A fresh take on the re-usable shopping bag
Re-usable shopping bags are becoming commonplace, since charging for plastic bags almost everyone has similar re-usable ones. Red Heart’s Cordial yarn has the strength to stand up to a large grocery trip and the style to look good at the mall. Cordial yarn is perfect for knitting a shopping bag.
Re-usable Shopping Bag in color Neon
Materials
3 balls of Red Heart Cordial in Neon
1 US 10.5 [6mm] 16″ circular needle
1 set of US 10.5 [6mm] double pointed needles
I-cord handles
Cast on 100 stitches, join in the round, place marker and knit in stockinette stitch until the bag reaches 10″. Begin the decrease rounds as follows and switch to double pointed needles when the stitches no longer fit the 16″ circular.
Row 1: *Knit 5, Knit 2 together* Repeat until end of row.
Row 2: Knit all stitches
Row 3: *Knit 4, Knit 2 together* Repeat until end of row.
Row 4: Knit all stitches
Row 5: *Knit 3, Knit 2 together* Repeat until end of row.
Row 6: Knit all stitches
Row 7: *Knit 2, Knit 2 together* Repeat until end of row.
Row 8: Knit all stitches
Row 9: *Knit 1, Knit 2 together* Repeat until end of row.
Row 10: *Knit 2 together* Repeat until end of row.
The bag stretches to encompass your expanding shopping list.
You should be left with 8 stitches on your needles. Cut the working yarn leaving a long tail. Using your tapestry needle, thread the working yarn around through your live stitches and pull the needles out. Then pull these stitches tight using the working yarn you have just threaded through the other stitches.
The decreases on the bottom of the bag.
For the handles, cast on 4 stitches and work an i-cord for 12″. Do this twice to end up with two handles and sew them onto the bag. Sew each end of the handle approximately 4″ apart, then fold the bag and sew the other handle on the opposite side. By folding the bag, the handle will be precisely on the other side instead of ‘approximately’.
Re-usable Shopping Bag in color Neon
Red Heart’s Cordial yarn is perfect for knitting a shopping bag and it comes in a lot of fun colors, which keep these bags fresh and fun. If you’re looking for a larger bag simply add some length to the body of the bag; make sure you accommodate for the extra yarn needed too!
2 comments
Wondering what other yarn I can use for this project. The yarn you used has been discontinued.
Someone mentioned Red heart infinity.
Looking forward to your reply.
Hi! this is a great question! Well, the yarn size of Infinity is similar to Cordial yarn. Cordial yarn is basically a braided cord, whereas Infinity is a softer chainette yarn. I’m not so sure that Infinity will knit up as robust as the Cordial if used for a backpack. I swatch to see what the density will be if using Infinity yarn for a backpack.