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

As we get into the part of the year with a lot of food-forward holidays, it might be time to start thinking about knitting some new things for your table. While a few of these are more fall/Thanksgiving focused, just changing up the colors would make others work for Christmas, or keep it neutral and use them all year long.

What got me started thinking about this was the lovely and simple Fresh Bread Dishtowel, a free pattern from Purl Soho. Worked in a lovely cotton and linen blend, the towel is mostly stockinette stitch with a bit of texture on the borders.

You could use this same kind of pattern to make anything from placemats to a table runner, but let’s look at some specific patterns for those kinds of projects as well.

The easy moss stitch table runner from Glass Bird Knits is beginner friendly can can easily be modified to fit your table (or, again, to make placemats instead of or in addition to a runner). This version is worked in macrame cord, but you could also use bulky yarn.

Emielle Design has a garter stitch runner pattern that’s made with braided cotton cord for a lot of texture without a lot of work. But be sure to take a lot of breaks when knitting with cord because it can be rough on your hands!

I also love the diamond pattern on the Hamilton Table Runner from Wyndlestraw Designs. It calls for a DK weight cotton and linen blend yarn and comes in three sizes with different widths and lengths. The pattern has both written and charted instructions.

Amy Marie’s Table Pumpkins (on Ravelry) is a fun mosaic knitting pattern that would be great to use as a table runner through the fall and for Thanksgiving. It uses a worsted weight cotton yarn in two colors, and you can make it as long as you like for your table.

The no cable knit placemats from Yarn Culture Studio have a fun faux cable look that would be great for the table through the fall and winter.

Or here’s another pattern from Wyndlestraw Designs, this time for an easy knit and purl stitch placemat pattern that looks different but still good on both sides. It calls for worsted weight cotton and comes in two sizes for placemats, but also has instructions for coasters, a hot pad and a table pad all using the same stitch.

Have you read?