Do You Knit Gift Bags?

November 14, 2014 by Sarah White 2 Comments

There’s a lot of waste involved in the holiday season, not the least of which is all the wrapping paper and gift bags that might just get thrown away after being used once.

Now I usually used paper gift bags and I reuse them as often as I can, but there are other options. My sister-in-law uses a lot of sewn fabric gift bags, and we pass them back and forth among the family.

But Pam Mackenzie notes that you can also knit gift bags, which she has done for years. The article includes a basic pattern for drawstring bags knit in three sizes. She uses cotton, which makes the bags both durable and inexpensive.

It doesn’t take long to knit simple bags like these, and they can be used over and over for any gift-giving occasion. They also make a purchased gift — even a gift card — a little more special (speaking of gift cards, I did a pattern last year for knit gift card holders shaped like stockings, which you can use to decorate the tree before you hand them out).

Do you knit gift bags or otherwise try to be eco-friendly with your wrapping? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via My Central New Jersey.]

Looking for more Christmas themed Knitting patterns? Check out some of our favorite Knitting patterns on Etsy and

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Comments

Dot says
November 14, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Thanks! The link to the gift bags pattern didn’t work. (It led to a 404 on your own site.) Here’s a corrected link:
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/local/2014/11/12/knitting-gift-bags-holidays/18847309/
I’ve never knit gift bags, but I have made them from fabric. These days, my gifts are usually dollar-origami stars; I should make some small knit bags to hold those.
Jeanne says
November 16, 2014 at 7:03 pm
I haven’t knit gift bags, but I have been sewing gift bags for years. I really hate gift wrap because it’s so wasteful both money and trash.

Have you read?

Stitch a Scarf with Dreamy Waves

As I write this, it’s probably time to start thinking about winter knitting if you haven’t already. And it’s definitely time to think about gift knitting if you have any of that you plan to do for the holidays.

The Dreamy Waves Scarf from Knit Picks, designed by Stacey Winklepleck, would be a great project to go in either category.

It uses two different multicolored yarns and a simple repeating wave pattern to make a project that looks a lot more complicated and dramatic than it is. The gradient look happens naturally just by switching which yarn you’re knitting with.

This pattern uses worsted weight yarn so it’s a pretty quick project even though a scarf is large and this one is pretty wide. It measures 8.5 inches (21.5 cm) wide and 63 inches or 120 cm long. Of course you can make it longer or shorter as you like. As written it takes one ball of each color so it’s a pretty economical project, too.

It’s rated for intermediate knitters but if you know how to do various increases and decreases you’ll be all set. The pattern uses knit 2 together, make 1 left and right, centered double decrease and slip slip knit. All of the stitches are explained in a glossary in the pattern so even if you haven’t done all of them it shouldn’t be too hard to figure out.

The pattern also includes tons of options for different colorways in yarn that Knit Picks sells, so you can see how different combinations knit up before you buy the yarn. That’s such a great idea!

Of course if you already have two multicolored yarns with long color runs on hand, you can absolutely use them, too. It might also be fun, but would give you a totally different look, to use a solid color and a bunch of scraps or one multicolored yarn to see how the different colors play together. So many options!

You can grab this free pattern and check out all the color options at Knit Picks.

[Photo: Knit Picks]

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