Journal

A mini skein market bag

In The Studio Club we have been dyeing mini skeins of double knitting wool with locally grown or foraged plants - it is a chance to show that things like nettles, gorse, rosemary, fennel and herb Robert can give beautiful colours.

They are all on that yellow/olive/orange colour wheel - think of the clothes by the British brand Toast and you will get the idea - but they are all very distinctive.

I decided that I wanted to knit something specifically to show off the colours, something that wouldn’t be another scarf.  I thought that a lovely squishy bag would be fun - something shaped a little like a traditional market bag, with long handles and a gathered base.

I didn’t follow a pattern but rather let the actual mini skeins dictate the size and shape.  

What follows is the method rather than a pattern.

Snapdragon’s Garden Market Bag

The bag body is made from 4 trapeziums - all the same size but 2 knitted from the wide edge with decreases and two from the narrow edge with increases.  They are then sewn together to make a tube - this gives the shape a little more dynamism and makes the colour blocks more interesting than if I had just knitted rectangles.

I used a 3mm circular needle and double knitting wool and 12 mini skeins, 20g each.

Body - 4 pieces.

Piece 1 and 2 - cast on 65 stitches.

Knit in moss stitch for 5 rows. (k1,p1 which then alternates on each row to give a textured stitch rather than a rib). slip the first stitch in each row to make a selvedge.

Row 6 slip 1, k 2 tog, pattern until last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1

Continue rows 1-6 until you have used up 2 mini skeins.  

Make a note of how many stitches you have (a) and leave them on a stitch holder.

Piece 3 and 4 - cast on the number of stitches (a)

Knit in moss stitch for 5 rows, slipping the first stitch in each row to create a selvedge.

Row 6 slip 1, increase stitch by knitting into front and back of next stitch, pattern to last 2 stitches, increase stitch, k1

Repeat rows 1-6 until you have used up 2 mini skeins (hopefully you will have 65 stitches) and leave all stitches on stitch holder.

Making the body

Join the side seams of your trapeziums together so that they make a large circle (alternate the long and short tops).

Take the stitches from the stitch holders and transfer them onto a circular needle.

Row 1 - k 1 p1 where you come to a seam, k 2 tog twice. mark end of row.

Knit 6 rows in moss stitch

Row 8 moss stitch 3, decrease stitch twice, moss stitch 3 (keep the pattern going and decrease twice in every 7 stitches)

Row 9, 10, 11, moss stitch

Row 12 as row 8

Row 13, 14 moss stitch

Row 15 k 2 tog every stitch and bind off.

Gather to close the base.

Lining the bag.

I found that my bag exactly fitted the circumference of a canvas bag for life that I had previously dyed with tansy.  

It was too long so cut off the base and gathered it so that it fitted into my knitted bag.  

I sewed around the top and then turned a hen right the way around so that the knitting rolls over the top of the canvas.

The handles.

I decided to make knitted handles, sewing them over the canvas handles of the tote bag so that they didn’t stretch.

These are 12 stitches, knitted in moss stitch and measured onto the handles, slightly stretching them so that they don’t sag.

I tacked the handles on with wool right through the centre of the handle and then hemmed the edges.

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