Thanksgiving Turkey Purse

You guys! Have I ever mentioned how much I love Thanksgiving? You see...most people in my life know me as a crocheter, but they know me as a home cook first. Cooking is my salvation. It is my passion. It is my art form. So...I think it only seems logical that my favorite things to crochet are always food related. 

So, here I am in the midst of planning out the ultimate Thanksgiving menu, one that will ensure my entire family enter food comas immediately after consumption, and I thought I should share a really fun pattern with you guys! I cooked up this Turkey Purse pattern a few months ago when I was already dreaming of Thanksgiving and the marathon cooking I would get to do. It's a drawstring Turkey Purse, but I plan on also making one into a pillow. I'll just leave out the row for weaving in the drawstring, then stuff and sew that baby up upon completion!

I would also like to note that I studied many cooked turkey photos on google before deciding that this was indeed the proper set up for sewing on the wings and drumsticks. I don't want to admit how long I dedicated to making sure they were properly placed. Some of the pictures made it difficult to see the actual placement and I seriously considered making a turkey back in August when I was cooking up this pattern just so that I could be sure. 

This purse is super fun and has become quite popular in my Etsy shop. As always, I encourage you to sell whatever you make from my patterns if that is what you want to do. Just please do not sell or distribute this pattern as your own and please use your own photos. If you feel inclined to share this pattern anywhere please share the link to this blog post and do not post the actual pattern anywhere. 

This pattern is fairly easy without any special stitches, however I do need to mention that I do my HDC2TOG or HDC decrease stitch slightly different than normal. It shouldn't have any effect on the final product if you should choose to do a normal HDC decrease stitch. I just prefer my method to the regular because I feel like it gives a more uniform HDC look throughout whatever it is that I am making. 

My version just has one minor difference than the normal stitch. It goes like so:

Yarn over and insert hook into next stitch. Pull up a loop. There should be 3 loops on your hook here. Insert hook into next stitch and pull up a loop. There should be 4 loops on your hook. Yarn over and pull through all 4 loops. 

That's it. The only thing you're leaving out is a yarn over before inserting into the second stitch. The reason I prefer to do it this way is that it makes less of a bump. I might be the only hooker on Earth that thinks a normal HDC decrease looks too bumpy! It sounds silly, but I just think it looks better in the long run. 

I didn't have any testers for this pattern because I poured over it myself for many hours to make sure it was correct, but I do realize I could possibly make a typing error. I've read through this blog post several times now and it all looks good to go, but if you do encounter anything that looks like an error please do not hesitate to contact me. I feel like the pattern is easy enough that you should be able to continue on regardless, but I don't want to leave possible errors up. 

*Edited to add a little tip- When it comes time to sew the pieces onto my bird I like to "stuff" the purse. I put a few handfuls of polyfill into a ziploc bag and put it inside the purse. It helps me figure out the best placement when the turkey has that nice plump shape.*

Without further ado I present to you the main dish-

Thanksgiving Turkey Purse

Worsted weight yarn

5.5 mm hook

Notes: I used I Love This Yarn in Sungold (For that perfect golden turkey skin.)

**Also, unless otherwise noted you will join each row with a slip stitch and then chain one. I'm lazy, so I don't like typing it out on each and every row if I don't have to.

Main body-

R1- Make a magic circle. 10 HDC into MC. (10 HDC)

R2- HDC 2 into same stitch as joining. HDC 2 into each stitch. (20 HDC)

R3- HDC 2 into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next. *2 HDC into next. 1 HDC into next.* Repeat from * to *. (30 HDC)

R4- HDC 2 into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 2 stitches. 2 HDC into next. *1 HDC into next 2.* Repeat from * to *. (40 HDC)

R5- HDC 2 into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 3. *2 HDC into next. 1 HDC into next 3.* Repeat from * to *. (50 HDC)

R6- HDC 2 into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 4. * 2 HDC into next. 1 HDC into next 4.* Repeat from * to *. (60 HDC)

R7- HDC 2 inot same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 5. * 2 HDC into next. 1 HDC into next 5. * Repeat from * to *. (70 HDC)

R8-16- HDC in same stitch as joining. HDC each stitch around. (70 HDC)

R17- HDC decrease in first stitch. HDC in next 5. * HDC decrease in next stitch. 1 HDC in next 5. * Repeat from * to *. (60 HDC)

R18- HDC in same stitch as joining. 1 HDC in each stitch around. (60 HDC)

R19- HDC decrease in first stitch. HDC in next 4. * HDC decrease in next stitch. 1 HDC in next 4. * Repeat from * to *. (50 HDC)

R20- HDC in same stitch as joining. 1 HDC in each stitch around. (50 HDC)

R21- HDC decrease in first stitch. HDC in next 3. * HDC decrease in next stitch. 1 HDC in next 3. (40 HDC)

R22-27-  HDC in same stitch as joining. 1 HDC in each stitch around. (40 HDC)

R28- HDC in same stitch as joining. Chain 1, skip 1 stitch. * HDC in next. Chain 1, skip 1 stitch.* Repeat from * to *. ( 20 HDC, 20 chain 1 stitches)

R29- SC in same stitch as joining. SC in each HDC and each chain 1 stitch around. Finish off. (40 SC)

Turkey wings-

Please note that your wing shape might look wonky at first, but you'll be able to stuff, shape, and sew it on and get the desired shape.

R1- Make a magic circle. 6 HDC into MC. (6 HDC)

R2- HDC into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into each stitch around. (6 HDC)

R3- 2 HDC into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 2. 2 HDC into next. 1 HDC into next 2. (8 HDC)

R4-6-  HDC into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into each stitch around. (8 HDC)

R7- HDC decrease into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 2. HDC decrease into next. 1 HDC into next 2. (6 HDC) This row is where the wing will bend.

R8- 2 HDC into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 2. 2 HDC into next. 1 HDC into next 2. (8 HDC)

R9- 2 HDC into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 3. 2 HDC into next. 1 HDC into next 3. (10 HDC)

R10-12-  HDC into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into each stitch around. (10 HDC)

R13- HDC decrease into same stitch as joining. 1 HDC into next 3 stitches. HDC decrease into next. 1 HDC into next 3. Finish off, stuff, and sew up. (8 HDC)

Here is how my wings looked before stuffing them. When you sew it on you can bend it as much as you like and get the wing shape you like.

 Drumsticks-

R1- Make a magic circle. 10 HDC into MC. (10 HDC)

R2- 2 HDC into same stitch as joining. 2 HDC into each stitch around. (20 HDC)

R3-6- HDC in same as joining. 1 HDC in each stitch around. (20 HDC)

R7- HDC decrease in same as joining. HDC decrease each around. (10 HDC)

R8- HDC same as joining. 1 HDC each around. (10 HDC)

R9- HDC decrease same as joining. 1 HDC next 3. HDC decrease next. 1 HDC next 3. (8 HDC)

R10-12- HDC same as joining. 1 HDC each around. (8 HDC)

Switch to white. Join in last joining stitch and chain 1. 

R13- SC in same as joining. Skip 1 stitch. 5 DC in next. Skip 1 stitch. Slip stitch in next. Skip 1 stitch. 5 DC in next. Skip next. Slip stitch into first SC. Finish off leaving a tail for sewing. Stuff and sew up.

For my drawstring I did 100 slip stitches and weaved it into the row where I made the chain 1 spaces.

Well, that's it. I hope you enjoyed making the purse! If you have any questions please feel free to ask here, but if you message my business Facebook page you will probably get a quicker answer because I don't always get blog comment notifications.