This is a crochet pattern review of the Large Divided Dice Bag pattern by designer Michelle Hall/Geekalicious. Review done by A Stitch Shy of Normal for EyeLoveKnots.
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Find the crochet pattern review below, or you can buy the paid pattern here on Ravelry!
It’s me, Abigail with A Stitch Shy of Normal.
I’m a nerd, I’ll say it.
My husband and I often played Dungeons & Dragons in college. We would have regular sessions with an ongoing campaign and would even do overnight “lock in” one-shot games back when we were in our early twenties and could stay up all night with just pizza and Mountain Dew to keep us going. Looking back I can’t believe we stayed alive doing that, I could never manage that again. But it was fun! We’ve played on and off since then, whenever we had the free time plus a group that could regularly make games plus a place to play. If you’re reading that wondering how adults pull it off, that’s why we didn’t play for several years until we found our current group! And unfortunately, the game store we played at shut down just a couple months ago. But my husband and I just moved, and we have a nice basement that has plenty of space so we’re going to be the hosts now!
Because of our history with the game, we’ve collected a lot of dice over the years. Somewhere in our basement or possibly a family member’s home, there’s a big tackle box full of dice that we bought on eBay I think. It was an impressive collection and I miss it. But we have a good stash again, quite a few full sets plus some random loose individual ones. And you also collect things like miniature figures to represent characters, and things to indicate environment like rocks and trees. So when I came across this large dice bag with dividers inside, I thought it would be perfect to keep on our table instead of piling all these little bits into one bag and then sorting them out every single time we play!
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What Materials Do I Need to Crochet a Dice Bag?
- 610 yards of Premier Just Yarn Worsted Value Ombre in “Burgundy Ombre” (it’s exactly one skein, so you might want to get two to be safe)
- H8/5mm hook – I use Clover Amour
- Scissors and yarn needle for assembly
- Stitch markers come in very handy with this pattern, I have a set like this which helped to color-code my pieces
- Large Divided Dice Bag, Paid Crochet Pattern via Ravelry
Material Notes:
The designer for this pattern actually used Red Heart’s Super Saver Ombre, while I used a similar option from Premier Yarn. I have used the Red Heart version in the past so when I came across the Premier one on their site, I had to try. I ordered a few skeins with no real plan and then when I chose this pattern to review and it was written using RHSS Ombre, it was the perfect fit!
I’m not going to get into all the details directly comparing the two yarns, I’ll keep it on-topic here and only talk about how this yarn worked for this project. And it worked just fine! The bag is solid, it stands up well, and it feels nice and soft. That is actually one difference I noticed, the Premier Ombre yarn felt softer to me than the Red Heart counterpart. I’ll have to keep playing with it. If I’m being really particular, I was slightly disappointed at the colorway. It’s called Burgundy Ombre and the photo online looked like it was more of a red shade in my opinion. It’s a lot more pink in person. I like it, but my intent was to pick a colorway my husband would like and he loves reds and burgundy. No harm done because it’s a cute colorway, but just putting that out there.
Would I use this again? Absolutely. I like that with my tension, I ended up using almost exactly one skein, I had only a small handful of yarn left at the end of this project. So if I were to make these in larger quantities it would be a very effective use of the skeins. I would do it again and I’d love to see this bag in more colorways of this yarn! Of course you don’t need ombre for this pattern, but I like the extra touch it gives. It’s just really cute and I love the combination of nerdy and cute.
How Long Does it Take to Crochet a Dice Bag?
I took about 10-12 hours on this project. It’s a fairly large bag so it was worth it!
Gauge & Measurements:
The bag is written to be about 12″ wide and 6″ tall which I assume means open with the sides standing straight up.
Mine measures about 11.5″ across and 6″ tall. I got very close, for never measuring gauge! I chose not to check it and just get started, and the pattern even mentions that gauge is not vital to this project. You might end up with a bag slightly larger or smaller, but as long as the tension works out and you like the look you’re getting, I wouldn’t worry too much about it being perfect.
Pattern Notes:
This is a very creative pattern! I didn’t even pay attention when the designer mentioned it’s supposed to be a similar concept to the dice bags used by Laura Bailey on the popular Critical Role campaign. I’ve listened to/watched some of their stuff before, so I recognized the name, but had no idea she apparently is known for having a giant dice bag full of sets! I’ve never gotten too into their stuff, I prefer to play rather than listen to others do it. It’s entertaining though so if you like watching/hearing others play a tabletop roleplaying game, I recommend it. Anyway, this designer apparently wanted to make their own version of these large dice bags and I think the concept worked out for sure!
I appreciated the techniques used in this pattern. It’s written to space out the increases in the bottom of the bag so you get a nice even circle without awkward corners, and I like to do that anyway so I was glad to see it added in here. It also uses standing stitches often, and that’s a nice clean way to join onto an existing piece. If you’re worried about a lot of sewing, it really isn’t as bad as it looks! You join most of the pieces together with crochet, instead of sewing with your needle. There is some of that, of course, but a lot of the joining is crochet stitches instead which I think also adds some sturdiness.
This bag is big. I read the size listed but it didn’t click to me just how large that was going to be. I also saw seven pockets in total and thought it would be perfect for my 5-6 sets of dice…not realizing that it’s written to hold 25-30 sets in total. You can fit dozens of dice into each pocket. So I won’t be using it to its full carrying capacity, but really that just means I need more dice, right? I do plan to let my husband use it for his sets too, as well as things I mentioned like the fake rocks and the player mini figures. I certainly have the space in this thing! If I had looked closer I probably would have chosen the Medium Divided Dice Bag pattern from the same designer. It’s more of a reasonable size for someone like me. Oops! Now I just need to get that size too and make different options!
I like that it has a fun texture on the sides of the main bag as well. When I started the pattern and it’s just a large circle as the base, I figured I knew the whole thing at that point. I would work the circle to the intended size, then work a ton of rows of straight single crochet around and around and around to get the desired height. I was pleasantly surprised by the textured stitch choice instead! I was initially afraid it would be less sturdy, but you sew the inner pockets to the main bag wall so I expect it’ll hold up well. The designer mentions it will stretch a bit, but I don’t think it will be a big problem. I love the visual interest of this stitch and it really shows off the ombre colorway nicely.
I would (and likely will!) make this pattern again. I plan to try the next size down as a smaller option to carry around for myself and leave this big one as our table “dice bowl” to store everything. I just need to pick a colorway, which is going to be the hardest part. Maybe each of our party members will get a medium dice bag as a gift in a color I think they’ll like. That way I get to work this up and see how it comes out in all the fun color options!
Do you like to play tabletop games or other roleplaying games? Do you play in a regular campaign, or have you always wanted to get into it? I’d love to hear!
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