Petronella Crochet Bag in Schachenmayr Catania Fine - S10991 - Downloadable PDF

Petronella Crochet Bag by Schachenmayr – Pattern Summary (S10991)

The Petronella Crochet Bag (S10991) is a free, downloadable PDF crochet pattern designed by the Schachenmayr Designteam. It produces a colourful, circular-based crochet bag with a finished circumference of approximately 76 cm and a height of approximately 26 cm — making it a generously sized everyday tote or market bag. The design is rated Easy on the pattern's own difficulty scale, though it is listed as intermediate in terms of the techniques involved, making it an excellent project for crocheters who are comfortable with the basics and ready to explore colourwork and shaping in the round.

What Is Being Made

The finished object is a structured crochet bag worked entirely in the round, beginning from the base and building upward. The circular base is constructed using a classic magic ring start, with rounds of evenly spaced increases that expand the flat circle outward before the sides are worked straight to create the body of the bag. The result is a bag with a flat, disc-shaped base and upright sides — a silhouette well suited to holding its shape when filled.

Techniques Used

• Magic ring (magic loop): The bag begins with a magic ring, a technique that closes the centre of a circular piece tightly with no visible hole. The pattern references an illustration on page 3 to guide crocheters through this step.
• Working in the round: Every round is joined and the work progresses continuously in rounds rather than rows, which creates a seamless, tubular fabric ideal for bag construction.
• Evenly spaced increases: The base is shaped through a series of carefully structured increase rounds. Starting from 8 single crochet stitches, each successive round adds stitches at regular intervals — every stitch, every other stitch, every third stitch, and so on — following a classic circular shaping formula that keeps the base flat and even.
• Colour changes: The pattern follows a colour scheme worked across the rounds, incorporating all six colours of Schachenmayr Catania Fine specified in the materials list. Managing yarn changes in the round is a key intermediate skill this project develops.
• Slip stitch joining: Each round is closed with a slip stitch before the next round begins, a standard technique for neat, tidy joins in circular crochet.

Stitches Used

• Single crochet (sc): The entire bag — base and body — is constructed using single crochet stitches. This stitch creates a dense, firm fabric that gives the bag structure and durability without the need for a lining or stiffener.
• Slip stitch (sl st): Used at the end of each round to join and close the round neatly.
• Increase stitches: Increases are worked by crocheting two single crochet stitches into the same stitch of the previous round, a fundamental shaping technique in circular crochet.

Materials

The pattern is designed specifically for Schachenmayr Catania Fine, a 4-ply weight yarn sold in 50 g balls, each yielding approximately 165 metres. Six colours are called for, one ball of each:

• Col. 01021 – Cyclam (1 ball)
• Col. 01022 – Flieder (1 ball)
• Col. 01023 – Sonne (1 ball)
• Col. 01024 – Pfau (1 ball)
• Col. 01025 – Wolke (1 ball)
• Col. 01026 – Royal (1 ball)

The recommended hook size is a 3 mm (US D) crochet hook, which pairs well with 4-ply yarn to produce a firm, close-knit fabric appropriate for a bag that needs to hold its shape. Catania Fine is a smooth, mercerised cotton-type yarn well known for its stitch definition and colour clarity, making it particularly well suited to colourwork projects like this one where crisp colour transitions are part