Thursday, June 12, 2008

Purse pocket divider thingy






I bought a cute purse which has one huge pocket in the middle and all my junk is floating around crazily in the middle. So I made up this pattern which will make pockets and dividers that I can put all my tons of crap into. And I’m also using up some of the crappy ancient worsted weight nursing home yarn I have a ton of!

Materials:
Scraps of worsted weight yarn in various colors
H hook
Yarn needle

Size:
This yarn fits a purse with an interior pocket 14 inches long and 6 inches wide.

Note:
Turning chain does not count as a stitch.
For more information on surface crochet, check out this link: http://http//www.geocities.com/mwillsondesigns/SlipStitch/slipstitch.html

Bottom:
Ch 58

Row 1: Hdc in 3rd ch from hook, working in the back of the chain, hdc in each ch across. 56 hdc. Turn

Row 2: Ch 2, hdc in each hdc, turn.

Repeat row 2 15 times or until bottom measures 6", changing colors as desired.

Sides:
On last row of bottom, do not turn, begin working in rounds.

Round 1: *Work 20 sc evenly in ends of each row, one sc in corner, sc in front loop only of each stitch on long side*, repeat between * for remaining two sides.

Round 2: *Sc in front loop only of 20 sc, sc in both loops of each sc on long side*, repeat between * for remaining two sides.

Round 3: Hdc in each stitch around, do not join.

Repeat round 3, changing colors as desired, 9 rounds. Join last hdc with slip stitch. Fasten off.

Dividers:
I used surface crochet to outline where I wanted the dividers to go and give a good foundation for the first row. I divided the length into a small pocket 3", large pocket 8" and another small pocket 3" and then divided one small pocket and the large pocket in half. (See picture.) I made 14 surface crochet across the width, 12 to divide the small pocket, and 32 to divide the large pocket. After making each line of surface crochet, weave in ends on the underside.

To build up each divider, hdc in each surface crochet using color of your choice.
Turn, ch 2, hdc in each hdc across.
Repeat for a total of 12 rows.

The hard part... putting it all together:
This was pretty difficult/annoying - and probably impossible without the use of a yarn needle. Using a strand of yarn, sew each divider to each other and the walls of the outside. I recommend using safety pins or sewing a scrap of yarn into the wall as a guide to make a straight seam. Mine wanted to go a bit wonky because it was hard to see a straight path through the hdcs.

Weave in all the annoying ends. Insert in purse. Fill with crap.