New BYOB 2.0 Pattern

We are all too aware of the need to "reduce, re-use and recycle", especially when it comes to plastic bags, yet millions of them are still used every year. 

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.

This free "BYOB 2.0" pattern updates the original "Bring Your Own Bag" published in Knitty in Summer 2008. The pattern now includes instructions for a small and regular sized bag, plus a new Junior size – after all you can never be too young to start saving the planet!

In addition, the pattern has been re-written for new all-cotton yarns, so that these bags are now made from 100% natural fibres – much the best choice for an eco-bag.

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 an openwork design which is strong but also flexible enough to accommodate bulky, akwardly shaped items. An upper handle worked in Seed Stitch with a separately worked hand-grip is soft to hold and has extra reinforcing stitches at the edges for strength.

The regular size is approximately the same as a standard supermarket shopping bag, while the small size is useful as an everyday bag. The Junior BYOB 2.0 is suitable for a young person / teen, or could be used for bread or fragile items needing to be carried separately, such as mushrooms, bananas or boxes of eggs.

The pattern can be downloaded from Craftsy or Ravelry, and there is further information on not only these bags but also the linen-lined bags in the "Southampton Collection" on my website, www.wyndlestrawdesigns.com .

Now all you have to do is remember to take them with you! Put a couple of these BYOB 2.0 bags in a linen carrier by the back door or in the car and then you will be sure you always have them to hand when you head to the shops.

Then you can say with pride: "No Plastic Bags for Me!"

Happy Knitting!

Moira

One picture says it all...

That sinking feeling. We've all experienced it. You are in the line at the check-out and look for your reusable shopping bags, but they are still in the car. Or worse, you left them at home. It's not so bad if your car is just outside the shop so can run and get them, but so often you just accept the plastic bag offered instead, gently cursing your memory.

So how do you remember to "Bring Your Own Bag"? 

What works for me is to put sets of bags together, with a couple of linen bags for the heavier goods, a divided bottle carrier for the glass jars and bottles, and some knitted "BYOB" bags for all the awkward shaped items. 

I put one set near the back door ready to grab on my way out if I am walking to the shops, and another in the car for when I am driving. 

After bringing the shopping back home, a new set of bags can be assembled and hung by the door ready for the next time you head out.

But that still leaves the issue of remembering to take the bags out of the car, 
so here are some other good tips:

1 - After you finish knitting your bags, take three strands of left-over yarn from the last bag you worked on and braid up a little loop to put onto your keychain. 

As you remove your keys from the ignition, the colourful braid will remind you to take your bags too. 

This photo shows the Small and Junior sizes from the soon-to-be-published "BYOB 2.0" pattern.

2 - As you claim your shopping trolley, place the shopping bags straight in. Now if you see you have a trolley that is empty when you start your shopping, you can immediately go back and retrieve your bags.

3 - Write "Take Bags!!" at the top of your shopping list so that you will see this before heading out, and again as you begin looking for your items.

Another way is to make a knitted bag that becomes your principal bag that you always carry wherever you go. That will act as a memory jogger since this knitted bag will remind you to take your other ones too. 

This is the Southampton Book Bag, one of a set of four linen-lined bags in the "Southampton Collection" pattern.

Alternatively, you could look at this picture taken by Gaetano's Workshop:

Gaetano writes: 
Taken during a walk in the forest, this photo shows the lack of respect by certain individuals for Mother Nature. 
On this remnant of a partially decomposed plastic bag we can still divine the word 'Merci' (thank you).

If nothing else acts to help remind you to take your bags to the shops, 
then perhaps the memory of this image will.

Thank you, Gaetano, for permission to include this photo here.

For more of Gaetano's work, please visit his Flickr page. This image is in the set: "Nature et Paysages".

Happy Knitting!

Moira

The problem with plastic

Last year, our local county imposed a charge on the use of plastic bags in shops. The shop owners worried that their customers would be upset by the imposition of the bag charge. Instead they found that most people valued the incentive to carry their own bags as a very tangible way of dealing with the problem of plastic in the community.

Of course, in the "olden" days before the single-use plastic shopping bag was introduced, it was standard practice to carry bags to the shops and no-one would have thought about being given a bag of any kind, even a paper bag, to carry their shopping home. But all that changed in the 70's and 80's with the introduction of plastic shopping bags. Many stores even frowned upon customers using their own bags, and soon it became standard practice for all shops to provide bags at their checkouts for everyone to use.

However, by the turn of the century the problems from this usage were becoming apparent: landfills were filling up with plastic, bags were polluting the waterways and rivers, and animals both on land and in the sea were being injured.


It was a medium-sized 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....




On the next shopping trip I took 3 linen bags with me, but soon became aware of their limitations. 
   a) I didn't have enough of them, so needed to carry more, 
   b) they are actually quite heavy, so add a fair bit to the weight you need to carry if you are on foot,
   and c) they are fabulous for transporting heavy items but quite hopeless for the bulky and awkwardly-shaped items that make up quite a large part of a regular shopping visit.




So I went home and got out my knitting needles. Two days later I had my first knitted shopping bag and by the end of the week I had three to carry to the supermarket. Brilliant. Not a single plastic bag on this trip and everything accommodated with ease.

I made a number more to give to friends and family, and increased my stock so that I had lots of pretty-coloured bags. Well, why not!! 

I then submitted the pattern to Knitty and it was published 5 years ago in the Summer 2008 edition as the "BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag" pattern.







Since then I have had so many great comments and suggestions and am now working on an updated pattern, the "BYOB 2.0", which I hope to have ready soon. The chief difference in this pattern will be to use 100% natural yarns. That was something that troubled me with the original design: that I had used a cotton/acrylic yarn. There were lots of good reasons at the time, as the brand I chose was available in a range of lovely colours and was soft and strong too. However, if you're trying to knit an eco-bag then you do want it to be able to return to nature at the end of its life. That is, after all, the main point of the exercise. So the "BYOB 2.0" will be in a crisp 100% cotton yarn.

I am also going to put in a couple of different sizes so that you can select the size that will work for you. I like longer bags that go over my arm so that I can carry multiple bags but still leave my hands free. However, I know that some people prefer to carry their bags in their hands so might prefer a smaller, shorter bag. So hopefully having a few different size options will work for everyone. 

I hope to have that updated pattern out fairly soon and will post some more pictures here as I go along.

Happy Earth Day 2013!

Moira

Two Book Bags

The two book bags below will complete the set of four very different bags that I have been featuring over the last few blog posts. The whole set has come from a very simple idea: to take plain craft-store tote bags and with very little sewing turn them into something stylish and unique. 

 The first two bags in the collection, the "Back-to-Nature Bag" and the "Sarasota Shopper" have almost no sewing at all, only just needing the top facing to be turned to the inside and caught down into place. 

The book bags that I am featuring here have a small amount more sewing involved than that as they each feature long straps so the bags can be easily carried on your shoulder. 

The first is the "Falmer Book Bag",

with strongly graphical bands of red set into a black basketweave background.

And the second is the "Southampton Book Bag" from where the whole Knitting Pattern collection takes its name. 

This is worked in a single navy colour with contrasting straps and liner, which makes it a little easier to knit. The liner was dyed at the same time as the "Sarasota Shopper" using Dylon dyes in "Bahama Blue".

Inside, the bags include a inner tab with an attached carabiner - very useful for clipping on a set of keys or your library card.

These carabiners come in a wide range of colours and sizes to suit all types of colourways. Here, the black and red carabiner used in the Falmer Book Bag perfectly matched the black linen tote liner and the exterior yarn colours.

The bags can accommodate a good number of books and DVD's to transport home from the library, or for more general shopping.

I was using the Southampton Book Bag as a camera bag the other day and it was really good for that. I kept the camera on its shoulder strap along with the bag straps, so that the camera just dangled inside the bag. The lenses were then easy to locate underneath. 

I put a spare battery and memory card into a small carrying pocket and clipped that to the carabiner and was good to go. 

I love bags that don't look like camera bags!

The knitting pattern for the whole "Southampton Collection" can be found here. 

The four bags are written as three stand-alone patterns and are available in US and UK formats. 

Further information & photos can be found on my website and on Pinterest.

I do hope you enjoy making and using these bags, and adapting them for all your various activities.

Happy Knitting!

Moira

The Sarasota Shopper

In my last Blog post, I introduced a new knitting pattern with a collection of four bags all based around a simple idea - to take a craft-shop linen tote bag and turn it into something really special. 

In that posting, I detailed the first bag in the collection, the "Back-to-Nature Bag". 

Now, here is the second of the bags, the "Sarasota Shopper".

This is such a versatile bag and has been in almost continual use since it was completed. In fact, I was using it to transport my next knitting project to the airport one day while the needles were still attached to the top facing! A sure sign of a winner.

The tote liners dyed up really well, and one sachet was easily enough to dye two separate bags. The colour used here is Dylon "Bahama Blue" and gave a shade very reminiscent of the turquoise waters lapping the Florida coast.

For this bag, I dyed the canvas tote to suit the exterior colour of the yarn, but a contrasting colour could be used instead to add an extra degree of "zing" to the finished result.

The design features bands of Basketweave texture set into a background of Double Moss Stitch, giving it an understated elegance - just perfect for a trip to the shopping mall. 

It would also be an excellent choice to carry all the essentials for a day at the beach.

The pattern for all four bags in this collection can be found on Craftsy as "The Southampton Collection", and I shall upload photos of the final two bags, both book bags, in my next Blog entry. 

For pictures of the complete collection, and for details of my other patterns, please visit my website.

Happy Knitting!

Moira