The MistleTote Bag Crochet Pattern: a Tote Bag to feature your favourite mosaic panels

5 hours ago

5 min read

Smiling woman outdoors holds a pale sage green crocheted tote with mistletoe design and KISS text, standing before a leafy fence and trees.

The MistleTote Bag crochet pattern is now available on Ravelry or Etsy. Get 25% launch discount until the 1st November (midnight GMT/UK time) or 40% off with the subscriber exclusive code in my latest newsletter. If you didn't get a copy, sign up here and click on the "Latest Newsletter" button in the confirmation mail to get the code.

Smiling woman outdoors holds a crocheted tote bag; text reads Crochet Pattern, The MistleTote, Made with Love and Fibres. — Pin this to your **Pinterest** crochet board to find the pattern whenever you want to make it.

What is The MistleTote Bag Crochet Pattern?

A pale sage green crocheted tote with mistletoe design and KISS text in white, laid on a wooden table.

I really enjoy working mosaic crochet to relax in the evenings. I love crocheting from charts so it’s perfect for me. It has just the right balance of focused and low focus stitching, plus I find it so motivating to see the pattern develop.

Green crocheted panel white bow and mistletoe pattern on a weathered wooden table, dusted with snow and sprigs of rosemary nearby

I do like to try different designs rather than working multiple repeats of the same design like you do for a blanket, so I was a little stuck for what to make with the panels. They’re so pretty; I didn’t want to waste them.

Smiling woman outdoors holds a pale sage green crocheted tote with mistletoe design and KISS text in white , standing before a leafy fence and trees.

The Mistletote is a deep, soft and roomy crocheted bag that is well shaped and comfortable to use. Its pockets are designed to feature a 48+3 st mosaic panel, so you can use the Kiss Under the Mistletoe panel included in the pattern, pick one of your favourites that you’ve already made or make a new one that will make it special to the user. I've included a section in this post with links to other suitable designs and will add to it as I find more.

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I think has to be one of my favourite bags. The waistcoat stitch on the sides is so smooth, that it's a perfect setting for the textured mosaic pockets and it's even and sturdy so it holds everything I want to carry perfectly.

green yarn ball and crochet hook on a textured light fabric, with a partially finished crocheted piece.

It's very relaxing to work without demanding a lot of concentration, so it's perfect to accompany a good audiobook/television programme and working all the little finishing touches and seeing it turn from a shapeless sack to a structured tote bag was so exciting.

Pastel green and white yarn skeins labeled Muskat stacked on a carved wooden tray with a crochet hook, beside scissors on white cloth.

I used Drops Muskat for mine and its lovely shine and smooth texture combined with a dense low stretch texture meant the result was exactly as I'd hoped. There is definitely flexibility to use other types of yarn as slong as the panel and bag yarns are well matched.

I've added some customisation tips to the pattern too, so you can be sure to end up with a size and style you like. One of the great advantages to making your own clothes and accessories should be having them turn out just how you want and I want my patterns to support the maker with that. I love seeing how creative people can be and seeing how different versions of the same pattern turn out is one of the best parts of being a designer.

Other Mosaic Panel Designs to Use as Pockets

Green crocheted panel white bow and mistletoe pattern on a weathered wooden table

The MistleTote has front and back pockets that are designed to feature a 48+3 st mosaic panel this is a fairly common design size for mosaic panels, so you won't be short of options!

A 48+3 st panel is one that has a repeatable section of 48 stitches, and three extra stitches: the start stitch, the finish stitch and an extra stitch after all of the repeatable sections have been worked that helps balance some designs. You could also use:

a 24+3 st design and work the 24 st repeatable section twice to get your 48 sts
an 18+3 st design and work the 18 st repeatable section three times to get your 48 sts
a 12+3 st design and work the 12 st repeatable section four times to get your 48 sts

8+3 st, 6+3 st, 4+3 st, 3+3 st and 2+3 st repeats will also work but are less common; just repeat the repeatable section until you have 48 sts.

The panel used in the bag is 30 rows long. If your panel is up to five shorter or longer, you can use it and it should be a good size and there are tips in the instructions for this too. If it is smaller than 25 rows, you may like to work some plain rows at the top and bottom so the pocket is deep enough and if it is longer than 25 rows, you may want to make the bag longer too or reduce the length of the foldover edging.

The Kiss Under the Mistletoe panel supplied in the pattern is also part of an event inspired by the changing seasons. You can use any of the event's panels for your pockets. Find them as a 13 pattern bundle and an 8 pattern bundle in the Elimee Designs online store. There are some great designs that will give your bag a seasonal touch, e.g. if you want a summery beach bag.

The Elimee Designs blog also has an excellent post on mixing and matching mosaic panels to make blankets, which includes a great catalogue of free and purchasable mosaic panel designs helpfully listed with their stitch counts.

Using Mosaic Panels You've Already Made as Pockets

First check in the section above that your panel will be compatible. If it is, then as long as the yarn used for the bag and panel is similar the design should work, e.g. if both are a cotton DK (even if not the same brand) they are likely to combine well but a panel made with an aran/worsted wool blend yarn and a cotton DK Tote bag will be different sizes and textures so probably won’t combine well. You should use the same hook as you used for the mosaic panel as the smaller hook in the pattern and one 2-3 sizes larger than recommended for the yarn to work the waistcoat stitch parts. It's helpful if that larger hook has a fairly pointy tip.

How did it go?

A pale sage green crocheted tote with mistletoe design and KISS text in white , hung on a leafy fence with trees.

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