/karen/

How to make a drawstring bag

Sunday, 27 March, 2005

Deb was asking me about bag patterns. I haven't made that many and I certainly don't consider myself to be an expert, but I thought I would record how I made these drawstring bags. It's a bit of a modification from the Sophie bags because one thing that annoyed me about the Sophie bags is that, in order to make the opening secure, you either need to sew on a zipper (which I don't know how to do) or some sort of clasp. I thought that drawstring might do the trick nicely but you will still need to line these bags somehow (and I still haven't gotten around to doing that either!)

Materials:

• 2 x 50g balls of your primary colour (this is to do the bottom);
• 50g ball of your contrasting colour (I like to use off-white or white or at least a lighter colour because the resulting bag reminds me of Winnie the Pooh's honey pots. You won't use up the whole ball).

I used 8ply 100% wool but it's up to you what you want to use.

• set of 4mm double-pointed needles (dpn);
• 4mm circular needle 40cm long;
• 4 stitch markers

On reflection, you could probably use different size needles and you might get a bigger bag but I like 4mm because it keeps the stitches fairly dense. That said, I didn't make a gauge (sorry to all you hardcore knitters out there—I have to confess I'm pretty lazy about that sort of thing).

Bag bottom:

Cast on 30 stitches in your main colour on your circular needle. Knit back and forth (as opposed to in a round) for 60 rows until you have a square in garter stitch.

Bag sides:

Pick up stitches along the other three sides (30 per sides) so that you eventually have 130 stitches on your circular needle. Now you'll be knitting in the round.

Row 1: Place beginning marker, knit 30, place marker, knit 30, place marker, knit 30, place marker, knit 30.

Row 2-40: Knit all rows (stockinette stitch). Decrease before and after every marker on rows 10, 20, 30 and 40 (I think you get down to 88 stitches at that point).

Rows 41-55: Change to your contrasting colour. Decrease before and after every marker on row 50 (80 stitches).

Row 56: *Knit 2, bind off 2. Repeat from * to end of round. This creates the holes which the drawstrings go through.

Row 57: *Knit 2, cast on 2. Repeat from * to end of round.

Row 58-68: Knit every row. Then bind off all stitches.

Drawstrings:

Cast on three stitches on your double-pointed needles and work 80cm of i-cord. Bind off. Make two of these.

In the middle of one side of the bag, insert one end of one of your i-cords and weave it in and out of the remaining holes until you come full circle back to where you started.

On the opposite side of the bag, do the same with the other i-cord, making sure that, where the first i-cord goes in, the second goes out of the same hole. (Hmm, a diagram would be in order here but that would take too long to draw. Sorry! Ask me if you don't get it!)

Knot the ends of each i-cord together and pull the drawstrings away from each other so that the bag closes.

Lining:

Don't forget to line your bag! Have a go at following these instructions and then you can teach me!

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