I love yoga and I love my yoga mat. I always take my own mat to class so I made a bag to take my bag in.

I used six large granny squares, three for each side of the bag. Each square has a different colour pattern and they are all connected by green yarn. I got the free pattern for the granny square from the blog Singed With An Owl.

After completing the squares and deciding on the order in which to assemble them I attached the three squares belonging to each side of the bag using the Granny Join found in a free tutorial on Carina’s Craftblog.

To give the bag more stability I used a simple double (English: treble) crochet join connecting the two sides:

row 1) double (English: treble) crochets along the first long side, the bottom and the second long side of one of the blocks of squares.

row 2 & 3) double (English: treble) crochets into the double crochets of the previous row

row 4) single (English: double) crochets connecting the double crochets of row 3 with the second block of squares.

I used a tie string at the top to close the bag.

row 1) chain 62

row 2) 1 half double (English: half treble) crochet into third chain from hook, 59 half double (English: half treble) crochet into the chain, finish off

Thread the tie string through the spaces in the granny squares about 3cm from the top of the bag.

I knitted the handle you see in the pictures but an easy crochet handle could be made quite quickly:

1) chain 9

2) 8 half double (English: half treble) crochet

3-xx) continue until handle is long enough for your liking, Remember that it will stretch a little with the weight of the yoga mat in the bag.

Fix the handle to the bottom and top of the bag. Bag completed!