The Unknown Orchard: Moroccan Market Tote (free pattern from Moogly!)

I finally remembered to take some pictures of this bag that I finished a few weeks ago. Not at all too soon, either, as I'm giving it as a timely gift for my boss's Summer birthday.

The pattern comes from mooglyblog: http://www.mooglyblog.com/moroccan-market-tote/ and I won (yes me I won something!) free yarn from her in this contest to make it: http://www.mooglyblog.com/lion-brand-yarn-moroccan-market-tote-giveaway/

The pattern is simple enough once you get the hang of it and it's all repeats, but complicated enough to give you some visual interest in the finished bag. I chose to add some stripes around the top for an extra detail.

The yarn is Lion Brand's 24/7 Cotton. It's a bit of a strange looking yarn because of the way it's plied that makes it look like a little rope, but it was wonderful to work with. The colors I chose are Ecru (the tan), Magenta (the dark pink), and Pink (the light pink). (I also got some skeins of the jade, aqua, and grass because I really can't resist those colors so now I have more yarn for a different project!!) This yarn was really fun to work with and has a perfect combination of sturdiness that I expect from cotton while also being soft and squishy. I think it's partly how it's plied and spun and partly that it's a mercerized cotton, more like crochet thread than cotton yarn in feel and how it works up. It is called a worsted weight yarn but it seemed on the thin side of worsted and I think I ended up using a smaller crochet hook than the packaging calls for to make the stitches more dense.