Monday, January 30, 2012

TUTORIAL: Crocheted Produce/Market Bags - Step 1

Crocheters: grab your hooks, string and savvy and let's make some reusable bags! 

These bags are great to take to market, hold onions or potatoes in the kitchen, and even for storing yarn and other goodies in. They roll up fairly small, so you can keep on in your purse or car without taking up much space, yet they expand quite large, depending on how big you crochet the base.  If you already rock at crochet, this will be easy. I've done my best to post this pattern as both an easy to read description for those folks who aren't great at reading patterns, as well as in normal pattern lingo. I wrote in the first tutorial post that we'd be using three stitches: chain stitch, slip stitch and double crochet, and i left instructions for these stitches. However, i remembered that i usually like to use triple crochet for the majority of the bag, so please do your homework and get ready to triple crochet in the next post.
So, without further ado: we commence the tutorial!

* I must first start out with a disclaimer.... i am not a master crochetist. I often make mistakes, crochet into half the stitch instead of the whole stitch, am notorious for 'winging' most 'patterns' and have never written a pattern before. That being said, this bag pattern has lots of room for error, there are many ways to skin this cat, and i think you'll have fun doing it. Hopefully you even have fun trying to decipher my instructions. Please also see the second disclaimer at the bottom of this here post. *

Abbreviations used: ch: chain, slst: slip stitch, dc: double crochet
Round 1: ch5, slst into 1st ch after slip knot to join: makes a tiny circle
Round 2: ch2, dc3 into eatch st of the foundation chain (makes 16 stitches)
Round 3: ch5, place marker in st on hook, dc into next st (meaning skip 1 stitch and crochet into the next stitch), *ch3, dc in next st, repeat from * 6 times, stopping at marker
be sure you're crocheting under the two loops of the stitch, not just one. If you crochet 'incorrectly' you'll get a ridge between your two rows. Check out this diagram )
Round 4:  ch3, dc around the chain (instead of into it), move marker to this chain, chi5, *dc into next dc "post", ch5, repeat from * 7 times, stopping at the marker
Round 5: dc into the stitch with the marker, ch3, move marker to this chain,  ch3, * dc into next "post", ch3, repeat from * to the marker
Round 6: add to more ch to make a chain of 5, dc around chain, move marker to this stitch, ch5, skip the next "post" and dc into the chain

Sound like jibberish? Here's an 'english' version, with pictures!

round1 round2 round3 round4 round5 round6

Remember that if you don't have cute little markers, you can use a loop of different colored yarn or string, a twist tie, or even a paper clip. 

At this point, i like to use triple crochet for the next round and the rest of the bag. SO please do your homework and learn the triple crochet stitch. Hint, it's just like double crochet, but you yarn over TWO times before crocheting into the stitch, and pull through three times instead of two times: thus triple crochet. We'll stop here for now and continue on Friday with the base of this market bag, continuing to get you on your way to completing your very own market bag! You get to decide how big you're bag will be based on how wide you get the base circle and how long you continue crocheting up the sides of the bag.

As always, i welcome emails and questions, and want to see your progress! So, be sure to join the Flickr group and post images of YOUR creations!

A few resources to help you out if you have questions:
learntocrochet.lionbrand.com/www.anniesattic.com/crochet/
Ravelry.com
www.crochetspot.com/category/tutorials-and-help/


*Our market bag pattern, and all tutorials found on this site are presented for your personal use only. Tutorials and/or objects made from my tutorials may not be sold commercially (that includes Etsy or Ravelry!). If you want to sell something based on one of my tutorials, please email me at gonudesoap at gmail dot com and we'll try to work out a fair deal. Please play nicely!

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