Knit an Easy Farmer’s Market Tote

I don’t know how it is where you live, but the social event of Saturday mornings in my hometown is the farmer’s market. It was even named one of the favorite farmer’s markets in the country last year, which says something about how much we all love it.

There’s nothing like heading downtown on a Saturday morning (or a Tuesday, or a Thursday) and loading up on fresh produce, checking out the local crafts (there’s even a woman who makes yarn) and running into people you know. It’s one of the ways our not-really-small town still feels small.

But how are you going to carry all your goodness home? A knit sack is the perfect way to do it, and this farmer’s market tote from Lion Brand Yarn (free registration required to view) is a great choice. Worked in Martha Stewart Crafts cotton yarn Hemp, this pretty, durable bag is worked from a flat base up to a circularly knit body worked in an easy, four row mesh pattern. You’ll get it knit up in time for the next market day, for sure.

What was your latest market score? Mine was some of the first blueberries of the season. Yum!

[Photo via Lion Brand Yarn.] Looking for more patterns? Check these market bag patterns out on Etsy.

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I can’t resist a pattern that’s both useful and a little silly, and that’s exactly how I feel about the Rybka pouch pattern from the delightfully named Rat and Sea Witch.

I know you’re going to ask, because I did, too. Rybka means little fish in Polish. (And because you’re also probably going to ask, Rat and Sea Witch comes from people’s attempts to say the designer’s name, Ratasiewicz, which if you say it fast kind of sounds like rat and sea witch.)

It’s easy to make a little fish bag in different sizes to suit your needs. The pattern has specific instructions for an Airpods Pro case and a pencil case, but you could change the length easily to hold more stuff, and change the size in general by working with a different weight of yarn.

The pattern calls for sock yarn and mohair held together to make a fingering weight gauge, but you could try it with heavier yarn and see what size bag you end up with.

Whatever size you make it, this looks like a fun project for holding trinkets or everyday items. The mouth of the fish is the mouth of the bag, and it closes with a drawstring that is also the strap. I wonder, too, if you could make one of these with a small clasp frame that could be the fish’s mouth and then you could just work I cord straps that would attach to the sides of the fish.

I could also see stripes, or fish of different colors to use up your yarn leftovers. How about a sunglasses case with a little loop to attach to your bag? Once you start thinking about all the ways you could use a fish-shaped bag in your life, I think you’ll see that you probably need more than one.

If you make one of these I would love to know how it went!

You can grab a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Rat and Sea Witch]

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