A lot has changed in Davenport since the last post. Emily has moved back to Wisconsin and I have weathered my first market without her. It was a bittersweet day. The booth seemed empty without her, but I did sell an entire batch of her famous caramels! I also finally finished the special order market bag!
This bag is an original design, and it turned out pretty much how I envisioned it. I wanted to give this bag more structure, so it would look more like a classic, rectangular grocery bag. I did this by increasing and decreasing every other round at each of the four corners. The use of left and right leaning increases and decreases created an edge that I reinforced with extra yarn after the knitting was complete. I also needed an open mesh-type pattern that did not twist, as the yarn over mesh I had been doing creates a diagonal pattern. The stitch I ended up using was the "
Star Rib Pattern".
I added a pocket inside for keys, cell phone and money. This was done by picking up stitches along the back on the band and then casting on the same number as the stitches that were picked up. Knitting these stitches in the round creates a pocket that is already attached to the back. I finished the pocket using a
three needle bind off and tacked the corners to the body of the bag for stability. I searched my tin of buttons from the antique store to find the perfect match, and I think I did: an old, weathered wooden toggle, painted white. I wanted the straps to be sturdy and not stretch as knitted straps would. So... I used woven strapping (in this case blanket binding) and sewed this to the bag. I did, however, want the straps to look knit. I achieved this by knitting a tube that I placed around the binding. The tube had tabs on each side that covered the binding. After using embroidery floss to sew the straps and tabs to the bag, the binding is invisible! Also, note the tag sown into the bag. "An Original by Laura Rose Oman"! Hopefully, I'll be using a lot of those tags in the future. See the photo below for a picture of Vicki (a satisfied customer, I hope!) with the finished product.
This bag is an original design, and it turned out pretty much how I envisioned it. I wanted to give this bag more structure, so it would look more like a classic, rectangular grocery bag. I did this by increasing and decreasing every other round at each of the four corners. The use of left and right leaning increases and decreases created an edge that I reinforced with extra yarn after the knitting was complete. I also needed an open mesh-type pattern that did not twist, as the yarn over mesh I had been doing creates a diagonal pattern. The stitch I ended up using was the "Star Rib Pattern".
I added a pocket inside for keys, cell phone and money. This was done by picking up stitches along the back on the band and then casting on the same number as the stitches that were picked up. Knitting these stitches in the round creates a pocket that is already attached to the back. I finished the pocket using a three needle bind off and tacked the corners to the body of the bag for stability. I searched my tin of buttons from the antique store to find the perfect match, and I think I did: an old, weathered wooden toggle, painted white. I wanted the straps to be sturdy and not stretch as knitted straps would. So... I used woven strapping (in this case blanket binding) and sewed this to the bag. I did, however, want the straps to look knit. I achieved this by knitting a tube that I placed around the binding. The tube had tabs on each side that covered the binding. After using embroidery floss to sew the straps and tabs to the bag, the binding is invisible! Also, note the tag sown into the bag. "An Original by Laura Rose Oman"! Hopefully, I'll be using a lot of those tags in the future. See the photo below for a picture of Vicki (a satisfied customer, I hope!) with the finished product.
My market bag is great Laura! The bag goes with us every Saturday morning to the farmers market and to the grocery store as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
Vicky