10-15-2015

I’m loving this market bag pattern. Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton in Vanilla & Snap Pea is my favorite yarn & color combination so far.

A helpful hint is to number the rows, see my other mesh market bag project page for how to do that. And until I was very familiar with the pattern, using a row counter and marking beginning of each row with a stitch marker were essential for me.

After trying different modifications, now the only modification I make to the pattern is in the decrease row 27, I do ch3 instead of ch2, so that’s 2 rows (26 & 27) of ch3, because using these bags at the grocery I find you don’t want the opening too narrow. It makes it harder for the checker/bagger and doesn’t add value to the bag, in my opinion, to have the opening narrow. I change color after Row 28 & do 1 - 3 rows of sc. Per the pattern I use ch38 for the handles and do either 2 or 3 rows, depends on how many rows I do of color at the top of the bag and my mood.

I struggled with the handles, finally figured it out. I added pictures of how to attach the chain (ch38) to the other side, that’s 12:00 to 3:00, and again 6:00 to 9:00, see pattern. I hope this helps others. It will help me remember in the future. It’s all in the position of the ch38, hook, & yarn. In the last picture the hook is now ready for the slip stitch into the stitch to the left, after which you turn and start the sc back across the ch38.