Climbing Berries Bag

Climbing Berries Bag by Sian Brown

Project Overview

The Climbing Berries Bag is an intermediate-level knitted accessory designed by Sian Brown. This downloadable knitting pattern creates a structured bag measuring 25 cm wide by 30 cm deep, perfect for everyday use. The project showcases decorative cable work and textured stitch techniques that combine functionality with visual interest.

What Is Being Made

This pattern produces a knitted bag with dimensional shaping and decorative surface details. The finished piece is a practical carryall with carefully constructed stitch patterns that create visual texture and depth across the bag's surface.

Techniques Used

The Climbing Berries Bag employs several intermediate knitting techniques to achieve its distinctive appearance:

• Cable crossing – The pattern uses multiple cable techniques including C2L (cross 2 left) and C2R (cross 2 right) maneuvers, which involve slipping stitches onto cable needles and crossing them over working stitches to create twisted rope-like textures
• Four-stitch cables – C4B (cable 4 back) instructions create larger cable columns by crossing groups of two stitches
• Bobble making – The MB (make bobble) technique adds raised, berry-like embellishments across the fabric by increasing into a single stitch, working multiple rows, and decreasing back to one stitch
• Twist stitches – T2B (twist 2 back) creates subtle diagonal textures by crossing individual stitches
• Stocking stitch – The foundation fabric uses standard knit and purl stitches in alternating rows to create a smooth, classic base

Stitches Used

The pattern incorporates essential knitting stitches and abbreviations:

• K (knit stitch)
• P (purl stitch)
• Sl (slip stitch)
• Psso (pass slipped stitch over)
• Cable stitches: C2L, C2R, C4B, and T2B
• Bobble stitch (MB)

These stitches combine to create the climbing vine and berry motifs that give the bag its distinctive name and visual character.

Materials and Specifications

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed in Avocado (colorway 161), totaling 4 x 50 gm balls. The yarn is worked double throughout the pattern, meaning two strands are held together as one, which increases the fabric weight and creates a more substantial, durable bag.

Yarn Weight: DK (double knitting) weight yarn, which produces a medium-weight fabric suitable for structured accessories.

Needles: Size 5mm needles are required for this project.

Tension: The pattern specifies 18 stitches and 24 rows over a 10 x 10 cm swatch in stocking stitch using yarn doubled. Achieving correct tension is essential for the bag to reach the intended finished measurements of 25 cm wide by 30 cm deep.

Difficulty Level

This pattern is rated as intermediate, making it suitable for knitters with experience beyond basic stockinette stitch. The cable work, bobble techniques, and twist stitches require familiarity with cable needles and the ability to read and execute more complex stitch abbreviations. Knitters should be comfortable managing yarn held double and maintaining consistent tension throughout the project.