Crochet Tote Bag

I've just completed this totally adorable crochet tote bag! 

The pattern can be found for free on Naztazia.com. I love this lady, her work is so cute. I've made quite a few of her creations, and she writes great crochet patterns! She has wonderful video tutorials for beginner crocheters on her YouTube channel as well. I especially like her because she posted some left-handed crocheting tutorials which really helped me in the beginning.

Tote Deets:

The pattern calls for a solid color yarn or a neutral with planned stripes, using an H hook and crocheting holding two strands held together.

I thought it could look really neat to hold two different colored strands of yarn together. The result I got is amazing! It turned out to be a real stash-buster project for me, using old leftover balls and near-empty skeins. My pastel rainbow palette consisted of robin's egg blue, lavender, soft pink, light and dark heather grays, white, ecru, and one of my new favorites: Red Heart Super Saver in Monet. I had only a tiny bit of this left to use, and I ended up buying another skein of it just to finish this tote, and it complements the other colors very well! See a sweater for my daughter I made using lavender and Monet here.

Another way I personalized this pattern was to use a larger hook. The original pattern calls for size H hook. I thought this might be a little small of a hook to be using with two strands of worsted acrylic. After all, two strands of worsted = one strand of bulky/super bulky! Additionally, I wanted to make mine not a purse, but an all purpose tote. I chose to use size K hook, which is 3 sizes larger than recommended. As a result, my tote came out measuring 16.5" x 14.5" with a 34" x 3" strap. It's long enough to wear crossbody, or over the shoulder and the strap is wide for carrying comfort.

I plan to use this when I take my girls around town to the pool or splash pad. I may even bring it to the beach as well. A benefit of using acrylic yarn, is it's totally washable, it even says so right on the label!

Sweet, stylish, washable, homemade? Fits all this mom's requirements!

Keep crocheting! xo- Kip

You can see other ways crocheters have interpreted this pattern through photos posted to Naztazia's facebook page.

What colors or hook size would you crochet this tote with?