A scrappy yarn bag

Here’s a fun little bag that I made up, after seeing a friend’s – I used up scraps of green, blue and purple yarn in varying weights and  textures.  It is being “beautifully” modelled by my husband!! Do you like the colour of the background? That is the splashback in our kitchen – a splash of very bright yellow in a grey-brown neutral kitchen – I am so glad we were brave and went for the brightness when we renovated our kitchen a couple of years back.

Anyway, back to the bag – It is very easy to make – why don’t you try one yourself?

Start with the handle – cast on enough stitches for it to be about 5cm (2 inches) wide and just start knitting. I used garter stitch, though there is no reason why you couldn’t use something fancier. Change yarns every now and again if you want the scrappy or stripey look – if you use differing weights of yarn as I did, the width of the handle will change a little bit – that’s ok, it’s part of the fun. Sometimes I changed yarn at the end of a row, sometimes part way through a row. Some yarns went on for 4 or 5 rows, others weren’t long enough for 1 row – entirely random.

You are knitting the handle, then down one side of the bag, across the base, then back up the other side, so give some thought as to where you want to join the 2 ends together – at the centre of the handles, or where it meets the bag on one side? That will determine how long you keep on knitting the handle part.

After a while, start increasing one stitch at each end of every alternate row (or at the beginning of every row – whatever suits you) until you have around 60 stitches and/or it is around 33cm (13 inches) wide.

Now you start decreasing at the same rate until it is about 13cm (3½ inches). This will be the corner of the base.

Now start increasing again, just as before, until about 33cm, then decrease again. Now you are at the other end of the base.

Once again, start increasing just as you have done before, and when you get to 33cm wide, start decreasing again but this time all the way until you have the same number of stitches as you did for the handle. 

If you want to join the 2 parts of the handle in the centre, then keep on knitting until this 2nd part is as long as the first. If you want to join it where the handle meets the bag then cast off around about now.

Here’s the shape you will have:

Now you just fold it so points A and B meet, and sew up the wee seam between them. Then fold so points B and C meet and sew up that seam.  Likewise, fold so points E and D meet and then points E and F. Join the 2 ends of the handle and you are done! I put a piece of heavy card in the base (the dotted lines in the pattern) once it was made up, just to define the base a bit. If you are having trouble visualising how this works, cut out a rough pattern shape in paper and fold that – perhaps tape the seams between the points – and I am sure you will see it. 

Go on – give it a go! It is quick and easy and fun.  And please show me what you make, I would love to see it.  Gosh, I just love this internet thing, and blogging – it is such a great way to share ideas with each other, isn’t it!

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