Two strands together: the mélange effect in crochet bags

I work many of my bags with two strands of t-shirt yarn together. It's the detail you notice least from afar and most up close: the colour blends stitch after stitch.

How it works

You take two balls, hold the two strands side by side and work as if they were a single one. Both are in every stitch, but not always in the same position: sometimes one is at the front, sometimes the other. So the colours alternate almost at random, and the fabric turns into a speckled texture.

Mélange is a French word meaning “mixture”: in textiles it describes a colour made of fibres or strands of different colours blended together.

What changes in the bag

• The colour. Up close you see the two colours side by side. From a distance your eye blends them into a third colour, one that isn't in either ball.
• The thickness. Two strands together make a thicker, fuller fabric than one alone.
• Every bag is different. Because the strands alternate at random, the pattern of speckles never repeats: even with the same two colours, no two bags are ever identical.

How to choose the pair

• Two close colours, like two shades of brown or blue, give a subtle mélange: it looks like a solid colour, only livelier.
• Two distant colours, like lime green and cocoa brown, give a lively, speckled effect: every stitch lights up a little.
• A colour and a lamé ribbon give a bag in its own colour with glints of light, discreet by day and sparkling at night.

You'll find more ideas for choosing shades in how to match the colours.

Try it yourself

On the colours page you can add a second strand to the bag and see straight away how it blends with the first, on each of the three shapes. When you're happy with the pair, send it to me: I make the bag myself, by hand, stitch by stitch.