Purdy Sweet Crochet: MOSAIC TRAVEL POUCH

Happy New Year!

My husband and I are spending the 2021-22 winter season on our sailboat in south eastern Florida. Because our sailboat is only so big, with limited storage, I had to be selective about how much yarn and crafting supplies I could bring. With one exception (that I will share with you at a later date) I am trying to keep my projects relatively small this season for that very reason.

Today's post is to share how I made a beautiful and functional mosaic travel pouch for another boating friend as a way of saying thank you.

Materials I used:

265 yards cotton Sample made using Caron Cotton Cakes (60% cotton, 40% acrylic) in the colorway "Peach Blossom"

4.0 mm hook

8" X 10" Pre-made zippered canvas pouch It is important to have this before you start in order to get an accurate sizing for your crocheted pouch sleeve. I purchased my pouch from Michaels Crafts. They can also be purchased on Amazon, or if you are handy with a sewing machine you can make your own to fit your sleeve after it is completed.

Stitch markers (optional)

Needle and thread for hand stitching mosaic sleeve to your pouch

Scissors

Decorative button (optional)

Stitches/Abbreviations used:

(Ch) chain

(SC) single crochet (always worked in the back loop unless noted)

(DC) double crochet (drop down DC refers to working your st in the corresponding front loop of the st 2 rounds below)

(SL ST) slip stitch

(blo) back loop only

(flo) front loop only

My cake was large sized and contained a total of 530 yards of self striping yarn. The color changes were much longer than I needed, so I separated and rewound each color into small balls in order to better manipulate where the colors would change. This meant working with multiple color strands. If your yarn is self-striping, with shorter color changes, you could simply work your pouch sleeve with a single strand without cutting or adding any yarn.

I decided to work my color sequence in this order: light blue, green, yellow, peach.

Foundation Chain and Row 1:

I lay my pre-made pouch out on a flat surface and beginning with the light blue, I created a starting chain that was long enough to comfortably fit all the way around the base of my pouch without being too snug. I left a LONG tail at the start to use for seaming the base together later. You could make a shorter chain to the length of the base and work in the round along both sides of the chain, but I find it easier to work mosaic in a "tube" and seam later. Keep in mind that once you begin your first sc round, it will tighten up just a bit. My chain was 91 stitches long. Starting in the second chain from hook, work a sc in each st to the end. Join your last st to the first sc st of the row using slip st in order to form a loop. I find it easier to join after completing my first row of sc in order to prevent twisting. You can use your starting tail to seam up that little gap between the starting ch and where you joined the sc round now, or later, before seaming the base.

After joining your first round of sc to form a "loop," ch1, sc into back loop of the first st and remaining 89 sts. It is very helpful if you place a stitch marker into the first stitch to help keep track. Keep in mind that the ch1 does not count as a stitch, but you will join each round with a slip st to the ch1 and pull your yarn tight to hide the seam. If you are changing colors, you will need to join your round with a sl st into the ch1 with your new yarn color, then before working your first sc st, you will ch1 and pull your old color very tight to help hide the join.

Rounds 2 and 3:

I worked two more rounds of sc in the back loop only using the light blue color before adding the green. At the end of round 3, I joined my new color (green) by slip stitching to the ch1, then ch 1.

Note: If you are working with more than one color, you can easily carry them up the inside of your tube. After you join your new color with a slip st, work your ch1 around all strands of yarn to "carry them along" the inside.

Round 4: With green, SC back loop only into first st. For the next st, work a dropped DC into the front loop of the corresponding stitch two rows below. It will appear as though you are leaving the sc st in the row below unworked, but this is how it is supposed to look. *[SC (blo) in next st, dropped DC in next st.] Repeat from * around to the last st. Join new color (yellow) with a slip st, Ch 1. (90)

Round 5: With yellow, drop down DC into the front loop only of the first st which corresponds two rows below. In the next st, SC (blo). *[Drop down DC in next st, SC (blo) in next st,] Repeat from *[ ] around to the last st. Join new color (peach) with a slip st, Ch 1. (90)

Round 6: With peach, SC back loop only into first st. For the next st, work a dropped DC into the front loop of the corresponding stitch two rows below. *[SC (blo) in next st, dropped DC in next st.] Repeat from *[ ] around to the last st. Join new color (light blue) with a slip st, Ch 1. (90)

Round 7: With light blue, drop down DC into the front loop only of the first st which corresponds two rows below. In the next st, SC (blo). *[Drop down DC in next st, SC (blo) in next st,] Repeat from *[ ] around to the last st. Join new color (green) with a slip st, Ch 1. (90)

For my mosaic pouch, I repeated rounds 4 - 7 seven more times, until I reached my desired height. When I worked a color for the last time, I cut the strand and worked over the tail end in the next round. I completed mine with one additional round of sc in the light blue, working under both loops for this last round before finishing off and weaving in my end.

Finishing up:

Turn your pouch wrong side out. If you haven't already done so, be sure to stitch the gap between the starting ch and the first round of sc. Then, thread your long starting tail into a needle and use the mattress stitch to seam up the base. Turn right side out.

Photo below shows what my base looked like after seaming with mattress stitch.

Before sewing the crocheted sleeve to the canvas pouch, I added a personalized button near the top edge for a little decoration.

Insert your zippered canvas pouch into the crocheted mosaic sleeve. Using needle and thread, hand stitch the crocheted sleeve to the canvas. Be careful to sew the top edge of your crocheted stitches in such a way that they are not caught in the zipper when you open or close your pouch.

Photo below shows how I am checking to see how my sleeve is fitting over the pouch. I am about 1/3 done in this photo.

It's getting there!

When joining the crocheted sleeve to the canvas pouch, I was careful to insert my needle up through the seam of the canvas and zipper. This kept the top edge of my crochet nice and neat and unable to get caught in the zipper when using.