Monday, August 02, 2004

Knitted Shopping Bag

I've always wanted one of those string shopping bags but hated the nylon feel of them. So I made one with some heavy navy blue cotton I had in my stash. I showed Rick the results and his response was: "Oh good. And this shopping bag cost, what, $30.00 in materials?" He completely missed the point here. I tried to take a picture of it but the camera is full. E is using the camera taking plant pictures for his school project and hasn't downloaded his pictures. So my camera is full. Funny that when I bought the camera, both R & E thought it was a bad idea. And now I hardly get to use it. Anyhow, here's the direction for the bag:It's knitted with the drop stitch pattern to give it a netting effect.Cast on 30 stitches, using 6.5mm needles. Garter stitch for 20-30 rows for the base. How many rows you do depends on how wide you want your bag. Using circulars, pick up as many stitches that will fit across the width. Pick up 30 along the back. Pick up the same number as the other width down the last side. Place marker. Garter stitch 4 more rows. Row 1: *K1, YO twice* repeat to end.Row 2: *K1, drop YO* repeat to end.Row 3: KnitRepeat the three rows until bag is as long as you want it. Garter stitch 4 more rows. Bind off loosely 30 stitches, leave the width stitches on a holder, bind off another 30 stitches. Garter stitch the second set of width stitches until the strap is the length you want it to be. Graft the strap to the other remaining stitches of the width.