Bags of Bags!

A few months ago, we celebrated World Earth Day – an annual event designed to focus our collective thoughts on the needs of the planet and what we can do to raise environmental awareness. Although this day has been on the calendar for many years it still feels as though there is much left to do, not least of which is tackling the issue of plastic.

Single-use plastic bags can so easily find themselves blown away on the breeze, tangled in tree branches or washed out to sea.

It was a shopping trip of my own in 2007 that made me want to do something about this. I returned from the supermarket with just a moderate shopping load. However, I counted the number of plastic bags that the store clerk had given me and there were 23 plastic bags! The box of eggs were in their own bag, each pot of milk was doubled-bagged etc. Twenty- three bags in just one outing....

However, we knitters have solutions! Using the skills of our hands we can make bags that are not only functional but decorative and long‐lasting too.
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Here are just a few ideas:

The first bag I am featuring today is our daughter Anna's Nokomis Beach Bag, which is worked using Single-Banded Rib from our Reversible Knitting Stitches book. Anna used Cascade 220 wool for this pattern with a lovely striped design.
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The base is folded to give a bag that stands well while being loaded and has linen straps for extra strength. Please click here for more information about this pattern.

Then next is the Sarasota Shopper. This is a lovely bright bag with a sturdy linen liner so is super strong and cute too! It is worked in Sugar ’n Cream cotton and features bands of Basketweave set on a background of Double Moss Stitch, giving it an understated elegance.
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This pattern can either be purchased on its own or as part of the Southampton Collection, which includes four other styles, including two long handled book bags & a colourful shoulder bag.

The third bag I am featuring today is the BYOB ‐Bring Your Own Bag. This is a striped mesh bag which is perfect for all those lighter‐weight or awkwardly shaped items that we need to carry home.

The bags have a wide shaped base that is easy to load at the check‐out, and the lower Seed Stitch section ensures that small items will not drop out. The central area features a strong but flexible openwork design and at the top there is a comfortable soft-grip handle.

The pattern includes four different sizes and can be worked in a wide variety of colours, for example in a pale pink, white and blue as above, or in a bright and zingy turquoise/blue colourway as in the photo at the top of this post.
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The basic pattern can also be adapted to use other stitches, for example by replacing the mesh panel with a Basketweave design, or working the whole bag in Seed Stitch as you can see here.

Then lastly, the BYOB Market Bag. This is a long‐handled variation of the BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag with a tutorial series that you can follow along for a step-by-step guide. Please click here for the start of the series, then follow the links at the end of each post to read the next section.
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This bag can be left unlined, or you could add a fabric liner in the same way as in the Weymouth Shoulder Bag which you can read about here. For more information about adding a fabric liner to your bag, see my “Knitting Notes” post here. 
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I hope you enjoy making your new knitted bags, and please click here to see the whole range of bag patterns I have available.

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 For information about any of the patterns featured here or our
Reversible Knitting Stitches book, ​please click the Patterns tab above.

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