It just came to my attention that I never posted the most recent market bag I knit.  Since my market bag category seems to be one of the most popular on my blog, I want to go ahead and post this project.

I made my mom a BYOB from Knitty.  This was a great stash busting project because it used up a ton of yarn.  Since I used the chocolate and cream colored yarns from cones, I don’t know how much I used.  I did manage to finish up all of my chocolate and teal colored yarn.  I did weigh the bag to get an approximation of yardage.

I didn’t knit the pattern to gauge, my gauge was larger. I used smaller needles than called for, but I must knit much looser than the pattern designer.  The original gauge for the pattern is extremely tight.  While this bag was a little floppier than I wanted, I think a trip through the washing machine would tighten it up.  The bag ended up much larger than I expected, much larger than other market bags that I’ve knit.  It’s a nice bag, regardless of my concerns.
Overall, I realized that I really don’t enjoy knitting that much seed stitch.  It seemed to take forever to knit the bottom of the bag.  Luckily, the lace part flew off of the needles.  I’m not sure I’d knit another of these, just because of the seemingly endless seed stitch.  If my mom asked for another, I’d make it, but I don’t think that I’ll make one for me.

Pattern: BYOB
Designer: Moira Ravenscroft
Source: Knitty, Summer 2008
Yarn: Peaches & Creme
Yardage: approximately 536 yards (11oz)
Colors:  Chocolate, Teal and Cream
Needles:  US 6 (4mm) & US 9 (5.5mm)

Started: April 22, 2009
Completed: May 1, 2009

My market bag knitting quest continues.   This pattern worked up quickly on my size 11 needles.  Overall, I didn’t care for this pattern as much as I did the Saturday Market Bag.  The stitch pattern on the other bag was more interesting to knit, and I found this stitch pattern a little tedious.  I did like the applied i-cord edge and i-cord handles.  I  will probably incorporate these into another market bag.

Pattern: Elisa’s Nest Tote
Source:  The Purl Bee
Yarn: Peaches & Creme Solids
Color: Cream
Needles: US11 and US7

Started: May 28, 2008
Completed: June 4, 2008

Pattern modifications:

• I knit the pattern in the round.
• I split the bag into two sides and added a few repeats on each side before adding the handles.  Otherwise, the opening on this bag tends to be too small.

The new town has a lovely Saturday farmer’s market that I like to attend. However, since much of my stuff is back in Illinois, my usual farmer’s market bag also doubles as a knitting bag. Since I got tired of dumping my knitting in order to make my weekly trek to the market, I decided to knit up a few string bags.  This is the first one I knit.  It’s the Saturday Market Bag.  It was originally published in MagKnits, but now is available directly from the designer’s blog, or as a Ravelry download.

I really liked the stitch pattern on this bag.  Open and stretchy, but much more interesting than just a yarn-over, knit 2 together mesh.  I liked this one so much, I’ve already started another for my mom.  There may even be a few more for me in the future.

Pattern: Saturday Market Bag
Designer: Jodie Danenberg
Source: Strings & Yarn
Yarn: Peaches & Creme Solids
Quantity: part of a cone
Color: Delft Blue
Needles: Denise Interchangables US15, US11 and US10.5

Started: May 25, 2008
Completed: May 28, 2008
Pattern adaptations:

• Cast on 70 stitches using magic cast-on and size 15 needles.
• Knit the pattern the round.
• Knit 7 repeats of the lace pattern.
• Switched to size 11 needles. Knit 2 rounds garter stitch.
• Switched to size 10.5 needles and finished with two handles as documented by disdressed.

This bag was so fun to knit that I decided to try knitting a few of the different string bags that are out there. I’d like to be able to use them to replace some of the many plastic bags from the grocery store.  I’ll definitely do a comparison post when I’m done on the different patterns.