Farmer's Market Bag

Yarn: Lily Sugar 'n Cream Solids in Hot Pink
Needles: #9 and #11 Clover circulars

Notes: I've wanted one of these bags for a really long time. I like the look of them, of course, but mainly it was because my husband and I have recently made the commitment to bring reusable bags to the grocery store and to the market where we get our fruits and veggies (and sometimes our dairy.)

We would have made this decision a long time ago if not for the dog. See, being a responsible dog owner in the city means picking up after your dog each time it does its "business"...and we respect and follow this city-dwellers rule*. We always use grocery bags to do the dirty work...so we were torn. Though they weren't being recycled, they were being reused, and we just weren't sure we wanted to buy plastic bags specifically for the purpose...it seemed a little counter-intuitive. Ultimately, a visit from my father in law solved the problem. Apparently, he saves all of his grocery bags to recycle them, and has promised to keep us in just enough bags to do the deed...allowing us to fully transfer over to reusable grocery bags.

I made this pattern up as I went along...drawing things from all of the patterns I'd seen around on the web. I knew I wanted a flat garter stitch bottom that had picked up stitches on three sides. I also knew I wanted a really stretchy stitch pattern, so I used a drop stitch pattern (and not even I could have predicted the amount of stretch this has!) I also knew I wanted to bind off and then cast back on again for the handles because I wanted them to be really strong. It all came together beautifully (even if I do say so myself) and if anyone is interested, i can write up a pattern...just let me know.

*Ultimately when we leave the city I'd like one of those cool things in the backyard where you can collect the "waste" and dispose of it all at once.