Itty Bitty Bag

Sadly, after years of wear, tear and travel, my trusty suitcase has been laid to rest (aka taken down and left near the recycle bin just on the off chance that....).  As much as I loved every pocket, pouch and zipper, it had to be done.  The thing barely arrived home from the Ecuador/Peru excursion. 

After searching high and low priced retail establishments and searching online extensively, I finally decided to change my packing profile.  I have two new rolling bags.  One is similiar to my beloved old one.  The second is a smaller rolling case that is bigger than a tote but less than a "suitcase."  Alas, the interior of neither has as many pockets and hiding spots as my beloved.

Necessity is the mother of invention.  Or in this case, the mother of crochet.  This took almost ninety minutes to visualize and hook up.  It is just an itty bitty bag for holding itty bitty stuff.  Stuff like spare ear buds or lip balm or stitch markers or whatever I might need on a trip.

The only pattern is experience.  My favorite pattern of all time.

The bottom is single crochet and is worked like a basic crochet hat.  All that I did was work five-or maybe six-single crochets into a magic circle and tighten it up.  Then the typical 2 sc in each for the first round and 2 sc in one + 1 sc in each x sc on successive rounds until the diameter matches the desire of one's heart. 

I did carry the single crochet upward a bit so that nothing falls out of the bottom.  Prudence does has a place - even in the world of no pattern yarn work.

Double crochet rounds make the sides more flexible.  And because I tend to like a bit of fluff now and then, I worked chain stitch loops around the top followed by single crochets in the loops.  This produced nice holes for the drawstring and a little ruff at the top when closed.

This was a quick and practical project.  That it only took a small bit of the afternoon is even better.  I just might have to churn out more and have a whole collection at my disposal.