Crochet Book: Crochet Basket Bags with Your Favorite Patterns - 3,000 Combinations (Bunka Publishing Bureau)

This is Ronique's fourth book. I was in charge of the design and production.
This time, the book has a completely different concept from previous ones, combining bag-making methods and a collection of knitting patterns in one volume.

“Contains 100 circular crochet patterns.
Choose your favorite pattern from this collection of knitting fabrics and knit your favorite bag.
Of course, there are also many sample projects that you can knit as they are. There are 22 recipes for basic bags and modified bags.

In the "Production Story" section on this page, we talk about the background to the creation of this book, its contents, and the production team, so if you have the opportunity to pick up a copy, we hope you will recall this.

【notice】

2026.03.10
"Knit a basket bag with your favorite pattern" has been reprinted for the seventh time.
The 8th edition sample magazine arrived just in time for the spring and summer knitting season.
This reprint comes exactly one year after the book was released last spring, and I am extremely grateful to the many people who have picked up the book during this time. Thank you very much.

2025.02.05
"Knit a basket bag with your favorite pattern" has been reprinted and is now in its 7th printing.
Since publication, so many people have purchased the book, and I am filled with gratitude. Thank you so much!

2021.07.17
"Knit a basket bag with your favorite pattern" has been reprinted for the second time.
This came shortly after the first reprint, so I was surprised and grateful.
Thank you so much to everyone who purchased!

2021.06.09
"Knit a basket bag with your favorite pattern" has been reprinted.
We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the many people who have picked up this book, as it was reprinted shortly after its release.

2021.04.02
Pre-orders for his fourth book have begun.
[Amazon link]
"Knit a basket bag with your favorite pattern: 100 patterns x 5 bottoms x 6 handles = 3,000 patterns" (Bunka Publishing Bureau)
A book has been published that contains methods for crocheting bags.

[Production Story]

1. Background of this book

This book teaches you how to knit a bag by combining parts like a montage.
This was actually an idea I had been mulling over for about 7 or 8 years.

It's so much fun to create something that suits your taste, and I was so excited and excited thinking, "If I have this idea, I'm sure I can share it with everyone!"

However, looking back, I feel that it was only now, after having knitted many pieces since then and being able to think about knitting patterns, that I was able to realize this idea in the ideal way.

Of course, it was thanks to the efforts of the editors and everyone else involved that this ideal book took shape, and I hope to talk about that in more detail in another article.

Some people may think that knitting a bag to your liking is something that is only for people who are familiar with crocheting, but this book is packed with recipes that you can knit as is.
Knit a basic bag → Knit a modified bag → Knit a bag to your liking
In this way, you can take the steps of getting used to knitting with existing recipes and then knitting a bag to your liking.
I'll cover some recommended steps in another post.

Whether you're just starting out with crocheting or are a veteran, I want everyone to enjoy it.
I also think it's a book that can be enjoyed in different ways.

I hope that this book will be one that you will keep close at hand and find useful for a long time to come.

2. About the pattern collection

This book contains 100 different crochet patterns, making it a book about bags as well as a collection of knitting fabrics.

As for how I came up with the 100 knitting patterns, (I think I probably did nearly 200 test knittings in reality), I just kept knitting, trying things out, and choosing the patterns I liked.

I think I have variations of basic knitting patterns in my subconscious, but I haven't knitted anything based on anything in particular; they're all trials of "I wonder what would happen if I knitted it like this?" or "What would happen if I combined these knitting patterns?" When I looked back at the knitting pattern later, I was surprised to find that I had knitted one set of knitting patterns that were exactly the same!

So, if I search thoroughly, there is a chance that I might find something similar by chance, but at least for me, this is a new collection of knitting patterns.

All of the knitted fabrics this time are patterned using the "ring stitch" technique.

Depending on the pattern, the starting position of the loop stitch can be quite diagonal.
In this pattern, we have made it as difficult to sew diagonally as possible, without making the knitting diagram too difficult to understand.
The degree of skewing will vary depending on the knitter's hand, but I checked the degree of skewing when I knitted and adjusted it to avoid extreme skewing.
For those who don't mind the diagonal stitches and just want to knit simply, I think it would be best to find the pattern of how to knit the start of the stitch and knit simply. That kind of freedom is also a good thing about knitting.

Also, regarding the widening or narrowing of the knitted fabric, generally speaking, if we consider the knitting to be 0 (zero), then depending on the pattern knitting, the widening of the knitted fabric may be +1 or -1.

I think this also depends a lot on the knitter's hands, but for example, it can happen that the finished width is narrower when using a twist stitch than when using a knit stitch.
In this regard, there is some variation depending on the knitted fabric, but we chose one where the fluctuation range is not too extreme.
However, there may be patterns where the knitted fabric spreads out a lot when you knit the first row but settles down when you knit the second row, or settles down by the time it starts to take the shape of a bag, so try checking it out for a few rows.

This time, all the yarn used for the knitted fabric collection and the example bags is Eco Andaria (Hamanaka).
The pattern looks great when knitted with Eco Andaria, so the spread may change if you knit it with a different yarn.
I hope you will think of it as an adventure and an exciting place.

Also, when it comes to patterned knitting designs, I quite like dense knitting, but it's also more fun to have cooler patterns, so I tried to knit with variety in mind, including small patterns, large patterns, and bumpy patterns.

Some of the patterns use slightly unusual knitting methods, but I hope you will take your time to look through them and start with something that looks easy to knit.

3. About the sample works

The title of this post is "Knit a basket bag with your favorite pattern."
With this book, you can use the 100 patterns included to knit a bag with your favorite pattern.

While this book offers such freedom, it also contains 22 sample recipes that can be knitted as is, so you can start by knitting using the existing recipes.

In previous books, there were about 25 pieces of work featured.
I looked back and realized that this time, in addition to the pattern collection, there were 22 bag designs.

It contains 11 basic bag patterns knitted in straw color, and 11 modified bag patterns knitted in a variety of colors (including one accessory).

There are many different factors involved, so it's difficult to assign a difficulty level that applies to all, but if you consider knitting your favorite pattern from a pattern book, it seems that a round-bottom bag is the easiest to knit, and a flat-bottom bag is the one you should put off the most.

I think it would be a good idea to read the explanation, knit a basic bag, and once you have a concrete idea of how to knit, you can get the essence of knitting your favorite bag from the modified bag.
The answer to the question, "What should I do in this situation?" may be found in the recipes in the Arrange Bag.

The design of the adjustable bags comes with a wide variety of handles, so you can have a lot of fun just using the design as is and changing the color or pattern.

After that, I hope you will enjoy looking at the book and expanding your imagination, try something out right away, or just look at it for a while, and get started from various angles.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of creations you all will create.

4. About the production team

It's exciting to think about and try new things, and this book was truly a new attempt.

I truly feel that this book was completed thanks to the wisdom, experience, skills, and energy of everyone involved, rather than just me knitting the fabric or the bags.

I would like to introduce all the people involved who have been so helpful in making this book.

Book design by Kayoko Wakayama and L'espace
Photography by Shinnosuke Yoshimori
Yasuda Josui (Bunka Publishing Bureau)
Proofread by Masako Mukai
Edited by Naoko Kobayashi
Sayako Misumi (Bunka Publishing Bureau)

Once again, thank you so much!!

What got me started crocheting was Naoko Shimoda's book "Crocheting is Fun."
It was an exciting turn of events that Wakayama-san, who designed that book, was asked to design this book as well.

The photo is of Yoshimori Shinnosuke, whose wonderful world is obvious even from his Instagram pics ( @shinnosukeyoshimori ）。
The process photography was done by Yasuda Josui (thank you as always!).

And then there's Masako Mukai, who provided proofreading that I can only describe as divine.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to editors Kobayashi and Mikata for their help with this book, as they have with the previous three books.
I feel a gratitude and respect that is difficult to put into words, and I can't help but feel that the work of editing is a great achievement.

And at the base of it all, the passion of the production team, who always put the readers first, was truly invaluable.
(Actually, it would be presumptuous of me to call myself a "production member," but I apologize for the simplicity of the expression.)