Yoga mat bag

So here I am: awake far too late because I'm uncomfortable with yet another endometriosis flare up. My stomach hurts as does my lower back and my hands feel like they're shaking despite the fact they're still as anything. My legs feel like jelly as if all the bones have been removed and my brain can't settle on one thing or another. So I thought I'd write a blogpost until I fall asleep as I can't get into my book and I'm going around in social media circles!

Instead I'm going to tell you all about my yoga mat case/bag. I've had trouble knowing what to call it. I say bag but you might say case. I say potaato and you say potato! I'm going with bag as thats what it is. It has a strap so its a bag. Ok so I only carry it from the corner by the CDs to the rug but thats at least 30 seconds walking! And here is is:




This one is for my sister...if she likes the colour.



Now I do have the pattern written down which I may share at some point but at the moment my brain can't handle the transfer of my scribble into a legible format that others will understand. However, if my door gets knocked down by people demanding the pattern, if I get constant tweets about needing to make a yoga mat bag, if I receive several hundred messages via social media begging for the transcription of my pattern from scribble to PDF...then I'll definitely do it. Lets be honest my following isn't that huge so it's unlikely but I like to amuse myself. Right, I'm gonna stop typing crap and get on with it.

I made the yoga mat bag for myself in purple as purple makes me happy. I ran out of the chunky yarn I was using annoyingly close to the end of the bag but hey ho. A mash up of yarn is my M.O. so a chunky plain purple finished it off. Then my sister asked for a bag too. I had lots of this chunky orange and pinky yarn (which I think she gave me) so her's is in one yarn. This is why the photos have two different colours going on. (I really shouldn't write blogposts when tired and squiffy of brain should I?!)

I started with a circle:




Turned the corner and worked in close stitches up the sides until enough of a solid base was formed. Then we get the middle bit:



The diamond/mesheffect not only looks nice it also lets the mat breathe and stay fresh smelling which when you stick your nose on it a couple of times a day is important! It's also very stretchy which I found great fun. This is a picture of my hubby stretching it:


Then he let go:


(I now have a brilliant base for a string bag!)

I made the top solid too and then added a draw string section so you could have...urm...a drawstring. Here it is in both colours, one with excessive drawstring length:


Next was a handle/strap for the bag so I could carry it all of 10 feet. I played with the foundationless double crochet technique here and think I've now got it down. Then I attached the strap to the top and bottom of the bag (handy really)


And voilà! My yoga mat bag was born.

I'm thinking of making a bolster and a couple of yoga mats too. I'm going yoga crazy and hoping that between yoga and crochet I'll fix me.

So long, lovelies.

Josie Xxx