grocery sack

my first design ever-finished! i know, this one kinda snuck in out of the blue. chad and i have this problem with plastic grocery bags piling up like crazy in our kitchen. we first started saving them for picking up claire's #2's; but (and i hate to admit it) for about the past 2 months, she's been going in the ivy under the tree, and i can never find 'em when she's done! so, i just leave the little tootsie rolls in there. what person walks in the ivy anyway, right? never the less, we now have a build up of plastic bags that we feel too guilty to throw out; but week after week we forget to take them to the store to the plastic bag drop off thing. that's when i decided to make my own grocery sack so as to avoid this whole dilemma all together.

i looked all over the internet for a pattern that i liked; but seeing as how i'm pretty particular, i just didn't find any that encompassed all that i was wanting. many of the market bags i saw were completely netting all the way up to the opening of the bag. i thought there should be a little something at the mouth. also, almost every bag used just an i-cord for the strap. ouch! you know when you fill the plastic bag up and it's heavy and it cuts into your hand or arm? that really sucks! so, i decided my bag must have a wide comfy strap. also, for some reason i really hate sewing seams. plus an item such as this seems like it'd be sturdier if it were done in one piece. sadly, almost everything out there is knit like a rectangle, folded, seamed, and handle attached separately. too many pieces. i wanted mine to be knit in the round with handle and all. behold, my grocery sack!

wip

finished product

first, i'll de-brief on how this one was knit, then i'll talk about what i'm gonna do with the next ones, since obviously i'm gonna need more than just one grocery sack, and this one needs improvements.

i knit this all in one piece using size 11 circular needles. i used cotton, cream 'n sugar yarn two strands held tog. i started with the strap which i did in rib stitch. at the the end of the strap i cast on additional stitches to make one side of the sack, then picked up stitches from the other end of the strap. then i cast on stitches for the other side. after that it's all knitting in the round! i started the mouth of the sack with rib stitch, then after a few rows changed to stockinette stitch. then i began the lace pattern. i used the lace pattern from elisa's nest tote and it worked wonderfully. after knitting the lace pattern for a while, i did some math and decreased on the remaining knit rows of the lace pattern until there were only 10 stitches left. then, i thread the tail yarn through, tied off, and it was done!

improvements: first of all, this one is a great template. for my first ever design project, i think it's pretty good. but, there are quite a few things that need to be improved: the strap is a great width; but needs to be about 4 inches shorter. also, the sack itself needs to be deeper. a little over double the length i think. the mouth of the bag is ok, but if i get ambitious i may try to keep it smaller, increase from the mouth, then decrease at the end. i'll get back to ya with the new improved version.

note: i actually used this bag to get groceries today. it's very sturdy. i put sacks of apples, oranges, caned food, and cheese in it. i walked the 4 blocks home and the strap was comfy. even with the modified strap length, it should still be able to cross the chest (if you don't want it on your shoulder) which worked well today.