PATTERN FOR FIBONACCI’S DICE BAG

This is a repost of a knitting design I created back in 2009 as the blog it was on is gone.

Standard

Fibonacci Bag #1

I made up this bag with the decorative purl ridges on a whim. As I’m a nerd, I based the number of knit and purl rows on Fibonacci’s sequence (1,1,2,3,5,8…). Since I’m a gamer as well as a knitting nerd, all small bags are automatically dice bags, but I’m sure you can find other uses for it. It looks good in one yarn or with contrasting colors for the purl stripes. Read on to make one for yourself! 

Materials:

Single color: I used about  60 yards of Plymouth Colorspun (worsted weight) and size 7 DPNS.

Multi-color: I used about 30 yards of the MC (Mirasol Tupa, DK weight) and ~11 and ~15 of the contrast colors (random stash DK weight in blue and purple) with size 3 DPNs.

In theory any weight yarn could work. I went down a size or two from recommended for the needles for both bags for a tighter fabric. It does have to hold things. 🙂

Pattern: Cast on 60 stitches, join to work in the round.

Top: knit 8 rows; *k2tog, yo, repeat from * for 1 row; knit 8 rows

Main Body: purl 2 rows; knit 3 rows; purl 3 rows; knit 5 rows; purl 5 rows; knit 8 rows; purl 8 rows.

(Note on purling in the round–I find it waaaaay harder to keep from getting loose stitches at the end of each needle when purling for some reason. If you have a similar problem, I recommend marking your start of round and moving the needles over by a stitch on the purl rounds.)

Bottom: knit 3 rows; *k4, k2tog, repeat from * for 1 row; knit 1 row; *k3, k2tog, repeat from * for 1 row; knit 1 row; *k2, k2tog, repeat from * for 1 row; knit 1 row; *k1, k2tog, repeat from * for 1 row; knit 1 row; *k2tog, repeat from * for 1 row; *k2tog, repeat from * for 1 row.

(Note on decreases — you should be decreasing from 60 sts to 50, 40, 30, 20, 10 and 5 sts.)

Fibonacci Bag #2 Blocking

Finishing:

You should be down to 5 stitches. Cut your yarn, thread onto a yarn needle, remove stitches from needles and pass the yarn through the 5 remaining stitches, pulling tight. Weave in ends.
Blocking: I needed to block the DK but not the worsted. If you have a mug or glass of the same size as your bottom, wetting and leaving over the glass to dry works perfectly. Remember, though, that we want to keep some of the ridgey nature of the purl rows, so don’t pull your bag too tight on the glass. Just try to get the bottom nice and solid and circular.

Cord: I used lucetted cord made from my yarn. You could knit i-cord or find a different cord you liked. Thread onto a yarn needle and thread through the holes.

Fibonacci Bag #2

Pattern notes for alternating colors:

Adding the contrast color rows is pretty simple: do all the purl rows and the knit row before in your contrast color. You want to knit one row before you start purling in the contrast color because what’s making the bump when you purl is the loop from the previous row.  This is how it worked out when I made the bag:

Top: knit as before, all in black

Main body: knit 7 rows in black; knit 1row blue; purl 2 rows in blue; knit 2 rows in black; knit 1 row in purple; purl 3 rows in purple; knit 4 rows in black; knit 1 row in blue; purl 5 rows in blue; knit 7 rows in black; knit 1 row in purple; purl 8 rows in purple

Bottom: knit as before, all in black

You will have extra ends to weave in, of course. I recommend carrying your contrast color up the inside after the first purl row.

Well, there you go. Please tell me if you make one!

This is the ravelry page for the design: https://ravel.me/fibonaccis-dice-bag