Knitting

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Do You Knit Gift Bags?

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Knit gift bags to make Christmas a little greener.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

These Christmas Knitting Pattern Books on Amazon

Comments

  2. 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?

Classic Dishcloth Knitting Patterns

Fall will be here before we know it, and that means there are holidays coming right behind where we might be entertaining at home. It’s always fun to have a hand knit touch in your home for other people to see, and if you’re going to be in the kitchen all day you might as well have some nice knit dish cloths to use. 

I love this little plaid hand towel from Darling Jadore. Use a little bit of leftover cotton yarn from another project for the plaid portion. It looks like the horizontal stripes are worked as you knit and the vertical stripes are done with duplicate stitch, making this a quick and easy project even newer knitters can make. 

Combine garter stitch and an easy eyelet pattern worked sideways to make the Annette Dish Towel from Cluck Cluck Boots, which is meant to be reminiscent of flour sack towels. It calls for DK weight yarn and you can work it in one color or two (or even three!). 

Add a little more texture with this set of kitchen towels from Whileberry Creative. They’re mostly worked in garter stitch with borders in easy knit/purl patterns, and you can work them in sport or worsted weight yarn. 

Two of Wands Shop has another cute allover knit and purl pattern they call the Seersucker Textured Tea Towel. It’s an easy repeating pattern worked in worsted weight yarn, and there’s a chart in the pattern you can use, but don’t have to, if you want to practice knitting from a chart. 

The Classic Cloth dish towel from Handmade Home by Connie is another one that can use a little leftover yarn in a contrasting color, or you could color block it our use stripes throughout the pattern. This one uses worsted weight yarn and another easy repeating knit purl stitch pattern. 

If you like to hang your towel on the oven handle or elsewhere but it’s always falling off, try the Stay Put kitchen towel from Fancy Step Knits. This project is worked in garter stitch and includes a hole partway through so you can pull the towel through itself over a rod or handle. Stripes are optional but a nice addition.