Ruffle yarns, like Red Heart's Sashay yarn, have been really popular lately. It takes a while to get used to working with the yarn, but once you do, it's fun to work with. The first project I made with it was a scarf. It seemed like most people were making scarves with it. I have been wondering what else could be made with this yarn for a while now. In a recent issue of Crochet! magazine, there was a pattern for a ruffle clutch/purse. I decided that I had to see how it would work.
Initially the bag starts with just using one stand of regular worsted weight yarn. To get the ruffles, the sides of the bag are worked with the ruffle yarn AND the worsted weight yarn together. This took me a while to get used to, and I'm still a little slow at it, but I really like how it worked. The sides are pretty dense and thick because of the two yarns.
Work in progress:
The completed project:
The final project used two skeins of ruffle yarn and one skein of a main color. This project has me thinking of so many other things that could be made with ruffle yarns. For example, a decorative pillow would get some added softness with the yarn. (Though the yarn may snag on earrings or jewelry or anything else. Not to mention that my puppies would love to chew on it. However, that's just the nature of the ruffle yarns.) This pattern could easily inspire additional bag/purse projects with less (or even more) ruffles.
Look for a class on Ruffle Yarns if you'd like additional help with working with these specialty yarns.
