Mad about bags

This is a slightly image heavy post but I haven't had much time to work on my blog lately and had things waiting to be downloaded from the memory cards.
Ok for the end of the kids school year I decided to make bags for all the teachers. I searched all over and decided to make this one and that and then changed my mind on them all, of course LOL. I unfortunately fell and sprained my wrist the night I was finishing all the bags, because, I always leave finishing until last and then I was up until 3 am working on the and washing them all to get them to the school the next day and just didn't take pictures. But, I had made some for myself as well, you know practice pieces like trying the cake before feeding it to loved ones just incase! So here is some of what I had been working on.
This one is still unfinished because I have attempted a handle twice now and not liked the finished product. I originally wanted a knit i-cord in the grey cotton I used, but, I wasn't getting a thick enough i-cord using the needles I chose. I went up in needle size but then the i-cord itself didn't look good because the needles were too large. So I am still thinking this out.

This is one side of the bag that was designed by Angela ‘ARNie’ Grabowski .
She was experimenting with a tunisian illusion technique and created a pattern for a small clutch. I used the technique and the idea of a purse but changed the pattern to the size and shape I desired.
On this side when you look straight at the purse you see the grey and red intermixed (the camera picks up the detail of the stripes in the left hand picture but you don't see them in person like this) and then when you lay the item down and look at it from the angle in the right hand picture youget the effect of solid grey and red stripes.

This is the other side of the bag. Looking at it straight on you again see a mixture of grey and red but no noticeable stripes in person. The picture on the right shows that when viewed from an angle you see solid red stripes running vertically up the bag. It's really neat in person and people do a double take when they see it as they aren't sure if they really saw stripes or not.

Here is a Market bag made from 2 strands of #10 thread held together. I found the pattern here. I altered the bottom to be just mesh as I made a few for teachers I knew liked to go to the beach and thought this would be perfect for holding beach items and with a mesh base most of the sand would fall out before making it back to the car.

The pocket on the front is there so you can fold the bag up and it becomes self storing. I can't personally slip this in any of my purses (if you've seen any you'd know why) But, for those that carry luggage you could easily slip this in your purse and have a handy market bag for a farmers market or the store. I do actually use this now to go shopping and love this thread one for boxes of cereal, paper products and produce.

Now I love the thread bag but it took too long to make. I won't say how long because long for one is short for another and I don't want to prevent anyone from trying it, it really is worth it! But, I wanted a bag I could more so mass produce. So I took the pattern for the thread bag and altered it to make my own out of ww cotton. Instead of a beginning chain of 87 I did a beginning chain of 45 and went on from there following the pattern just making sure to keep to 45 stitches on a side.

I had just enough cotton left to make a granny square for the front. I don't fold the bag up and stick it in this square because the square is not big enough to hold it, but, it makes a great place to stick your car keys so when you walk out with all your bags you can press the unlock button or find the keys easy. I have been sticking my other market bags in this one and then stick coupons into the pocket as well so I recall to bring them to the store with me.

Now I had to try a recycled plastic bag bag as well and just had to take a picture of what the target bag states.
If you can't see this it states ways to recycle your target bag......they left of crochet a new bag though. I think we should email them.


Well to start we gathered all the plastic bags in the house. I mainly had bags that were white with a red logo, CVS, Target, my local grocery store. So the executive decision was made to do the bag using ONLY white and red bags. I had 120 to start. I cut the bottom open on each bag and then cut the handles off if need be (some had no handles and that was great! less waste!) Made my ball of "yarn" and got going with a size M hook. I just winged it chaining how many I wanted to achive the width I thought would be good.

after running out of bags twice and then finding more as we went to the stores, this is where I am at. I would like to add a few more rounds to the top if the bag to reinforce the handle more. At this point there are about 160 plastic bags in here to make this one bag that's about 18 x 15 inches. My daughter has now "borrowed" this because it goes so well with her duct tape wallet...