Happy February friends! I know here on my blog February is usually the month of “love” and I release a new Valentine’s Day pattern or two but this year I’ve decided to do things a little bit different. The theme is still love but it’s not as obvious, because this month’s first pattern is a trio of cuteness in the brand new Cat Lady Bag crochet pattern.

If you’ve been around for the last few months you’ve seen this shape from me before. I started experimenting with this incredibly easy and customizable shape with the Glenda Ghost Bag last September and that did so well and turned out so cute I quickly followed it up with the Susie Snowflake Bag and the Calliope Coffee Bag in November. Since then my brain has been busy at work on new ideas for this simple shape. And I think I have another cutie on my hands with this week’s Cat Lady Bag.

Like my previous bags, this design is a simple 13 square bag. You make the 13 squares individually from the bottom up, I made 3 different ones for this week’s pattern and you can arrange them in any way you’d like. When you’re done with your 13 squares you seam them up in to an almost hour glass shape and then you fold that in half and seam up the sides to make your new bag. A set of straps are added, worked in the round directly onto the bag, to finish your design. It’s truly so easy. I am amazed by it every time.

With the individual squares I work color A behind color B but I don’t take color B to the edges of the square. This does make a slight thicker space behind B but steam blocking your squares can help to fix that and make your squares all the same size and softness. I always suggest steam blocking, it’s magical. I even have a Reel on Instagram showing why I like to steam block.

Anyway, I hope you like this week’s new pattern. I had a blast designing the individual squares and asking myself “does this look like a cat?” And I hope everyone likes the name “Cat Lady Bag” as it’s all in good fun and hopefully makes people smile. Thank you so much for your support. And remember you can purchase an ad-free pdf of of this pattern on Ravelry.

Please note: I was provided the yarn for this pattern by Lion Brand Yarn for the purposes of designing a kit and used it for the Cat Lady Bag crochet pattern, with compensation. I wasn’t provided the yarn with the expectations of positive or negative reviews but been using Vanna’s Choice for so long, it’s one of my favorite worsted with yarns. But I was commissioned to make this pattern and you can buy a kit for this pattern on Lion Brand’s Website. This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase yarn through any of the links in this post, I may be compensated.

Copyright @ Divine Debris 2024. No part of this document may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author. Sales of finished products are permitted, but the designer requests that you link back to the pattern and credit Divine Debris with the original design under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike license. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact info@divinedebris.com.   

---

(this post contains affiliate links)

---

If you appreciate my patterns I hope you’d consider purchasing an ad-free pdf of this pattern in my Ravelry shop and Lovecrafts shop!

---

Where to purchase the Cat Lady Bag crochet pattern

---

---

Notes on carrying yarn on the Cat Lady Bag crochet pattern

For yarn conservation and clarity purposes, color B is not carried through the entire square. Instead, color B is only used where it’s called for in the chart/ instructions and color A is carried behind it when not in use. Color B is only carried behind color A in the center of the square, between the tails and cat, although you could use separate strands of B there to eliminate the need to carry the yarn.

Below are 2 close up photos of the Cat Square 3 , showing color B carried and dropped when not in use. When carrying the inactive yarn with the RS facing, make sure it’s behind the previous row’s stitches. And when carrying the inactive yarn with the WS facing, make sure it’s in front of the previous row’s stitches.
Don’t pull the carried yarn too tight or let it hang loose (try to keep it even with the stitches), as it can distort your square’s final look. Blocking may help even out some distortion or bulkiness of the center that may occur.

---

Cat Lady Bag Crochet Pattern

For the squares: begin with a ch 22 in color A, turn, and start in the 2nd ch from the hook. Each row begins with a “ch 1, turn” and all st counts are 21 sc.

Border
With the RS facing you, join color C in the first st on the other side of Row 1 of the square. 
Row 1: C: Ch 1, sc into the next 21 sts, ch 1 at the corner, sc into the next 21 row ends, ch 1 at the corner, sc into the next 21 sts of Row 21, ch 1 at the corner, sc down the next 21 row ends, ch 1 at the corner, join with a slip st – 84 sc, 4 ch-1 spaces
Fasten off, weave in your ends. Block the square so it measures 5.4” x 5.4”.

Cat Lady Bag Square 2

Make 4

Key: color A is white and color B is brown.

For the squares: begin with a ch 22 in color A, turn, and start in the 2nd ch from the hook. Each row begins with a “ch 1, turn” and all st counts are 21 sc.

Border
With the RS facing you, join color C in the first st on the other side of Row 1 of the square. 
Row 1: C: Ch 1, sc into the next 21 sts, ch 1 at the corner, sc into the next 21 row ends, ch 1 at the corner, sc into the next 21 sts of Row 21, ch 1 at the corner, sc down the next 21 row ends, ch 1 at the corner, join with a slip st – 84 sc, 4 ch-1 spaces
Fasten off, weave in your ends. Block the square so it measures 5.4” x 5.4”.

Cat Lady Bag Square 3

Make 4

Key: color A is white and color B is brown.

For the squares: begin with a ch 22 in color A, turn, and start in the 2nd ch from the hook. Each row begins with a “ch 1, turn” and all st counts are 21 sc.

Border
With the RS facing you, join color C in the first st on the other side of Row 1 of the square. 
Row 1: C: Ch 1, sc into the next 21 sts, ch 1 at the corner, sc into the next 21 row ends, ch 1 at the corner, sc into the next 21 sts of Row 21, ch 1 at the corner, sc down the next 21 row ends, ch 1 at the corner, join with a slip st – 84 sc, 4 ch-1 spaces
Fasten off, weave in your ends. Block the square so it measures 5.4” x 5.4”.

Assembly

• You should have a total of 13 squares (5 Square 1 and 4 each Squares 2 and 3).
• You can use any method of seaming for this section. I used a back loop only slip st.
• Fasten off between each seam and weave in your ends securely.
• Be sure to also seam the ch1 at the corners of each square.

To better visualize how you need to assemble your bag, lay your squares in rows of: 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3, 2, with the first 3 rows of cup squares upside down. You want them to be upside down because when you seam the bag along the middle single square, they’ll all be facing up the same way. See the photo below for reference.

When your Bag is seamed to match the photo on the previous page, flip it over so that the wrong side is facing you like the photo below.
Follow Steps 1 – 3 on how to finish seaming the sides of your bag.

Step 1: Fold your bag along the dark blue line in the center so it looks like the photo below.

Step 2: Seam the green edges to the teal edges on the right-hand side of the bag. The photo below shows how it will line up.

Step 3: Seam the pink edges to the yellow edges on the left-hand side of the bag. The photo below shows how it will line up.

Cat Lady Bag Straps

In the left photo above, the blue arrow shows which side you need to start your straps on and in the right photo, the green arrow shows you where you start your first st (not the ch 1 at the corner).

The photo above shows you (in purple) how you go up the square from where you joined your yarn, skip across a space (this is where the strap is) and work down another square. You will repeat this on the other side of the bag to create 2 straps.

Rnd 1: With color C, pull up a loop in the indicated by the green arrow in the photo above (the first st, not the ch 1, to the left of the seam you made when you did Step 2 of the Assembly), sc into the next 21 sts of the square you’re on, ch 75, skip the ch 1 and next 21 sts on this square, skip where the 3 squares are joined and move to the next square to the left, skip the next 21 sts and ch 1 on the corner and sc into the next 21 sts of this square, moving to the other side of the bag, skip the ch 1 at the corner and where the 3 squares are joined and move to the next square to the left, skip ch 1 at the corner and sc into the next 21 sts of this square, ch 75, skip the ch 1 and next 21 sts on this square, skip where the 3 squares are joined and move to the next square to the left, skip the next 21 sts and ch 1 on the corner and sc into the next 21 sts of this square, skip the ch 1 at the corner and where the 3 squares are joined, join with a slip st – 84 sc, 2 ch 75 spaces
Rnds 2 – 4: C: Ch 1, turn, sc around, join – 234 sc
Fasten off color C, switch to color B.
Rnd 5: B: Ch 1, turn, sc around, join – 234 sc
Fasten off, weave in your ends. Block this section if you’d like. 
Optional: Add a rnd of slip sts to Rnd 3 of the Straps using color B to reinforce the Straps
and for extra customization.

---

Tada! There they are, the Cat Lady Bag crochet pattern! I hope you love it and use the hashtag #DivineDebris on Instagram and I’ll share it in my stories!