Sheep On My Stuff

I'd like to be more environmentally conscientious than I am. One of the ways I've thought about using a reusable, rather than single-use, resource is by using reusable bags for grocery shopping. Ah ha!, I thought, perfect! I'll crochet some!

Well. The patterns around for crocheted market bags tend to make these enormous things that stretch so far they drag on the ground if I'm carrying them on my shoulder. And they take a huge amount of yarn. Not what I'm after.

I decided to try designing something that takes the natural stretch of a simple cotton yarn into account, and this is what I came up with. It's a granny square bag with two short handles. Experienced crocheters should be able to extrapolate how to make larger (or smaller) bags (and handles) just by looking at the pattern; instructions aren't given for changing the sizes. This is the size I like, and I think it's a good one. I've taken a few of these to the store and come back with comfortably-sized bags of groceries. And if they get messy, you can throw 'em in the washer and dryer with your towels.

Please follow the link to my Small Market Bag pattern! Like everything on this site, it is Creative Commons licensed; please feel free to share and distribute (as long as you keep my name and website attached). :) Many thanks to Wyoming Knott, Sorcha, and Moonrose for testing the pattern for me!

You remember how I had a Sneaky Sheep in my flock? Here, I'll refresh your memory:

Well, it turns out Sneaky Sheep has been going on missions. So far he's managed to infiltrate the study, while I was raiding Tempest Keep:

...the bathroom, as I was brushing my teeth...

...my bedroom window, as I was going to sleep...

...and now the kitchen cabinets!

(For fun and prizes, find the bonus sheep in each of those pictures. There are eight, plus an "extra".)

I do have other things going! I've been working on shopping bags, and two friends have graciously agreed to help me test a pattern. (It's crochet, requires about 300 yards of not-too-stretchy yarn, and roughly an H hook -- mileage varies.) I'm also working on a shawl project, but it's a gift for someone; as such, I won't be posting pictures of it until it's complete and in the hands of the recipient. :)

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Yarn used: Lily Sugar 'n' Cream Twist, Taupe Twist. Hook size: 5mm.

ÜnterSchëpenFloppen is back, modeling the second of my granny square grocery bags. (The first one is not yet complete.) I've got two bags now, and I definitely like this one better than the first one I did. I hadn't intended to do two of the same pattern, but I realized midway through making the gusset/bottom that I didn't really want one done in a main color/contrasting color; I'd rather have them be the same color throughout. And thus I have two bags! The other one should be easy enough to finish.

I needed something to spice up my crafting life, and I'd been toying with the idea of making some crocheted grocery bags. (Reusable grocery bags are very in around the Seattle area these days.) It happened that I had some Cotton-Ease... in sweater form, but in the form of a sweater I wasn't happy with. I frogged the sweater, reclaimed the yarn, and made this:

Yarn used: Cotton-Ease by Lion Brand. Hook size: 5mm.

It was fun to break the crochet hook out again, but I can't say I love this pattern! Woolo, the sheep modeling it, doesn't mind it nearly so much. :)

The bag I'm more excited about is a granny square bag:

Yarn used: Sugar 'n' Cream Stripes by Lily (with a contrasting color to come). Hook size: 5mm.

It's working up so fast. I'll be done with it tomorrow at the latest, and I'll be able to make more of these easily. I'm quite pleased with how it looks so far, too. :) Meanwhile, ÜnterSchëpenFloppen thinks the yarn looks like Neapolitan ice cream. Mmm... Neapolitan. I haven't had any of that in far too long. Why doesn't Häagen-Dazs make a neapolitan? It'd be so good.

Once upon a time I made a grey Booga Bag. I actually carried it around, even though I tend to prefer bags that are messenger-bag-like; currently I carry a medium-sized messenger bag in brown canvas by L.L. Bean.

Well, one day I left it at Qdoba. We called to make sure they'd picked it up, and they had, but when we went to get it the next day, it had disappeared. Oh, well. I lost a half-knit pair of socks, a grey bag, and a tape measure. Luckily, I carry my wallet in my jeans.

Once upon a time, I made a Jayne Hat. I had a lot of leftovers, since I'd used Cascade 220, and a hat doesn't take nearly 660 yards of yarn.

So, since the Booga Bag had been so fun, and I had the colors left over...

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Yarn used: Yellow, orange, and red Cascade 220, felted once. Needles used: 6.5mm.

Lily says hello and remarks that the Jayne Hat Booga Bag is not a terribly comfortable sleeping bag. It's just not sheep-shaped.

This project has been lying around for nearly two and a half years. It was finished, all the parts were felted, I just hadn't assembled it. Today, realizing that I'd done next to nothing on the Bog Jacket, I decided to go ahead and finish this up for the blog post. Hey, a Tuesday/Thursday schedule is turning out to be pretty good for me. ^_^

As a bonus, this got me up to a ratio of 12:13 completed-to-cast-on-new projects. That's a 0.9 ratio. Not the 1.5 ratio I'd like to have for the year... but I'm getting there!

On an unrelated note, I've been listening to knitting podcasts lately. For those of you who may be curious about which podcasts I subscribe to, here are the ones I've got so far:

• Cast On. I haven't caught up on this one yet, but I've listened to the first few episodes and am looking forward to more!
• Knit Picks' Podcast. I started listening to this back in March or so; it was the first knitting podcast (and, in fact, the first podcast) I'd ever listened to. I'm behind by a bunch, but look forward to catching up.
• Knit Spirit. This is a bite-sized podcast, which I love. I'm nearly caught up on this one, and I'm really enjoying it.
• Pointy Sticks. I've only listened to the first couple of episodes, and this one seems to be permanently on hiatus.
• Ready Set Knit. I listened to the first show, but the second show contains a knit-a-long, and until I can sit down to do the knit-a-long, I'll be putting this one on the bottom of the listening queue! (Audio knit-a-longs: AWESOME IDEA.)
• Sticks & String Podcast. This one's a podcast by "an Australian bloke who knits". I've only listened to the first episode so far, but can't wait to hear more!
• Subknit. I've listened to the archives for this one and am all caught up. This is a podcast about knitting and kink, and it's a lot of fun.
• YarnCraft. Definitely looking forward to listening to more of this one -- I love the idea of hearing what life is like around Lion Brand, even if I'm not using much of their yarn anymore! >_>

I hear a lot of good things about Lime & Violet, but I haven't yet tracked that one down. Any other knitting podcast suggestions?