Use Welts to Add Color to a Circular Bag

One of the easiest ways to use a little bit of leftover yarn in another knitting project is to add stripes. The Lollipop Crossbody Bag from Ainur Berkimbayeva gives you a chance to use leftover yarn (or new yarn for that matter) in several colors, or in one color if you prefer.

Her version shows three contrasting colors but there are six welts, so you could do most of a rainbow, or an ombre with several shades of the same color, or even just a single color or one multicolored yarn to see what would happen.

The pattern has options to work the bag with fingering, sport or DK weight yarn, and I imagine you could do it with worsted as well. It’s written for one size but since it’s worked from the center out you can just keep increasing in the same manner and adding tucks regularly to make the bag whatever size you like.

It also includes the option of adding a zipper and a felt lining to make it more functional as a bag. I also think this one would be fun to try making larger than described and felting it to make it more solid.

The designer suggests a wool yarn or something with good elasticity for making the welts. The original was worked with a wool blend on the welts and a cotton base. It requires between 155 and 185 yards (or 140-170 meters) of yarn depending on the weight of yarn you are using. The pattern includes a video tutorial and a color planner to help you figure out how you want to stripe your welts.

This project looks like a lot of fun and would be a great little summer bag, especially with bright candy colored stripes. You can get the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Ainur Berkimbayeva]

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I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

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