Knit a Market Bag for Earth Day

Earth Day is an important time to remind us all to think about the little things we can do every day to lighten our load on the planet. One thing I have been really focused on this year is using less plastic, especially water bottles and shopping bags. Looking for more patterns? Check these market bag patterns out on Etsy.

It’s great when craftiness and sustainability collide, as they do when you make your own bags to take shopping.

Knit Picks has a great free pattern for a knit market bag, the Montavilla Market Tote. It’s actually a great stash buster, too, because it uses three colors of yarn as written, and you can change yarns as often as you like for a really stripy, scrappy bag.

It is worked from a firm, stable bottom to a lace pattern worked in the round with color changes every round. Then the handles are worked in the same yarn as the base, or do them in a fourth color if you like.

To keep with the eco-friendly nature of the project, use scraps or yarn you already have in your stash. If you need to buy something to make the project, choose organic cotton yarn if you can (conventionally grown cotton tends to be really high on the use of pesticides). 100 % cotton yarn

What do you do to make your knitting more earth friendly? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Knit Picks.]

This free pattern uses cotton yarn. Check out Lion brands new Re-Up Yarn

Lion Brand’s new recycled cotton, gives knitters and crocheters another reason to love working with cotton. It’s eco-friendly! It takes, on average, 20,000 liters of water to make 1 kilogram of cotton. By using one 70 gram ball of Re-Up you are saving 1,400 liters of water. So try Re-Up for your next cotton project: you’re going to love how it feels to work with and how it feels to help save the planet while doing the craft you love. You can learn more about it here on this video below.

https://youtu.be/SP1e_baGcJs

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Why should the fireplace get all the fun? Instead of knitting stockings this year, why not whip up a pair of Christmas themed socks? These Christmas sock knitting patterns are lots of fun to make and you can wear them to holiday gatherings for years to come.

For our friends in the southern part of the world, there are the Christmas in July socks from the Kiwi Lodge – Kylie (Ravelry link). These shorty socks are covered in Christmas trees and have bright pink heels and toes for a tropical feel. There’s also an option to make a longer sock if you celebrate somewhere it’s colder.

Twin Stitches Designs (Ravelry) has a fun pattern with mix and match colorwork motifs you can use to build your own cozy Christmas socks. From the sample socks I see Christmas puddings, trucks hauling trees, Santa belts, ornaments and a couple of different borders. There may be more patterns included but the listing doesn’t say. Make a pair that matches or use different motifs on each foot for extra holiday cheer.

If you want to stick to Christmas puddings on your holiday socks, check out this cute pattern from Stone Knits. These lovely socks feature a band of puddings around the leg and a bit of holly by the toes.

These vintage holiday light socks from Grey Owl Knits by Sarah are classic looking and lots of fun at the same time. I love this color combination but of course you can make your lights and stripes whatever colors you like or have on hand. They’re worked using stranded knitting.

And if you’d like even more of a mix of patterns for your socks, try Barbara Ceglédi’s Christmas Chaos socks, a free pattern on Ravelry. The pattern includes 25 little motifs you can choose from, ranging from snowflakes and Christmas trees to elf hats, reindeer and hearts.

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