Red Hat Felted Bag Suite
Red Hat Ladies, take your pick from two bags designed especially for you. Here is the Pink Bag #3 with the younger Pink Hatters in mind. Red Bag #1 embellished with flowers in shades of purple, and Bag #2 is the Purple Bag version trimmed with a vivid red rose.

Materials for Red Hat Bag #3:
(pink bag body)
3 - 100 gr balls Crystal Palace Yarns Iceland in #4891-Strawberry Pink (Color A)
4 - 50 gr balls Crystal Palace Yarns Fjord (1 each):
#9628-Periwinkle (Color B), #4104-Lavender (Color C), #9660-Amethyst (Color D), #4108-Vine Green (Color E)
Crystal Palace Bamboo or DAISY Needles
1 circular U.S. size #13 (9.0mm) 26" or 29" circular needle
1 pair US size #7 (4.5 mm) straight or circular needles
4 stitch markers, 1 of which is a unique color
Closure hardware (if desired. Here, large Dritz sew-in snaps were used.)
Tapestry needle
Sewing needle and coordinating sewing thread.

Gauge:
2½ stitches per inch and 3½ rows per inch worked in stockinette stitch in the round on size #13 needles
Dimensions:
Before felting – 4¾" deep at the bottom, 9½" wide at the bottom, 11¾" tall, 22½" wide at the top
After felting – 3¾" deep at the bottom, 8" wide at the bottom, 8½" tall, 19½" wide at the top (Will vary slightly due to degree of felting and shaping techniques used.)

Abbreviations:
K - Knit, P - Purl
Kf/b - Knit into the front and then into the back of the same stitch
M1 - Make one stitch
SSK - Slip, slip, knit
K2tog - Knit two stitches together
LH - left hand
PM - Place marker
RS - Right side, WS - Wrong side
Sl - Slip one stitch, Sl 2 - Slip 2 stitches
wyif - With yarn in front
BO - Bind off. CO - Cast on
Rnd - Round
Sl M - Slip marker
TD - Triple decrease – Slip two stitches together knitwise from the left to right needle, knit the next two stitches on the LH needle together. Pass the two slipped stitches together over the stitch made from the K2tog. A decrease of 3 stitches.
DD - Double decrease – Slip two stitches together knitwise from the left needle to the right needle, knit the next stitch on the LH needle. Pass the two slipped stitches together over the stitch just knit. A decrease of 2 stitches.

Bottom of bag:
Use the size #13 needle and 1 strand of Color A to cast on 24 stitches. Work garter stitch (knit every row) for 24 rows.
After 24 rows, PM and pick up 12 stitches along the next short edge of the piece. PM and pick up 24 stitches along the
cast on edge. PM and pick up 12 stitches along the other short edge. Place the final uniquely colored marker to denote
the beginning of the round. (72 stitches)
Join and knit in the round in stockinette stitch (knit every row) for 8 rounds. Begin increases.
Increase section #1 – Work 2 times (80 stitches after 2nd repeat)
Rnd 1 *K1, Kf/b, K to the last 2 stitches before the marker, Kf/b, K13* to the end of the round.
Rnd 2-3 K
Increase section #2 – Work once (84 stitches)
Rnd 1 *K1, Kf/b, K to the last 2 stitches before the marker, Kf/b, K13* to the end of the round.
Rnd 2 K
Increase/Decrease section #3 – Work 4 times (84 stitches after 4th repeat)
Rnd 1 *K1, Kf/b, K to the last 2 stitches before the marker, Kf/b, K1, Sl M, K1, SSK, K to the last 3
stitches before the marker, K2tog, K1* to the end of the round.
Rnd 2 K
Increase/Decrease section #4 – Work once (84 stitches)
Rnd 1 *K1, Kf/b, K to the last 2 stitches before the marker, Kf/b, K1, SL M, SSK, K2tog* to the end of
the round
Rnd 2 K
Increase section #5 – Work 7 times (112 stitches after 7th repeat)
Rnd 1 *K1, Kf/b, K to the last 2 stitches before the marker, Kf/b, K3* to the end of the round.
Rnd 2 K
BO after the 7th repeat of section #5.
Strap:
Cast on 5 stitches to the size #13 needle with Color A. Work every row as follows until the strap is at least 60" long (or longer if you prefer longer shoulder straps). BO. This method of slipping the last two stitches of every row results in nicely rounded sides and a strap which will felt into a sturdy and flat piece.
All rows: K3, wyif SL 2, turn

Small Leaves: Make 13
Use the size #7 needle and Color E to cast on 6 stitches. Purl all even rows.
Row 1: K
Row 3, 5: K1, M1, K to the last stitch, M1, K1
Row 7: K3, TD, K3
Row 9: K2, DD, K2
Row 11: K
Row 13: K1, DD, K1
Row 15: DD, cut yarn, pull through the remaining stitch and weave in ends.

Bobbles: Make 5 with Color B, 5 with Color C, and 3 with Color D (13 total)
Make a slip knot with a 8" tail and place it onto the size #7 needle. Knit into the front and the back of that one stitch to create 7 stitches, and then work as follows, purling all even rows:
Row 1, 3: K
Row 5: SSK, K3, K2tog
Row 7: SSK, K1, K2tog
Row 9: K3tog, cut yarn to 8" long and pull through the remaining stitch.
Thread the bound off yarn tail through a tapestry needle and baste around the edge of the bobble back to the bound off end. Wind the cast on yarn tail into a small bundle, stuff it into the bobble, and pull up the basting yarn tightly to create a small ball. Secure the end and cut excess yarn. 1 bobble made.

Finishing:
Felt the bag using your preferred method and shape to dry. After felting the bag, leaves, and bobbles, it is very important to shape the bag carefully in order to attain the flared shape seen in the photo. To do this, pin out the bag on a blocking board or other flat padded surface sturdy enough to accommodate it. Pleat in the bottom of the bag and pin down. Pleat in the sides of the bag, following along the line of increases/decreases to taper the pleat to nothing toward the top of the bag (see view of pleated side of bag here). Flatten and pin the flared top portion. Stretch and pin out any wrinkles in order to achieve a smooth fabric. The bag should resemble the photo when correctly pinned.
Shape and pin the leaves.
Shape bobbles into a nice rounded ball and pin.
When dry, place a bobble at the base of a leaf and sew through both layers onto the bag, scattering the buds over the face of the bag as shown in the photo. Connect the leaves by embroidering a trailing vine with Color E using Stem Stitch. For a good illustration of Stem Stitch can be found here – http://inaminuteago.com/stitchdict/stitch/stem.html

Pattern Copyright 2006 Crystal Palace Yarns/Straw Into Gold, Inc. - We are happy to share this  pattern with knitters. The pattern may be used for non-commercial personal or knitting guild use. It is not to be used in any publication in print nor should it be reproduced in electronic/digital format without permission. Knitting shops carrying CP Yarns Iceland and Fjord are welcome to print and share this pattern with customers of our yarns.

Retail shops in the USA should contact CPY Wholesale for information on purchasing
Crystal Palace Yarns and email cpyinfo -at- straw.com (replace the -at- with @)

or write to:
Crystal Palace Yarns, 160 23rd St., Richmond, CA 94804
phone: 510-237-9988,  fax: 510-237-9809