Lilac Meadows Hobo Bag

Yarn: Red Heart Super Saver (Stash scraps)
Hook: 6.5mm

Abbreviations:

YO: Yarn over
sc: single crochet
hdc: half-double crochet
dc: double crochet
tch: turning chain
xdc: crossed dc (see special sts below)

SPECIAL STITCHES:
dc2tog in same stitch (rnd 29): YO, insert hook into st, yo again and draw up a loop. YO and pull through 2 loops on hook. Yo again, insert hook into SAME st, yo again and draw up a loop (4 loops on hook). YO and pull through 2 loops. YO and pull through 3 loops.

dc2tog over 2 sts (handles): YO, insert hook into st, yo again and draw up a loop. YO and pull through 2 loops on hook. Yo again, insert hook into NEXT st, yo again and draw up a loop (4 loops on hook). YO and pull through 2 loops. YO and pull through 3 loops.

Crossed dcs or xdcs (rnd 30): skip next st, dc in following st. dc in the skipped st.

Half puff stitch (rnd 31): YO, insert hook into st, yo again and draw up a loop. YO again, insert hook into st again, YO and pull up a loop. This gives you 5 loops on your hook. YO and pull through all 5 loops. (You’ll have to do this loosely if you’re not used to doing puff sts.) . Ch 1 to close the top of the st.

PATTERN:

With Dark Green: Ch 4, sl st to join.

Rnd 1: ch 1, Sc 10 sts into ring. Sl st to join.

Rnd 2: ch 1, 2sc into each sc of prev rnd. Sl st to join.

Rnd 3: Ch 1, *2sc in next st, 1sc in following st* around, Sl st to join.

Rnd 4: Ch 1, *2 sc in next st, 1sc in each of the following 2 sts* around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 5: Ch 1, *2 sc in next st, 1sc in each of the following 4 sts* around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 6: Ch 1, *2 sc in next st, 1sc in each of the following 5 sts* around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 7: Ch 1, sc in each st around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 8: Ch 1, *2 sc in next st, 1sc in each of the following 6 sts* around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 9: Ch 1, *2 sc in next st, 1sc in each of the following 8 sts* around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 10: Ch 1, *2 sc in next st, 1sc in each of the following 10 sts* around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 11-12: Ch 1, *2 sc in next st, 1sc in each of the following 12 sts* around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 13: Ch 1, sc in each st around. Sl st to join.

Swap colors to light green.

Rnd 14-16: Ch 1, sc in each st around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 17: Ch 2, hdc in each st around. Sl st to join.

Rnd 18: Ch 3, dc in each st around. Sl st to join.

Repeat Rnds 17+18 (alternating hdc and dc rows) for rnds 19-27 or until your bag is 2/3 as deep as you want it to be. (you NEED the hdc rnds to add stability here, since one comment I have seen on many hobo bag patterns is that the dc rnds alone make it “bowl shaped”)

Swap colors to Dark Green.

Rnd 28: Ch 2, hdc in each st around. Sl st to join. (At the end of this rnd, you want to have a multiple of 5 sts, so somewhere along the way you may have to add one or hdc2tog. Sorry to make you have to fudge it, but I messed around with the pattern so much at this point, I had to as well.)

Rnd 29: Ch 1, *sc in next 2 sts, ch 1. Skip next st. in the following st (dc2tog, ch 1, dc2tog). Ch 1 and skip next st* repeat from * to * around.  Sl st to join.

Rnd 30: ch 3,*xdc over the next 2 sts, ch 2, dc into the st from rnd 28 where you already did (dc2tog, ch 1, dc2tog). The stitch will be crowded, but its ok. Ch 2.* repeat from * to * around. Sl st to join.

Join Lavendar yarn, but carry it behind for a few sts.

Rnd 31: ch 1, *sc in each of the next 2 sts with dark green, skip the 2 ch sts of the previous rnd, and do 3 half-puff sts into the top of the tall dc using the lavender yarn* repeat from * to * around, and sl st to join.

After this rnd, switch to the light green only.

Rnd 32: ch 3, *dc in each of the next 2 sts, ch 1, skip the first half-puff, sc in top of the center half-puff from the previous rnd, ch 1 and skip the third half-puff st*.

Rnd 33-34: ch 2, hdc in each st around. Sl st to join. (yay for simple things!)

(if you want your bag to be deeper still, you can add a few more rnds of hdc sts at this point, otherwise, continue on to the handles)

Handles will be 16 sts wide, so mark where you would like them to go with safety pins. For the first handle, I just continued working from where I was at, but you can always fasten off and re-join the yarn wherever you want it.

 

HANDLE:

Row 1: ch 1, sc in next st, hdc in following st, dc in each of the following 12 sts, hdc in next st, sc in last st.  Turn

Row 2: Sl st into the top of the sc and hdc from the prev row. sl st + ch 3 into the top of the first dc from the previous row. dc2tog over the next 2 dcs. Dc in each of the next 7 sts. Dc2tog over next 2 dcs. Dc in last dc.

Row 3-6: Ch 3, dc2tog over next 2 dcs. Dc in each st across until the last 2 sts. Dc2tog over last 2 sts, dc into tch.

Row 17-16: Ch 3, dc into each st across (but NOT into tch). Fasten off leaving a long tail.

For the second handle, join the yarn and repeat the pattern. Once both handles are made, sl st them together at the top of the handle using the long tails you left.

Using the dark green (or lavender), join the yarn at the base of one handle and sc around the edge of each handle and along the top of the bag.