Bazillion Bullion Bag

Bazillion Bullion Bag
Originally uploaded by adhd_knitting

I have OCD to thank for this one. Yes, I learned how to make “bullion's” and I decided to take about 50 skeins of Kureyon yarn by Noro and separate the colors. Yes I separated all the colors to make these “bullion's”. I know some of you may not believe this but by the time I finished crocheting all these “bullion's” I had over 1,000 beautifully separated color coordinated “bullion's” crocheted of separated Noro yarn. How do I know there were over 1,000, well one of my sons and I counted every single one of them. Then we separated them into piles of each matching color. After this long process, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do with all these wonderfully separated color coordinated crochet “bullion's”. I placed them in the corner and just looked at them for a while until I came up with this fabulous bag. I love it. I don’t know if I will be making any more “bullion's” for awhile, though.

Pattern from
ADHD KNITTING

There are two ways to create this bag.
1st Option:
You can recycle an old knitted or crocheted bag from boring to extraordinary. Just by revamping your bag to create your own “Bazillion Bullion” bag. That is how I made the original bag. The bag was a friends who asked me to spice it up, and well, let’s just say I went a bit OCD and I’m glad I did.
In the pictures to the left you can see the original brown bag as it was given to me.

Bullion Pattern:
Depending on the size of the bag you are going to use will depend on how many bullion’s you are going to have to crochet. In the bag I made I used approx. 200 bullion’s including enough for the strap.
Follow this link to understand how to create the bullion’s.
www.healmyhands.com/how_to/bullion_stitch.html

After you have crocheted all your bullion’s, you will now need to sew (darn) them all together. I made 10 rows of 15 bullion’s across. Neatness or evenness isn’t that important.
When you have your bullion cover completely sewn together you will now sew it to the front of your knitted or crochet bag. After you have done this you will add a border of bullion’s in an uneven fashion to add that extra interest to your bag. (look at the border in the pictures to the left to see how I did the bottom bullion’s. I then lined my bag, (my girlfriend actually did the lining) she is an amazing experienced seamstress. I used two different fabrics to compliment the colors of my bag. Batik is the main fabric and then I used a Embroidered Sheer chartreuse fabric for the inside of the pocket. I then added magnetic snaps (optional) across the top of my bag and finished off the strap with approx. 30 more bullion’s. On the strap I didn’t bother to sew them together first as I did on the bag. I sewed them directly onto the strap itself. I could of done the same thing with the bag, but I found it much easier and quicker to sew it together first. I did not sew the bullion cover to the bottom of the bag. I like how it hangs. You’ll see when you do it yourself. Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions regarding this technique.

2nd Option: is to knit or crochet your own bag:
Here’s the pattern for a basic generic knitted bag:
You will need:
2 ball of Iceland Crystal Palace Yarns
US 13 needles straight or circulars:*

Actually you can use any yarn or size needle you like, depending on the yarn you are going to use, and the size you are going to make. The bag pattern I posted is just a Basic bag pattern to give you an idea. I also felted my bag just a bit to give it better structure and more stability. You can only do this if you are using a natural yarn that can be felted. Be sure to refer to the yarn label.
Bag Pattern:
CO 40 sts.
Work garter stitch for the entire bag until piece measures 20”. Then BO stitches loosely. Fold bag in half and seam both sides together.
Strap:
US 13 and Iceland
CO 4 sts. and work garter stitch until strap measures your desired length, and BO. I worked mine approx. 30”.
Sew strap to each corner of the bag and put aside.
Now work your crochet bullion pattern as listed in the tutorial link given above.
Then follow the directions above to complete your fabulous “Bazillion Bullion” bag…