitch around (12)

3. (1dc, inc in next) repeat around (18)

4. (2dc, inc) around (24)

5. (3dc, inc) around (30)

6. (4dc, inc) around (36)

7. (5dc, inc) around (42) 

8. (6dc, inc) around (48)

9. (7dc, inc) around (54)

10. (8dc, inc) around, on last set (8dc, 3dc in last stitch) this will give you the desired number of stitches divisible by 3 plus the extra stitch for the Paris stitch (61)

11. Begin the Paris stitch. Ch3 (1trb+1ch) in the first stitch work the following (1trb, 2ch, 1dc) *skip 2 stitches work (2 trb, 2ch, 1 dc) in the next stitch. Repeat from * around joining with a slip stitch to top of the beginning chain.

12. Ch 3 and turn. Work 1trb, ch 2, 1dc in the first ch2 space from the previous round. *in the next ch2 space work 2trb, 2 ch, 1 dc. Repeat from * around. Join to top of the beginning chain with a slip stitch.

13. Repeat round 12. Change colour if desired at the end of the round.

14. (Decrease round) Paris stitch decrease. Begin the row, ch3, decrease in next 2 chain spaces (yarn over, insert hook into first ch2 sp, yo, pull through 2 loops (2 loops on hook) yo insert into next ch2 sp, yo, pull through 2 loops (3 loops on hook) yo pull through 2 loops (2loops on hook) yo pull through last 2 hoops) decrease finished, trb,ch2,dc into same ch2 space as decrease ended in . Continue round to end. Slip st in first decrease st.

15. Repeat round 12.

16. Repeat round 14 (decrease round) change colour if desired at the end of the round. 

17. Repeat round 12

18. Repeat round 12

19. Repeat round 12. Change colour if desired at the end of the round.

20. Repeat round 12

21. Repeat round 12

22. ch3, skip a stitch, 1 hdc in next * skip a stitch, 1 hdc in next* rep around. Note, count all stitches in this round (trb and dc from previous round) as 1 stitch each. Count ch2 spaces from the previous round as 1 stitch. Join into 1st hdc space made.

23. ch3, hdc in each space made in the previous round. Slip st into first space made in the previous round. Change colour if desired.

24. Paris Stitch in every other space around. Join with a slip stitch.

25. Ch 3 Paris Stitch around. Join to the top of the chain with a slip stitch. Fasten often.

Weave in all ends (the boring bit I know!)

With two colours of yarn together chain a length of your choosing. Thread the chain through the hdc spaces made in round 23. 

Make two tassels and attach them to the ends of the chains if you like (I think it gives the bag a fun cute vibe!)

Ta daaa you're done

Please do tell me how you like it, any feedback would be gratefully received.

Happy Hooking from down the rabbit hole X

Yarn Review - Stylecraft Classique Cotton DK

Hello beautiful people and welcome to my Stylecraft classique cotton DK yarn review.

Now for a long time I've struggled to work with cotton yarn, I mean I have used it but always felt like it was so stiff, hard, the strands split, it was stiff to push my hook through etc. It just wasn't living up to the hype!

I've tried drops yarn, lily sugar and cream, and Rico creative cotton in the past, but I just, for want of a better phrase, can't get down with them.

When I first ventured into cotton yarn the promises from other patterns and websites were softness, natural cool fibres for summer, and many people said it was a joy to work with. So imagine my disappointment when these yarns just didn't live up to the hype. Don't get me wrong I'm not 'dissing' any of the yarns above, I love the colours sugar n cream offer, and the drops price tag is fab, but they jut aren't my cup of tea. 

So this year I made it my mission to find a cotton yarn I love.

Now in my posts you'll no doubt have heard me harp on about how much I love Stylecraft yarn. It's no lie, I do, most of the yarn I buy is Stylecraft, so it was only natural I tried a Stylecraft cotton yarn next. Would my faithful trusty yarn brand let me down? Well let's find out shall we.

Composition 

Ok let's start with the obvious, it's a 100% cotton yarn, in a 50g ball. 92 meters or 100 yards of DK cottony goodness. The packaging leaves a bit to be desired (yes I'm fickle I want my yarn labels to be as pretty as the yarn!) but it's not the worst out there by any means, and it's simple, and let's face it fancy packaging means bigger cost so I'll let it slide! This yarn is as I've said double knit cotton, so requires a 4mm hook to work up. 

Look and feel

Looks wise (its like yarn dating!) the yarn has a bit of a sheen to it, not in a ghastly way, more in a polished, I'll make your project look radiant kind of way, and the colours of the strands is very consistent and vibrant. Once worked up the stitches are very vibrant, and clear, the work looks very neat and uniformed and each individual stitch shines. I can see this being great used in a pattern with more intricate detailing. The colour is bold and eye catching, even in the darker shade, and this is consistent both as a ball and once worked up. 

There's no doubt this yarn is soft. When the package arrived and I pulled the balls from the bag, I was expecting a hard feeling rough ball, you can imagine my surprise when I picked up this silky, soft ball instead. As a ball it's soft and super squidgy (like a yarn stress ball!) in a yarn store I would definitely buy it on feel alone. Once worked up the piece is still very soft and not at all stiff. It has a slight elasticity to it and I can imagine it would feel great against the skin made up into a garment.

Ease of use

Now I said before, my bad experiences of cotton partially come from the splitting yarn or stiffness when crocheting, but there was none of this with good old Stylecraft. Don't get me wrong, when pulling my stitches tight (I crochet tightly, I'm not sure why it's just my style) I could feel that familiar stiffness I'd found with other yarns, so I was apprehensive. However the my hook just slid through the stitches with ease, gliding in and out like they were a match made in heaven! No splitting yarn here either, I hooked up my whole piece (yes it's not ginormous but still!) without encountering one split in the yarn, and no snagging on splitting yarn when pulling through stitches, what a joy.

The yarn also didn't fluff to much with handling. This is particularly important for me as I'm using it to make teething products, and fluff is rough when you're chewing on it.

Another plus, no stretching strands. Again this is due to my style, I'm forever pulling the strands to keep my work tight, and occasionally you get the yarn that stretches so the strand is 5 times thinner than when you started. Not here though. Here it seems consistency is key.

Colour choice

As you can see the brightness of the colours is not a problem at all. There are however only 28 shades to choose from, which isn't many if you consider paintbox yarns 56 shades or DMC's 73. This as the case may be there is in my opinion one of every colour, and the colours are bright and consistent throughout the ball, you just don't get as much choice when it comes to shade.

Price

Finally we come to the price. I bought my yarn here as at the time if you spent £30 on yarn you got 30% off! Which is a whopping great discount. The yarn is currently retailing on the site for £2.45 which when you shop around is the average price. It's not the cheapest on the market by all means, but equally it's not the most expensive either (some cottons retail at £4+!) and yes I'm stingy when it comes to spending! It's a good mid range price, and in my opinion well worth paying for. 

If you look below you'll find a handy pros and cons list.

As you can see I made up a super cute baby teether (bunny ears are adorable!) to test out the yarn. I was particularly drawn to cotton this year as I do want to expand to sell baby items in particular, so I thought what better tester to make than a mini bunny teether.

I have to say worked up id be happy to give this to my own child (if she wasn't 5 going on 15!) its very soft to touch, yet feels durable, and no doubt will soak up all that gorgeously gooey baby saliva!!!

Happy hooking from down the rabbit hole X