Scrappy Felted Bag Pattern, to Crochet

After knitting several Big Bags. I decided to try a crochet one. I’m not an advanced in the crochet world. And have trouble following crochet patterns.

I thought that maybe it would be faster to crochet a big bag than knit it. I was inspired by a girlfriends purse, one of those crochet ones out of the shiny cord. I wanted the bag to be simple and fast. Sturdy and fun. My first attempt was with a single crochet stitch, later I frogged this and used a half double crochet. I like this stitch as it seems to be sturdier and quicker.
This is what I came up with . Any combo of yarn can be used, be creative! The colors and size of the bag are up to you!
  
Size 14 L x 11 W inches          Size 11 L x 11 W inches
Both of my bags shrank about 1.5 to 2 inches on each side after felting in a top loader
Crochet Hook: I used a size K, look at the recommended size on your yarn label and use that size or close to it.
Yarn: Any kind of yarn, if you are mixing yarns, and they are of different thickness, hold the thinner ones double to approximate the size of your thickest yarn, think about holding different colors together.
Stitches used: chain stitch, and hdc. see links if you need a tutorial on these. Illustrations, and videos, (for video’s I used mikeyssmail on You Tube, he is a natural teacher) I like the hdc, because it seems to be  thicker and sturdier stitch than a single crochet. But a single crochet can be substituted in the pattern if you wish.
Crochet felted bag pattern:
Bag is made by casting on a chain as long as you desire your bag to be plus about 4 inches more in the chain (to allow for shrinkage). Ball park guideline the piece USUALLY (but not always) shortens lengthwise about 30% more than width-wise, this is in a top loader. If you are using a top loader my experience is that it felts more in proportion). Of course the proper way to see how much your bag will felt is to make a swatch (about 8 to 10 inches square) and felt it, measure, and calculate how much it shrank. I prefer to live dangerously. To calculate your shrinkage in 10% use this, if I used a 10 tall x 10 wide inch square and it ended up 8 tall x 6 wide, it would be the following:
8 inches x 100%/10 inches = 80%, 100-80=20, so we had 20% shrinkage Height
6 inches x 100%/10 inches = 60% 100%-60%=40% so we had 40% shrinkage on the width
With this info we can add 20% of your rows to the height to get the approx size you need (example I like the height at 20 rows of making the bag, I’ll now add 20 rows X .20 = 4, so I’ll add 4 more rows to my bag.
and add 40% of the number of chain stitches to make to approx the width we need. (example: I like the width of 22 chain stitches, take 22 stitches X .40 = 8.8, I would round up to 9 stitches, add 9 stitches to your foundation chain )
1-I used bulky yarn in the bottom of both of the bags shown, and chained 22 stitches for each one.
2-Hcd in back loop of the 2nd chain from the hook twice, now hdc in the back loops of all of the chains to the end chain, hdc three times in this one, now turn your chain and hdc back up the other side of your foundation chain in the other loop of your chain stitch, place a marker here, I just a regular safety pin.
3-Bag is worked in the round, so continue on around with no break in the rows.
4-You are making the base of the bag, so continue around, at the ends hdc two times in the end three stitches, hdc all other stitches or, (*hdc x2 in first three stitches of new round, hdc down the side, and repeat from *) , place marker in the middle of the 2nd hdc pair, (this should be the edge of the bag, do this on both ends.
5-Continue step 4 until the base looks big enough, remember it is going to shrink some. I went around 5 times on each of my bags.
6-Now that the base is big enough, continue working in the round in hdc, this will start your progress up the sides of your bag.
7-Continue this and change yarn colors at will, don’t worry about the knots, we will weave those in before felting.
8-When your bag is high enough for the handle, (remember felting shrinks the lengthwise 30%, so make it longer than you think you will need, if using top loader to felt)
9-Tall enough? Woo Hoo, stop at one of the markers.  OK now to make the handles, lets do some match and calculate where you need to put your handles. I made my handles 10 to 12 stitches wide, so if you were to use 12 stitches, take your total number of stitches around your bag, lets say it is 65 stitches around, so 56 stitches around – (total stitches for handles 12 x 2 = 24), 56 – 24 = 32 (stitches live on the bag excluding the handles), take 32 stitches / 2 = 16. (now divide that in half again 16/2=8 stitches.
10- Using the example stitches, start at marker and hdc 8 stitches, now chain 12 stitches, (*count 12 stitches on your bag and this is where you will put your first hdc), hcd 16 stitches and chain 12 stitches, repeat*, and hdc to your marker.
11-Hdc all around, taking care to pick up both top loops of your chain stitches on your handles.
12-Continue for 3 rounds.
13-Now cut your yarn and weave in, weave in ends, and we are ready to felt!
Here are some excellent  instructions on felting from About.com from Sarah E. White, and you can also refer to my how to felt in a front loader post.

Have fun! Please let me know of any mistakes in this pattern!
If you want to download a copy of this pattern, I put one on Scribed, (Scrappy Bag Pattern to Crochet)
Thanks, now go make a bag and fill it with knitting!