To Market, To Market

This isn't the best picture but it's taken me so long to get this post up that it will just have to do for now. This bag has already been to Oklahoma's farmer's market and the Brooklyn Borough Hall's farmer's market on multiple occasions. At least my procrastination allows me to report that it works really well. It holds a lot more weight than I thought it would. The only problem is that the cotton soaks up fruit juice but it is really easy to wash. I used Sugar and Cream kitchen cotton. It takes about 1.5 skeins (and, as they usually cost somewhere around $2/skein, this is quite an economical bag, especially compared to the ones being sold at grocery stores for around $6-$8!)

The pattern was originally from Jodie Danenberg of Strings & Yarn (here is the pdf) but I used Liesl's modifications on disdressed and then I modified the handles again myself. I used 8 stitches rather than 6 and did a k1 slip1 to give the handle a little less stretch than a garter stitch would (in other words, I k1 slip1 repeat across one side and then knit the slips and slip the knits when going back on the other side -- this makes a double-sided knit that is fairly strong). The whole thing only takes a couple of hours and it's really a simple project. Just don't get too caught up about the EXACT placement of the picked up stitches in Liesl's modifications and you'll be good to go!