Crocheting a strap for a Mochila - YouTube

Hello welcome back.

Today I'm going to show you how you crochet a strap for the Mochila bag.

Here you see an example  of a strap I made a few years ago.

The strap is crocheted lengthwise, so you will have a very long chain to start with.

I already crocheted a few stitches.  I will show you how tight you need to chain.

It's very important that the chain stitches are tight, because if they are too loose,  

the first round of the strap will be wavy and we don't want that.

When you have chained enough stitches, you just pull out the thread.

We will start in the first chain stitch,

because if you accidentally counted wrong and you have one too many or not enough,

then you can always add or remove a few chain stitches at the end.

So we will start with a new thread, make a slipknot.

My first round. I'm making a small example for the video because I'm not really using this strap.

So you insert the hook in the back loop,  

take the carry threads and let them  hang out for about 10 to 15 centimeters.

You can braid them later.

Like I said the first stitches are a bit hard.

Then you just start crocheting, try to make the stitches  the same size as you did for the bag.

Trying to get the carry threads to be a  little bit smaller, two behind each other.

It takes a lot of time to make this first round, but

when you make the next rounds it will be easier.

When you crocheted a few stitches,

try to get all the carry threads nice and even

because you don't want to see them.

It kind of looks impossible.

You can push the stitches a bit close to each other.

Let's try some more.

Because the chain stitches are very tight, it is hard to get the hook in,

but that is really what you want, because you don't want a wavy strap.

I didn't get the whole stitch.

And again rearranging the carry threads.  You really have to do that more often with the strap.

It's really more difficult than the bag itself.

I will crochet some more off-camera and I will be right back.

I'm almost at the end of the row. I am  gonna do a few more stitches

and then rearrange the carry threads again.

The first row like I said really takes a lot of time,

but it's very important that it is nice and straight.

One more stitch.

And then you see that it's a bit round.

So I will pull the carry threads. I'm holding them at this end and then I'll  

pull them one by one to make it all straight again.

So that's the end of the first round, now I can cut the yarn

and pull the loop.

That's the end of the first round.

Start the second round. Slip stitch again.

I have to get my carry threads ready. Oh didn't cut them yet.

So slip stitch on the hook,

insert in the back loop,

get the carry threads in.

Then you start crocheting again.

So every row you start on the right with a slip stitch

and in the end you just pull the loop and that's the end of the round.

And the carry threads, you let them hang out in the beginning and in the end and you can braid them later.

My little sample strap is finished.

I started with 36 stitches, it is now 10 centimeters or 4 inch.

So if you want to make a strap that is about 1 meter or 40 inch long, you will need about 360 stitches to start with.  

Of course this can be different because everybody  crochets differently.

On both sides I made braids.

I made the braids with five strands

and only one braid on each side is made with six strands,

because you also have the begin and end yarn of the cast on.

So the strap, you crochet it lengthwise.

If you're right-handed, you start on the right side for every row and if you're left-handed you start on the left side for every row.

I hope this helps. Thank you for watching.