A step-by-step guide to crocheting the Olive Bag. 

Ever gotten halfway through a project and thought “Hang on, am I even doing this right?” We have 🙋‍♀️

That’s why we’ve created these step-by-step guides to walk you through the process. 

Don’t let the fancy French name put you off. Even if it’s your first foray into crochet, everything’s going to be ok with our step-by-step tutorials.

When you first look at a crochet pattern it can be pretty overwhelming, but here’s a little secret... You really only need to learn a few stitches and you can make anything! So strap in and let's learn to crochet 💪

TOTAL BEGINNER? Start here first!

If you're a total beginner to crochet, we suggest you jump into our guide on learning the basics before you start your project. 

Take me there!

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Before we get started on the pattern we suggest you spend a bit of time learning the basic stitches you’ll need to complete your masterpiece. The Olive Knot Bag is made using single crochet stitches so you'll want to be confident with these before you start. You'll also want to get a hang of tying a slip knot and chaining on your stitches which is the first step in any crochet project. 

📹 Watch How To Tie A Slip Knot.

📹  Watch How To Chain.

📹  Watch How To Single Crochet. 

You can use the yarn that came in your kit to practice with. Once you've got these mastered you'll find this pattern is a cinch! 

TEST YOUR TENSION

First thing's first. Before you start your project, make sure your tension is juuuust right 🥣 We do this by making a “tension swatch”. It's a bit like goldilocks, if the tension is too tight, your piece will be too small, and if it's too loose it may not hold its shape and might be too big. 

If done correctly, your 10cm x 10cm swatch will be 10 stitches wide and 12 rows high when worked on a 6.5mm hook.

To test your tension, you'll want to grab your yarn and hook and crochet a swatch in single crochet stitches. Chain a few more stitches than the gauge should measure, then single crochet until your swatch measures just over 10cm high. Grab your measuring tape or the card that came in your kit and count your stitches and rows to check that your tension is right.

📹  Watch our How To Count Your Stitches And Rows Video

If you've got more stitches or rows than you should have, your work is a little too tight, and if you've got less your work is too loose. Adjust your tension by holding the yarn a little more tightly/loosely as you crochet.

💡 We know making a gauge swatch can seem like a bit of a drain, but it's really important because the difference of a few millimetres in a gauge swatch can lead to a finished piece this is quite different in size to what you intended. 

LET'S WHIP UP A MASTERPIECE

Crochet. Slay. Yay!

Your pattern is written in U.S terms.

We'll start with the bag base, and then work up the sides of the bag. Once we've done that, we will crochet the two straps and finally, we join the straps to finish. 

We've included progress photos to take you through each step of the project. 

💭 Make sure your use your stitch marker to mark the first stitch of every round so you don't lose track of where you're up to.

BAG BASE

Create a slip knot and then chain of 23. 

ROUND 1

📹 Watch How To Increase Stitches

ROUND 2 

ROUND 3

BAG HEIGHT

STRAP ONE

📹 Watch How To Fasten Off

STRAP TWO

FINISHING

To finish you'll use the long tail of yarn and your darning needle to sew the ends of your straps to the opposite side of your bag. 

FINISHED! 

Time to rock your masterpiece 💪🔥🥳

Well done on finishing your bag! Epic job. We know from experience that there's nothing quite like that first time someone asks you where you got your bag from 😎

We'd LOVE to see how you go! Share your masterpiece with us by tagging @cardigang_knits on socials or by sending us an email at hello@cardigang.com.au 

Until next time! 😘🧶💕

Morgan & Cat xx