Thursday, July 10, 2008

Handmade bags-Earth friendly

Do you still use paper or plastic bags for your shopping?
Maybe you could try making your own instead.

I inherited 5 yards of really loud purple and neon flowered crepe.
What to do? Make grocery bags of course.

The cashiers often giggle and say "Oh, they all match!" Which happens to be code for "Eww. I can't believe you came out of the house with those."

The picture is tame. They are more garishly purple and neon than they look.
At first my youngest son ripped them out of my “granny cart”, because we almost always walk to the store, and he screamed “Nuh-uh! I am not going if you are bringing these ugly things!”, But he recovered when I explained that we were helping the environment.

I have also been crocheting some bags out of #10 cotton, I try to make them all a little different. I get bored with repetition.

Make a bottom as wide or as fancy as you want. Some I made with a granny square 6x6 in and then proceeded to chain 5, sc in ch space all around. When you get to the top divide stitches by 4, 2 sides you want to reduce the number and the other 2 sides you will make your handles. These will hold the lighter items like fruit or vegetables. Mine fit a 4 pack roll of toilet paper. But You can make them bigger.
I will try to write up an actual pattern soon. But try Firefly's 1Bag first.

I live on a farm free pattern