Whether you knit, crochet, or are bistitchual, you can join in this project and make yourself a set of mesh produce bags to use at the grocery store or farmer's market. Worked up in No. 10 crochet cotton, these stretchy bags weigh less than half an ounce and will help you stop collecting all those flimsy, hole-ridden plastic produce bags grocery stores offer.
Materials Needed:
Aunt Lydia's No. 10 Crochet Thread
Size 3 & Size 11 Knitting Needles, or Size B & Size J Crochet Hooks
Schedule:
Pattern is always FREE, so download it to knit or to crochet at your convenience.
May 4: Introductions & Yarn Photos
May 5: Cast on or do your initial chain and work the first side of the bag (to turning row).
May 6: Finish the second half of the bag.
May 7: Sew sides and add the drawstring.
May 8: Finish up and final photos.
Hope you'll be able to join in. Comment below to let us know you're on board!
Maria, thank you for the pattern, the event, the encouragement and the pdf!
Another sideways pic
I’m finished! Pic is sideways 🤷♀️
I would love to try the koi pond scarf! Thank you!
Thank you so much! I never win anything so you made my day! definitely a pick me up in these trying days❤️
FRIDAY, MAY 8, 2020: PRIZE DAY!!!
Good morning and Happy Friday!
Hope everyone was able to finish their bags, or at least are on track to get them finished. Even though today is the last day for this KAL/CAL, this thread will stay open and you can always come back to check in, ask questions, or chat with each other.
I feel like this was a very successful week! I loved seeing everyone's work, and I hope you're happy with the way yours turned out. I had an idea this week that I may follow up on when I get through a test knit I'm doing for someone-- These bags would make great lingerie bags! They're 100% cotton so they can go through the washer and dryer. My daughter borrowed and lost one of my lingerie bags. (How do you lose something between the dryer and your room? Oh, right. Her room is a disaster.) I might replace it with one of these.
Anyway, on to prizes!
It doesn't look like anyone made more than one bag, right? If you did, let us know! So for now we just have two prizes to announce: The Grand Prize & Miss Congeniality!
Grand Prize (decided by www.WheelDecide.com) goes to...
@Cindi Gober!!! 😎😍🤗😃💟
Cindi, please choose a pattern from the KNIT Patterns or CROCHET Patterns menu above, as well as select an ebook to download from https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MariaKeffler (scroll down to see the book list). Only the Drawn Series Boxed Set is not available as a prize.
Miss Congeniality was a tie between two people! Those people are...
@visgirl and @KelleJ!!! 🍭🍦🎇🎁🌺
Please choose either a pattern from the KNIT Patterns or CROCHET Patterns menu above, or pick out a card from the Greeting Cards section of the PAPER Brilliants menu. You can select either a ready-to-mail printed card or a download to print your own card (which you can reuse as often as you like!).
Congrats to the winners!
I hope everyone had fun this week. I know I did! Thanks so much for joining in! Our next project will be the Tyndal Mini Messenger Bag CAL in June:
If you don't crochet (yet), you've got five weeks to learn before the CAL! 😁
Have a great day and a great weekend, everyone! You're the cat's pyjamas!
M
No worries if you can't finish today! Sometimes life just requires a little slower pace. As long as you're having fun, that's the important thing!
Me too!
Sadly I’m not gonna finish today! But I will soon and then will post.
I am finished! I wish I would have made it longer.
They may be a nice gift!! Food is more appreciated now .
This is my finished product !
THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2020: Sew it together & make the drawstring.
(That's some quick thinking there, Bart!)
Good morning! After a disaster or two yesterday, hopefully everyone is back on track today! Today's job is to sew up the sides (or crochet them up if you're doing it that way) and finish the drawstring.
The drawstring (according to the pattern, anyway) is attached on one side, then runs through the eyelets around the top of the bag. So in the end you just have one loose string (rather than two) that you pull up to tighten. I like this design, because you will never lose your drawstring! But if you'd rather make a separate string and have two ends that you bow or tie, you can do it however you like!
If you end up making multiple bags in different sizes, I recommend either using different colors of thread for them (so you can easily recognize which one is small, large, etc.) or simply use a different color thread for the drawstring. Three of my bags are all green (the ones in the pattern photos) and I have no idea which is which when I pull them out at the grocery. When there's nothing in them they shrivel up and it's impossible to tell the difference between the sizes.
Is anyone on track to make more than one bag by tomorrow?
Also, could everyone please vote sometime today for "Miss Congeniality"? Who has been most encouraging, kind, and helpful this week? Just click that little brown circle in the lower right corner (the one with the dialogue bubble and three dots in it), select "+ New Chat" and then select (or search for) Wylde & Plumb. If you can't find Wylde & Plumb (I can't search for that myself, since it's me, but I think it should be there!) you can use mariakeffler.
Have a great day, and I can't wait to see your bags!
They both look great!
Mine looks the same size. I do hope it stretches!!
I need to finish mine on the weekend, got an order in 🤷♀️😀
I wrote a long whiney message this morning, but I must not have pushed the arrow hard enough. My bag fell off of the metal needles, I don’t have wooden needles in that size. I might start another one, as soon as I stop feeling sorry for myself🤦♀️
I will be lucky to get one done, slow going, but ready to start side two!
WEDNESDAY, MAY 6, 2010: Finish the second side of the bag.
Good morning! How's everyone doing today? Hopefully you're not having any problems with your bag, but if you are let us know!
Today we'll finish up the second half of the bag. If you've worked ahead and are already finished, feel free to start another! I have four of these, and I regularly use all of them at the grocery.
Today is my dad's 84th birthday! I made him a coaster:
It's really ugly, isn't it? 😆 But I think he'll love it, because it's made from the very first wool I ever spun.
A few years ago Dad, who's an amazing woodcrafter, decided to make a spinning wheel. I knew where this would eventually go. Despite my protestations that I already have far too many hobbies, last year after we visited them, the spinning wheel ended up in the back of my car on the trip home. So I found a teacher and learned to spin. I'm still not very good at it, and that first bobbin of "yarn" was hideous. But I found a good use for it: a birthday gift for Dad! (Don't worry, I got him something nice too.)
Hope everyone is well!
Woops
Hi all day 2
Are the bags in the picture the large size?
I’m making medium bag too and it is looking small so just keep going is my recommendation!😄
I am making the medium bag. I have some way increased my stitches to 46, I think I knitted extra stitches at the beginning or end of the row. I am leaving it.
Question?!
second to the last row:
Next Row) (RS) K1, (yo,k2tog) across.
How many stitches should I have after this row?
I’m excited to start knitting my bag. Joannes finally called me to pick up my thread. Appx 48 hours later. Nothing happens quickly in our new world. I picked the wasabi color!
Just needed to share this today.
This will be fun!
Happy Cinco de Mayo on Taco Tuesday 😉
Sounds great thanks Maria!
TUESDAY, MAY 5, 2020: Cast on or make your foundation chain & finish the first side (to the turning row).
If you haven't cast on or done your foundation chain yet, go ahead and do it!
And by the way, we're very easy-breezy here at Wylde & Plumb. We don't care if you work ahead or get behind. We're just glad you're here!
You'll start out with the smaller needles/hook to get a tight edge (through which you'll eventually run the drawstring) then switch up to the larger needles/hook to get those nice, loose, meshy rows. If you didn't see the post yesterday about using wood needles (if you're knitting) let me mention it again-- the crochet thread is VERY slippery, and likes to fall right off the needles if you're not careful. If you have wood needles, you might want to use those to get a little bit more friction going. If your stitches slip off, you'll never get them back on again. (I tried.)
Can't wait to see your progress!
Oh, and let's do the following prizes at the end of the project, on Friday, May 8:
Grand Prize Raffle (I'll put the names of everyone who posted each day into Wheel Decide and come up with a winner of a free pattern & a free book download from my bookshelf (Drawn Designs is not included, sorry!).
Most Bags Made: a free pattern for whoever gets the most bags made this week! (If everyone gets exactly one done, then we'll abandon this prize!)
Miss Congeniality: we'll take a vote on Friday (via the chat button down in the right bottom corner of the screen) to vote for who has been the most helpful and encouraging knitter/crocheter this week. Winner gets a free pattern or greeting card (see the PAPER Brilliants menu above and scroll or click down to Greeting Cards).
Hope that all sounds fun! Have a great day!
Nicole from Germany in Texas 🤣👋🏻 Will be knitting, but trying an experiment with bigger needles 👀
Hi I’m connie from colorado! Happy to knit the bag!
Hi All,
I'm Stephanie, living in rural Minnesota. I love making bags, but haven't done a thread one
yet. I have lots of thread (doily maker at heart here) and crochet is my thing!
I am a retired teacher in West Virginia. I live with my mother and my cat, Purl. I was able to get some thread at Walmart.
I’m Cindi and I’m from Algonquin Il. I’m waiting to pick up my crochet thread from Joannes today. Hopefully I can cast on tonite. I crochet and knit but prefer knitting. Looking forward to a project this week as ”I’m Bored in The House”!
Good Morning! I’m Peg from Woodstock Illinois Where Spring is strugglung, it’s 37 degrees here! I love to knit and try to crochet a little bit. I‘m excited to knit the produce bags, can we cast on today?
MONDAY, MAY 4, 2020: Introductions & Yarn Photos
Welcome to Day 1 of our 4-day Knit-Along & Crochet-Along! I'm pretty jazzed that we can get our knitters AND crocheters working on a project together. Thanks to @KelleJ for suggesting a pattern for the Mesh Produce Bag in crochet as well as knit!
Who's here so far? I see @nicoleb, @visgirl, @carlap2, @smr4304, and @cms9845. And I got a message last night from @Cindi Gober who's joining us for the first time too! Anyone else lurking about? Please comment and join in! And ladies, please encourage anyone in your circles of friends or social media crochet/knitting groups to join us!
Everyone who introduces themselves today (and hopefully can show us your yarn for this project) will be entered in a drawing to win a free pattern from Wylde & Plumb. Besides Knit and Crochet patterns (in the menu above) we've also started making greeting cards available via PDF, so you can print your own at home. Those "patterns" will also be included in our prizes during this KAL/CAL.
So let's get started!
I'm Maria, and I'm in Arlington, VA. I'm bistitchual but partial to knitting. It feeds my need for order, control, and precise counting better than crochet does. But there are certainly times when crochet is a better choice for a project than knitting, so I'm grateful to be able to do both. I have three kids, ages 12, 14, and 16, and a 15-year-old cat who's doing amazingly well for her age, and we suspect she may live another 15 years at this rate.
Looking forward to getting started with you all!
I have that same tutu lol
Connie's in!!!
Count me in for the Crochet bag!
Woot! So glad you're here, @smr4304! I think this will be a fun, quick project.
I'm in! Love this idea
I liked the way the crochet one came out! Kelle asked for a crochet pattern for these because she doesn't knit (YET). I wasn't sure I'd like it as well, but I do!
I am going to try to crochet a bag.
Just saw this! Yay! So glad you're in!
I’ve ordered my Aunt Lydias and printed out the pattern!