22 April 2013

The problem with plastic

BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Last year, our local county imposed a charge on the use of plastic bags in shops. The shop owners were 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 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.
BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
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. ​
BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
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!! 
Sarasota Shopper by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
And that was the origin of my BYOB – Bring Your Own Bag pattern! Since I first published this, I have updated the pattern to include four different sizes so you can make just the size of bag that suits you. I also had fun making lots of different variations and you can see some photos of those here.

I have also added a version with long handles, the BYOB Market Bag and then gone on to make a whole collection of knitted bags with fabric liners, including the Sarasota Shopper pictured above from the Southampton Collection.

So especially for today’s celebration of Earth Day, let’s all make some knitted bags ready for our next trip to the supermarket, then we can say with pride: “No plastic bags for me!”

Happy Knitting and Happy Earth Day 2013!
 
Moira 
Keywords: Patterns/Bags,
mesh bag, knitted bag, market bag, shopping bag, tote bag, no plastic bags, cotton bag,

10 April 2013

Two Book Bags

Falmer Book Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
In my last two blogposts, I have been extolling the virtues of knitted bags with fabric liners to bring out the best qualities of both – the beauty of a knitted bag combined with the practicality of a fabric liner.

I have gathered five of these into a collection, the Southampton Collectionand you can read more about the first two of these here and here.

In today's blogpost I want to talk about two book bags which are also included in the same collection.
Falmer Book Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
The first of these is the Falmer Book Bag which has a strong graphical design with red detailing set against a black basketweave background. The lower red inserts are knitted in while the top three dots are added afterwards by Swiss darning.

I selected a black canvas tote for the liner and replaced the short handles with long cotton webbing straps for a design that is easy to carry on your shoulder.
Southampton Book Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
The second book bag also features long shoulder straps, but this time in a contrasting colour. This is the Southampton Book Bag from where the collection takes its name.

The outer bag is worked in a Four-&-Two Basketweave pattern from our Reversible Knitting Stitches book. This really catches the light in an interesting way, giving a textural pattern of light and shade.

As a contrast to the Falmer Book Bag, this is worked in a single navy colour but instead features contrasting straps and a dyed liner. I dyed the liner at the same time as the Sarasota Shopper using Dylon hand-dyes in "Bahama Blue" which has given an attractive turquoise colour for the inner bag.

However, you could opt to work this design with a coloured bag or dye it in a more co- ordinating shade as per your preference.
Falmer Book Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Inside, both bags include an inner tab with an attached carabiner hook which is very useful for clipping on an ID card, library pass or a set of house keys.

Carabiner hooks come in a wide variety of colours and sizes. In the Falmer Book Bag I was pleased to find a perfectly co-ordinating black-and-red carabiner in my local hardware store and they also had a slim metallic turquoise one for the Southampton Book Bag. (You can see that one inside the previous photo of an open bag.) 
Southampton Book Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
The bags can accommodate a good number of books to transport home from the library but are also a really useful size for a quick trip to the corner shop for some last-minute essentials.

The patterns for these two book bags are available separately here, or as part of the Southampton Collection, and all the patterns are available for instant download from my website.

I'll be back next time with some thoughts on how we can use knitted bags to reduce the amount of plastic we all use – just in time for Earth Day!

Until then – Happy Knitting!
 
Moira 
Keywords: Patterns/Bags,
bag, bags, fabric-lined bag, knitted bag, shoulder bag, book bag, texture, 

08 April 2013

The Sarasota Shopper

Sarasota Shopper by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
In my last blogpost, I introduced a new set of knitting patterns all based around a simple idea – to make a set of fabric-lined knitted bags to combine the best qualities of both! In that post, I detailed the first bag in the collection, the Back-to-Nature Bag and now here is the second one, 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 before I had actually finished off all the ends at the top! A sure sign of a winner.
Sarasota Shopper by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
In this bag, I dyed the plain canvas liner and was pleased to see how well it dyed up. It was quite economical too, as one sachet of dye 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 the Sarasota Shopper, I used a dye colour to suit the yarn I had chosen, but a contrasting colour could be used instead to add an extra degree of "zing" to the finished result.

The bag design features textural Basketweave bands set onto a background of Double Moss Stitch. Both of these stitches are favourites of mine and were taken from our E-book, Reversible Knitting Stitches.

The final bag has a wonderfully 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.
Sarasota Shopper by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
Please click here to see more information about the Sarasota Shopper pattern. Also see my next blogpost for details of two book bags which are also part of the Southampton Collection.

Until then – Happy Knitting!

Moira 
Keywords: Patterns/Bags,
bag, bags, fabric-lined bag, knitted bag, tote bag, shopping bag, texture, 

07 April 2013

Introducing the Southampton Collection

Southampton Collection – Five fabric-lined bags by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
I was wandering around my local craft store a short while ago when my eye was caught by a set of linen tote bags. These were just plain and simple bags but looked to be a very useful size – not too big and not too small either. I could see them being used to carry books home from the library or for a trip to the mall or supermarket.

I thought about it for a moment and then realised that they would also make excellent liners for knitted bags. That would give them the strength of a linen bag but still with the beauty of a knitted bag – in other words, the best of both worlds!

Before I knew it, my shopping basket had filled not only with the tote liners but also with enough yarns and dyes to complete a whole set of bags.

​I went home and set to work to make a lovely shopping bag in a bright zingy turquoise with the lining dyed to suit. It came so well, so I then made another one in a striped cream and green pattern. For the next two, I added long handles so they could be carried over your shoulder, and for the last one I sewed a fabric liner instead for a lovely summery bag.

I have just uploaded all the separate patterns into my pattern store here and you can either buy them individually or as a whole set, the Southampton Collection.
Back-to-Nature Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
So here's the first bag in the collection, the Back-to-Nature Bag. The colourway for this bag was inspired by the idea of a "Return to nature", the cream colour at the top gradually giving way to the gentle green of a misty spring morning at the base.

The exterior is worked in a crisp cotton yarn and features a neat stitch that almost looks crocheted. This is Embossed Check Stitch taken from our book, Reversible Knitting StitchesThe interlocking ribs of this stitch give it a lot of character and resilience.

Inside, this sturdy little bag has enough capacity to carry home bottles of milk or heavy cartons of juice, or be used to transport all the heavier vegetables home from the Farmer's market. And all this with minimal sewing to complete the item!
Back-to-Nature Bag by Moira Ravenscroft, Wyndlestraw Designs
The stitch pattern forms into very neat horizontal bands with beautifully sharp colour transitions. I have worked it in cream and green, but it would also look great in nautical shades of navy blue and crisp white for a summer holiday hold-all.

Each band only takes a few grams of yarn too, so you could use up all your left-over balls of cotton yarn for a real stash-busting rainbow colourway!

If you would like to read more information about the Back-to-Nature Bag, then please click here. The pattern is available for instant download from my site. I’ll be back next time with some photos of the next bag in this collection, the  Sarasota Shopper.

Until then – Happy Bag Knitting!

Moira 
Keywords: Patterns/Bags,
bag, bags, fabric-lined bag, knitted bag, tote bag, shopping bag, texture, 

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