Summer Farmer’s Market Bags!

Summer is here and farmers markets are in! Benson is 2 lbs right now and can eat a huge handful of cilantro in one sitting! Then he gives me a mean look “That’s it? Not even a dessert?” Okay fine, have a strawberry.

“NOMMMMMM!”

That little bugger can eat so much produce! With that said, I need to buy up the cheap produce that is popping up and make some more crochet bags to put it in! You ever notice that you crochet or knit certain items depending on the season? I tend to make bags in the summer. They are a fast project of 1-4 hours, useful and impressive gifts.

First, I had to locate some cheap cotton yarn so I don’t have to bust into my expensive Egyptian cotton stash. I found some at a closeout at a japanese store – $0.50 a ball!

Too bad they only had green. A very nice green though with a weird set-up to get at the ends.

The yarn also came with an intense lacey sweater pattern rolled inside the ball. I’ll pass for now.

The pattern I used is one I put up for free a summer or two ago: http://www.awkwardsouldesigns.com/2010/07/07/sky-shopping-bag/

For this particular bag, I made 2 handles instead of one (10 rows each) and made the bag body 31 ch wide by 16 rows high.

The bag’s first job: Watermelon for watermelon juice! My amigurumi Boomkin is thirsty and is low on mana!

Success!

Of course, string crochet bags are great – they can hold heavy objects and look cool. They also roll up into a small bundle which is sometimes more convenient than the store bought bags.

I also saved $0.10 since Long Beach charges for bags. Errr.. well with the difference of yarn, I spent $0.40 but in a couple visits I save!

Now to make 4 more *dies*

 

Now, another picture of a typical day of my married life:

“More strawberries!”

(I thought the rabbits were supposed to look disapproving and not the husbands…)


Sky Shopping Bag

Sky Shopping Bag 3 IMG_8261

Market Bags. I’m addicted horribly. I mean, I get to buy bright cotton yarn and crochet up something fast and have a different looking bag each time I go buy fruit.  Oh, and the environment is saved slightly, yay! I find this bag is more sturdy, faster to make than my Fishnetty Bag.

IMG_8257 Sky Shopping Bag 1

You can download the PDF pattern for free by clicking download now (raverly link) or see below

SKY SHOPPING BAG
Chain 29 with a 10mm hook.
Row 1.
DC in the 5 chain from the hook, followed by a Ch1 and DC in the same chain
(3 stitches completed in the 5 chain). *Skip 2. Work a V Stitch (DC, Ch1, DC) in the
same stitch* repeat until the end. (9 V Stitches Total.)
DO NOT TURN
Continue adding V Stitches on the foundation chain underneath in the 2 Ch gaps.
Once you get to the end, do 1 V Stitch in the 5 chain starting gap. (18 V Stitches Total.)
Row 2.
Do not turn. Place a marker to indicate the beginning of each round. V Stitch in
each Ch1 gap from the previous row.
Row 3.
Repeat Row 2, finishing until you have 12 Rows completed. The bag will work
its self into a round.
To mimic the colour changes in the example, switch to a second colour on the 8 row and work 4 rows in this colour.

Handles
Lay your bag flat as possible and mark where you will put your handles, 2 V Stitches wide, on the corner edges of the bag.
Row 1.
HDC 4. Ch2 and turn. I find doing 1 HDC in the gap between V Stitches, 2 HDC
in the Ch1 Vstitch gap, and the last 1 HDC in the inbetween V Stitches works well.
Row 2.
Repeat this row 14 times, or until desired length.
Attach handle to the other side of the bag by slip stitching loosely both the handle
and the edge of the bag at the same time. Fasten off and weave ends.

Edging
Switch to a 6mm hook. With the front of the bag facing you, SC or HDC evenly around the top of the bag and handles. I used SC for the green bag, HDC for the blue bag with the main colour. Since the bag stretches, you want this to be somewhat loose, thus around 2 stitches in each V Stitch and 1 or 2 in the handle. Repeat for the other edge.

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License.


Fishnetty Bag – Free Pattern

Vancouver practically hasn’t stopped raining since last summer. It rained through most of the Olymipcs, and it’s almost halfway into June and it is still raining. Sigh. I miss the warm DRY weather of Los Angeles, strolling through the Farmer’s Market with my boyfriend, filling our bags up with fresh fruit (to become pies) and our stomachs full of crawfish and alligator (it was chewy fishy chicken).

I almost always use reusable shopping bags – I don’t own a car and I find hauling groceries easier with a large sturdy bag instead of those flimsy plastic ones (that get slippery in the rain). My boyfriend tries to use reusable bags, but fails. There is some great crochet bag patterns out there, however I wanted to make my own pattern to suit my needs.

What I came up with:
fishnet bag 4

They look small, but are very sturdy, stretchy and can hold A TON of crap. Hey, they look  fishnetty too!
fishnet bag 5 fishnet bag 1

The red on is the “large” size, holding two 775g cereal boxes, with plenty of room to fit more crap on the top. The “small” size in camo green is holding 7 cans of beans and would hold more but it be a pain in the ass to carry more weight.
For another size comparison, the “small” size is your typical plastic grocery bag size that will hold two 2 liter bottles of pop, whereas the “large” one can hold four bottles!

Other than size, these bags are lightweight, roll up tiny, work up fast, great for a beginner, have no seaming and very easy to adjust the size to your liking!!

Enough chatter – onto the pattern (and free – my first free pattern)

Materials:
~Worsted Weight Cotton yarn – around 140 meters for the large size. I used Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (renegade colour) for small, which is more weighted and more gapey finished appearance. For the large size, I used a cotton polyester blend, Nashua Cilantro. The latter yarn has a bit of stretch to it, but not necessary for the project.
~4.5mm to 5.5mm crochet hook – gauge is not important, go with what the yarn says or experience to make a not too loose not too tight stitch. I went with 5.5mm because I got that amigurumi tight gauge.
~Tapestry needle to weave in ends.
~Whatever you use to mark beginning of rows (safety pins, scrap yarn) as you will be working in rounds and marking where to put handles.

Small (Large) – crochet in rounds formed around the foundation chain.
Ch = chain
Sc= single crochet
Hdc = half double crochet (could get away with and not use this stitch for this pattern)
Sl st = slip stitch

  1. Chain 36 (56). You may adjust the width of the bag by keeping the base chain in increments of 4.
  2. Sc in the 8th stitch. *Ch 5, skip 3 stitches, SC* repeat till the end. DO NOT TURN – continue to work the pattern on the underside of the foundation chain, inbetween the chain spaces.
    (note: for crocheting onto the foundation chain, ensure you are doing your intial set of single crochets through two loops of each foundation chain, not the round bump of the chain. This ensures the bottom is more stable)
  3. Repeat row 2 for 20 (22) rounds, or until it reaches the desired lenght.

Handles:
Lay the bag flat, and mark where your handles will be, ensuring they are evenly spaced. I did 2 (5) chain spaces in the middle of each handle.

  1. Continue the *Ch 5, skip 3 stitches, SC* pattern until you reach the first handle marker. Chain enough to make a long enough handle for your liking. For a bag that will go around your shoulder, as seen in my examples, I chained 60. 35 chains would make typical grocery bag handle. Attach the chain using a SC at the next marker. Resume the pattern until the next marker and repeat for the next handle. Continue the fishnet pattern until the end of the row.
  2. HDC in each chain space 3 times, and 1 HDC in SC (you may have to do one or two more depending on your gauge. It stretches a lot, though you do not want it to ripple). Work HDCs until you get to a handle. Do 1 HDC from around the same space the SC is to make the handle more secure, then continue HDCs up the handle in each chain. When you reach the end of the handle, HDC in the chain space before the SC, then continue around the edge of the bag until you reach the end.

If you want thicker handles, do the edging again at least once more. You may also use Single crochet/whatever instead of Half Doubles – I just like Half Double crochets and like to toss them in when I can.

Feel free to add extras – attach crochet flowers, hearts (this is a cute tiny heart pattern ) or beads. I would of added something cute, but these bags are for my boyfriend and they need to be “manly”.
fishnet bag 3

I should really make one in black….

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 Canada License. Pattern created by Char Gascho. Pattern is for personal and non-commercial use.