18 July 2008

BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag!

BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​Welcome to my new blog and the first blogpost – one hopefully of many! Today I would like to introduce a pattern for a knitted grocery bag which you can use for your next visit to the supermarket to save using plastic bags.

I knoe everyone is aware of the need to "reduce, re-use and recycle" especially when it comes to plastic bags, yet millions of single-use plastic bags are still used every year. However, we knitters have solutions! Using the skill of our hands we can make bags that are not only functional but long-lasting too!


I always carry several cotton or linen bags when I go the shops and they are, indeed, wonderful. They can carry so much weight and easily accommodate bottles, cans and pots of milk. But it is all the other items that end up being a problem. Large, awkwardly shaped items such as cereal boxes and packs of kitchen towels are difficult to fit into a linen bag – so that is where this bag comes in.
BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
​This is the BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag knitting pattern, first published in Knitty in Summer 2008 and then later updated to include four different sizes on my website here.

Thank you to everyone who has written to me about this pattern and I am so pleased to hear that the bags have proved so useful. I use them myself all the time and love the way they can accommodate all those big, bulky items at the shops!

The bags have a base and lower section worked in Seed Stitch, which prevents precious items dropping through, and a central mesh area which helps to keep the bags light and flexible. Colourful bands decorate the top of the bag and the lower section, and give a lot of scope for colour combinations as the yarn is available in so many different colours.
BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
The handle at the top features a softly rounded handle grip which won't cut into your hands when you carry your shopping home, and the 'shoulders' to either side are gently rounded to give a pleasing shape.
BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
There are many variations possible from the basic pattern depending on how many colours you wish to use and what yarns you have on hand. So I am going to post some blog entries over the next few days with variations that you might want to try. These include ideas for some autumnal-coloured bags and then others worked in pinks and blues. Please follow the links at the bottom of this post to read those.

You can also read about a Market Bag variation with long handles here.
BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
For more information about the BYOB - Bring Your Own Bag pattern, please click here. The pattern includes four different sizes of bag and is available for instant download from my website.

Also click here to see patterns for other knitted bags available in my pattern store. These include a set of five fabric-lined bags, the Southampton Collection and a rucksack, the Westernesse Bag.

Until next time – Happy Bag Knitting!

Moira
Keywords: Patterns/Bags, Tutorials/Bags,
bag, bags, BYOB 2.0, shopping bag, green, blue, lime green, summer limes colourway, colorway,

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