Fat Bottom Bag & Other Cotton Projects

Here's my 1st FO from Debbie Stoller's Happy H**ker. The Fat Bottom Bag was an easy project, and now I'm ready to crochet more flowers to embellish this baby. I used Peaches & Cream cotton instead of the Lion Cotton the pattern calls for, but they are nearly identical yarns.

I did make another minor adjustment, er, mistake. I skimmed the pattern so quickly that I didn't notice the first "h" for "heringbone" in hhdc until I was nearly done, so the entire bag is "hdc" (half-double crochet), and then "hhdc" on the handle flaps. Though she looks almost the same, and was easier & faster to make, I want to make another one properly.


Maybe I'll use some of my handpainted cotton yarns. I'm still in the experimental stages right now, mixing & diluting colors, and though it doesn't always come out pretty, it's always interesting.

The first batch doesn't quite match my kitchen, but it's pretty darn close. Deep colors look much darker when wet with dye, then lighten quite a bit with washing. The neon rainbow was everything I expected. (I wonder if my dishcloth exchange pal might like some?) Then I had an 6-week old batch of deep orange, and the dyes are only good for 3 or 4 weeks, but I was curious, and ended up with a nice peach color.

Oh, and don't use colored cotton for hank ties. They'll dye your yarn too, duh!


If you have leftovers after a worsted cotton project, just CO 36 sts on 4.0mm dpns, and start knitting your ribbing of choice, then BO when it's almost as tall as a soda can. It also fits a 16.9 oz bottle of water nicely, or doubles as a wristband too. I like the magic number 36 - it's divisible by 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 12, and 18, so you get lots of pattern options. I did K2-P1, but turned it inside out afterwards.

I'm a sucker for little knitted things. If I could somehow harness all that energy to finish my bigger projects, I could fullfill my fantasy of being clothed in nothing but handknits, instead of just holding them in my hand. I'm trying frantically with Eyelet Rib Ragland, but when projects grow slowly, I lose interest quickly. So for someone like me, it's good to juggle a dozen or so projects. I may not finish anything soon, but I sure have fun trying!