Ruth’s Crafterly » Blog Archive

June 18, 2005 | Filed in: Knit

Ok, it’s finally done! I’ve posted pics of the process, and how I knitted it up (a pattern) below.

I knitted it up until the desired length.

A close-up of the cable (I used a needle top from my Boye Needlemaster set)

I bought dowels and used a handsaw to cut it to the right size. Then I used a pencil sharpener to sharpen the ends, and then I stained it a dark rosewood color.

Sewing it up together and put on a ribbon - tada!

Here’s the back.

A top view so you can see the lining and the handles and the magnet buttons.

So here’s how I did it - I took info from a KR thread and slightly tweaked it to my own makeshift specifications:

Materials: 1 ball of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick (80% Acrylic/20% Wool); 2 wooden dowels (each 6-7 inches long); hot glue; 1.5 yards of ribbon

Needles: #13 straights, cable needle

Pattern:
Cast on 34 stitches. (I used a super bulky weight yarn - but if you want to use worsted weight, cast on 48 sts, and do a total of 3 cables instead of 2.)

Row 1 - p2 (k2, p2, k8, p2), repeat between (parentheses) one more time for a total of 2 cables, ending with k2, p2.

Row 2 - k2 (p2, k2, p8, k2), repeat between (parentheses) one more time for a total of 2 cables, ending with p2, k2.

Alternate these two rows until you get the length desired. EXCEPT do a cable crossing (cross 4 sts; I’ve put in bold where to cross) every 10 rows - on rows 6, 16, 26, 36, etc. to desired length, and end bag with 5 rows after the last cable crossing, then bind off. (I did a total of 41 rows, and my bag is 9 inches wide and 6-ish inches tall) Fold it in half, sew up the side seams, leaving 2 inches or so at the top so you will be able to open the bag.

I put in a lining, magnet button closure, and weaved a ribbon around the bag and tied it in the front. I also sewed the dowels to the bag by passing my yarn needle through one stitch, around the dowel, and through the next stitch, all the way across. Then I glued each side of the dowel to the last stitch of either side so the stitches don’t slide off the dowel.

Note: I used Lion Brand’s Wool-Ease Thick & Quick because it was the cheapest super bulky yarn around. I think in the future, for any kind of bag/purse, I’d recommend a bulky yarn of a cotton blend instead.

***

NOTE: this pattern is not my own, I saw some notes at a KR thread on making cabled clutches and fudged around with it. Have fun with it! Make changes as you see fit for your project! =)

29 Comments so far
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WOW! The purse is awesome! And thanks for providing the pattern. I can’t wait to give it a try! Oh, I stuffed Baby Bobbi with polyester fiberfil.

That clutch is just darling! I love it!

Ruth, the bag is *gorgeous*!!! It looks REALLY good. I am so impressed!! I can’t wait to see it in person!

Yayyy! It turned out beautiful! Just look at those pretty cables!

How funny, I’m planning on making a few of these! I saw the link on another blog…$130! What ever! I’ll make my own, like you! Yours is so cute…I have renewed hope I can do it too!

I LOVE IT!!!!! Thank you so much for posting this! Guess what all my nieces will be getting for Christmas this year? :) Suzanne

Your purse is adorable!! , thanks for sharing your pattern. I love the color. Now, how soon can I get one started =) ?

i’ve been dying to try this too since i saw the clutch online a couple of months ago. i keep forgetting to try it as i start new stuff. :) u’ve inspired me!

Nice - I’m inspired to make one!

Ha…I saw the same bags and thought the exact same thing! LOL! They are so easy to make! Yours came out lovely. Nice job!

I love the purse!
You’ve inspired me now, and I simply HAVE TO make it!
Thanks
celia

wow thanks for all the compliments! you can’t see this, but my handsewing really sucks (crooked lining) and i put on my magnet buttons crooked too (ugh) but other than that, i feel much better about it now because of all the compliments =)

You ROCK!!! I can not wait to knit this bag!! You are my inspiration!

Thank you for the pattern!!

I just went out and bought “supplies” to make this today :) I have a couple questions though. How did you sew the lining in? How did you get the dowels to go into the stitches? did you cast off? Did you just “push” the dowels into the stitches where you cast on? Forgive me- I’m very inexperienced at knitting! Thank you!

I love all the bags you made!! I am into making bags and I think I made close to 20 bags. As you can see I love bags and it is so cool to make them and have a new bag to wear. Well I don’t used most of my bags I think I used a couple of them. I just finished the vintage bubble bag and the vertical stripes bag. That is so cool that you lined your bags, I am going to see how it turns out when I lined my bags since I can’t sew at all.

Thank you for sharing your cable clutch pattern.

Maylene

WOW is an understatment. I love the bag and thank you so much for including the pattern for us all to enjoy. I now know what my 17 year-old niece is getting for her birthday.

Thank you so much for the easy instructions, I have never done cables before and now I don’t think I will ever shrink away from a cable pattern again. I started my bag about 30 min ago using #10 needles and 2 strands of hand dyed hand spun wool and I really like teh ease of the cables in this pattern.
http://katiesknitknat.blogspot.com

I have posted my completed on on my blog. I just have to get my DH to cut my handles.
Thank you again for this pattern.

That’s great! I came across her site in the early Spring. I whipped up a prototype, and wound up giving it to a friend. Now I have my sights set on the bangle bag for the fall. Maybe a nice olive color…

I love love love that clutch! GOing to have to make one of those pronto!! Thanks for sharing!

You inspired me after I saw this on your blog today and I started one myself. I have the main part knitted and have sewed the lining in. Have to go to WalMart (that’s the only store where I live) tomorrow and find some dowels and some ribbon. I can’t seem to find magnet buttons though. could you give me some hints of where I could find some cheap? Thanks, flowoxsgarden@hotmail.com

Very nice .. i tried on my own to do a patter like that and what i got discourage is the lining . any helpful hints on lining ??

The clutch is beautiful! What kind of cast on did you do so that you could get the dowel through the cast on row? Also, did you not bind off and just transfer the “live” stitches to the dowel? Thanks!!!

hi anonymous,
i didn’t use live stitches to attach the dowel onto the purse. in my post, i mention that i sewed the dowel onto my purse (after i had already cast-off)… by weaving the yarn in each stitch and over the dowel, over and over again. hope that helps!
p.s. and in the future, if you would like to ask questions, be sure to add your email/blog so i can reply to you directly! =)

Thank-you for the clarification! I am going to have to try this great purse now!

Hi,

I’m a beginner. What exactly do you mean when you say “EXCEPT do a cable crossing (cross 4 sts; Iâ€™ve put in bold where to cross) every 10 rows?”

Thanks.

Hi I was hoping you could help me, i have knitted your bag (cabled clutch) and it looks great but I am stuck on how to go about putting the lining in the bag. I have never made a bag before so i apologize for my lack of knowledge so any instruction you could give me on this part would be very much appreciated.

Oh, also did you put anything behind the magnetic clasp to hide the back of it from showing through the front of the bag?

thank you very much for your time and help!

wow! this is really cute! I was looking to do something just like this and I think this one might be great to practice the cables with! Thank you for making your pattern free!

Great stuff! Will make several as Christmas gifts. Thanks so much for sharing.

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