I have a friend who is a crocheter/knitter as well, so I knew I wanted to make her something truly unique, something that she would never think to make herself. First, I decided I wanted it to be a knit, because she's just starting out knitting and I wanted to do something to show her how cool knitting can be. Second, she's a huge Harry Potter fan, so I knew I wanted to do something Harry Potter themed. I found this great chart pattern for an Illusion Scarf over at The Leaky Cauldron.
Illusion knitting is something that I've never done before, so I figured it would be a fun challenge to figure out. I picked some beautiful maroon and gold yarn and got to work. The pattern was quickly rewarding, but quickly got boring. I was actually sitting there wondering how on earth I was ever going to conceive of making a whole scarf like this... when inspiration hit. Who says it has to be a scarf? No one. I'm the designer here... (sometimes I have to remind myself of that)
Trouble was, I couldn't figure out what else it could become.... so instead I set it aside and worked on other projects for a while. After finishing up a few crochet projects, I was hankering to knit again, and so I rummaged through my project box to find something I was working on that I could easily pick back up and content myself with, and ran across this piece again. I dug it out, finished up the pattern and sat there staring at it waiting for inspiration to hit. And hit it did! I'd just read an article on sewing your knits, how to seam them with a sewing machine and make something really durable. So, right then and there, I decided I was going to make it into a bag. And thus, the Gryffindor Illusion Knit Bag was born.
This beauty wasn't the product of just one night's inspiration, however, it took several weeks to see it to completion. Since it was such a long process, I'm going to divide this tutorial up into three parts. This first part will be the actual knit pattern for all the pieces that you need to complete this bag. The second part will be the sewing tutorial for the inner parts of the bag, and the Third part will be putting the whole bag together.
Griffyndor Illusion Bag Knitting Pattern
Materials needed:
1 skein of maroon worsted weight yarn (I used Vanna's Choice)
1 skein of gold worsted weight yarn (again, I used Vanna's Choice)
Size 8 (5mm) Circular or long straight knitting needles
yarn needle
Instructions:
For Front of Bag:
Work full knitting chart found for Gryffindor Illusion Scarf
Knit 2 Rows in Main Color
Bind off.
For Back of Bag:
CO 40
Work in Stockinette Stitch for 90 rows or until piece is same length as front (expect some curling to happen around the edges, this will stabilize after blocking and putting it together)
For Buttonhole Piece:
CO 10
Knit 3 rows
Knit 1, k2tog, yo, yo, k2tog, knit to end
knit 3 rows
BO
For Strap:
CO 200
knit 8 rows (or to desired strap thickness)
BO
Block all pieces as such:
Let dry and set aside for the next part of the tutorial!!