I do like to hand make gifts for my family and it’s important to me that these presents are useful and something that the recipients. Mummy Ask does like to knit. At odd times, a dog has run off with a ball off wool in it’s mouth and knitting with cats is either a suicide mission or an odd form of self torture! So an arm knitting bag (that is a bag that hangs from the arm) was a super choice. Because it makes knitting very portable and keeps the interested pets out.
I looked at lots of the options out there, those for purchase, the DIY versions and listened to what a knitting fanatic wanted! I found that the desirable qualities in a knitting bag were support, that is nothing that would crunch up and then dangle to much. Space for everything, enough that you can poke your whole project in when you are not using the bag but not to much or the yarn/wool won’t feel well. And it should be comfortable to wear and look oh so sweet!
I made a little pattern for this, just making a rectangle and then curving for the handle. You can see how big it ends up from my finished pics. Mummy Ask says she loves that it is wide on her arm because it stays put but I think you could make that an inch or two smaller. I used my pattern to cut out two pieces of fabric to be my outside and two pieces to be my lining. Mine happen to be the same print in two colourways because Mummy Ask had expressed a love for both and hey, I had them!
I was too lazy to take a 3/8″ inch off my pattern, so I drew it directly onto some super heavy duty iron on interfacing. It feels like sort cardboard. Whatever you do, you need 2 pieces of heavy duty interfacing that is 1/2″ smaller all the way around. Centre those pieces on the wrong side of the outside pieces and iron them on.
Lay an interfaced piece and a lining piece on top of each other, both with wrong sides up. Use the interfacing as your guide and press the curved arm handle sections up. Repeat for the other outer and lining, making sure that everything is very well pressed.
Lay the two lining pieces right side together, pin and sew (3/8″ seam allowance) from one handle arm curve to the other and along the top of the handle. Repeat for outer pieces. Clip the curves and trim seams as needed. Turn & press the outer.
Fit the inner into the outer, wrong sides touching. Hand slip stitch the two layers together at the arm hole and voila! You have an awesome knitting bag that keep a project both portable and together!
Well, of course I gave the finished product to Mummy Ask and she loved it! As I imagined it was perfect for knitting on the go! In fact, it got her all excited about finding a new knitting project. Funny how something like that (you know, a knitting bag) can get the creative juices flowing! This would be a very cool gift for the knitter in your life or for yourself if you knit too. As always, if you make one of these, I’d love to see pics xxxx
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