A new direction in ruffles – diagonal! This bag is really quite a girlie girl bag. And it’s surprisingly easy to knit in two main pieces with ruffles applied after joining. Seaming is a piece of chocolate cake with cherry ice cream on top when you use a crochet hook to join the
sections.

Materials:
Bag #1
2 balls (100 gr balls) Crystal Palace Yarns Iceland Tree Bark (#3433) – Main Color (MC)
1 ball (50 gr.) Crystal Palace Yarns Fjord Sand (#4102) – Color A (A)
1 ball (50 gr.) Crystal Palace Yarns Fjord Rose Musk (#2119) – Color B (B)
OR - make it all with Iceland as shown in the 2nd bag shown at right
Bag #2
2 balls (100 gr balls) Crystal Palace Yarns Iceland Nile Green (#5332) – Main Color (MC)
1 ball (100 gr.) Crystal Palace Yarns Iceland Picnic (#7243) – Color A (A)

3 - 26" US Size #13 (9.0 mm) Crystal Palace Yarns Bamboo or Daisy Circular Needles (or 2 circular needles and one large st holder)
1 US Size N (9.0 mm) crochet hook
1 st marker
1 pair Crystal Palace Yarns Purse Handles #HD-24PK (Pink or
Closure hardware, if desired

Dimensions:
Before Felting – 13" wide, 16" tall
After Felting – 11" wide at the bottom, 11" tall

Bag Section #1:
Using 1 strand of MC, cast on 64 sts to one of the circular needles. Begin knitting in St st back and forth on needle in following pattern:
Row 1 Knit (RS)
Row 2 Purl
Row 3 Sl 1 wyib, K to last three sts on the needle, K2tog, K1
Row 4 Sl 1 wyif, P to end of the row
Repeat Rows 3 and 4 until you finish a WS row and 42 sts rem on the needle. Cut yarn and leave live sts on needle.

Bag Section #2:
Use second circular needle, one strand of A and B held tog, and cast on 3 sts.  Work in St st back and forth on needle in following pattern:
Row 1 Knit (RS)
Row 2 Purl
Row 3 Sl 1 wyib, M1, K to end of the row
Row 4 Sl 1 wyif, P to end of the row
Rep Rows 3 and 4 until finishing a WS row with 25 sts on needle. Cut yarn and leave the sts live on needle.

Joining the sections:
When you look at the sections, you’ll see that the slipped sts at the edges of each piece have resulted in clearly defined elongated sts. These sts are your roadmap for joining the pieces.
Place diagonal sides together with RS facing. Use crochet hook and MC to single crochet segments together, beg at bottom corner and work toward the live sts. To do this, make a slip knot on hook, insert hook under first elongated st on one section and then under the first elongated st on other section. YO the hook and pull through a loop (2 loops on hook). YO the hook again and pull a loop through both loops on hook (1 loop on hook). Repeat until sections are seamed, cut yarn and pull through last loop.
Repeat for the other seam (side seam), also beg at the bottom and working toward the live sts (RS together).
With WS facing and side seam at top right corner as you view it, crochet the bottom of bag together using single crochet and MC yarn.

Diagonal Ruffle:
Use 3rd circ needle (or remove one set of live sts to a large st holder and use 2nd circ needle) to pick up 24 sts with A + B held tog along diagonal seam line on front of bag. Be sure to pick them up working from bottom corner of bag toward the live sts. The first st on needle and last st on the needle will be slipped throughout and won’t be knit until the very end of ruffle so that ruffle ends will be anchored closely to bag.
Knit as follows:
Row 1 Sl 1, P22, leaving last st unknit on the LH needle. Turn.
Row 2 Leaving 1 st which is now on RH needle, Kf/b on next 22 sts, leaving last st unknit on LF needle. Turn.
Row 3 Leaving 1 st which is now on RH needle, P44, leaving last st unknit on LH needle. Turn.
Row 4 Leaving 1 st which is now on RH needle, Kf/b on next 44 sts, leaving last st unknit on LF needle. Turn.
Row 5 Leaving 1 st which is now on RH needle, P88, then P last st on needle. Turn.
Row 6 Cut Yarns A and B. Attach MC and bind off across all sts, including very last slipped st.
Rather than cutting MC yarn when last st is bound off, simply slip that last loop onto needle with held live sts at top of bag. This will leave 68 live sts at top of the bag. Do not cut yarn.

Top Ruffle:
Redistribute 68 sts at top of bag so there are 34 on each of two circular needles. You will knit using 
same knitting technique as making a sock on 2 circular needles. (See note on this technique below.) Mark the beginning of round and K two rounds with MC yarn. Cut MC, attach one strand each of A and B, and create ruffle as follows:
Round 1 *Kf/b* around (136 sts)
Round 1 K
Round 3 *Kv/b* around (272 sts)
Round 4 K
Round 5 Cut A+B, switch to MC, and bind off all sts

Felting and finishing:
Felt bag using your preferred felting method. Shape bag to dry. Because of the diagonal seam, the felted bag may seem to want to pull in one direction or be uneven. Simply pull and stretch it into a symmetrical shape and pin. Carefully shape and pin ruffles. The shape you give them during blocking will be shape they retain. (See illustration at right for how bag was blocked.)
Sew on purse handles and closure hardware (if desired).

Note: To do circular knitting on 2 circular needles, pick up both ends of the first needle, knit all the sts on the first needle, and turn the work. Pick up both ends of the second needle, knit the sts on the second needle, and turn the work. This completes one round of knitting.