Grrlfriend Market Bag

I've been busy making things ... I promise! I have quite a few small projects to blog about and one HUGE one that I haven't figured out how to write about so I'll start with the little ones.

I love making bags and this one intrigued me by the way it was started using the Emily Ocker's Circular Cast On, which is another knitting technique from Elizabeth Zimmerman's book Knitting Workshop.

I learned about a technique when knitting a lacy pattern that would save a LOT of heartache and prevent a headache if you have to rip out rows: After the last row of a repeat (or whenever you want, just remember to write down the row number) using a yarn needle with a piece of waste yarn, thread it through the stitches on the needle. If you ever have to ripe back then these stitches will be held in place and can easily be put back on the needle.

The lace pattern of this bag is very simple and when I did have to rip back I didn't have too much of a problem, but if I was working a more complicated pattern I would want to use this technique!

I stash bushed my Bernat's Organic Cotton:
1) The bottom portion was knit using yarn which was dyed in my Fabric Structures class using just yellow onion skins!
2) The body of the bag is the color Hemp
3) The top band and strap uses the color Mineral Spring

I forget which size needles I used. The pattern lists ranges of needle sizes for the various parts of the bag and is not specific (that's the beauty of the pattern, wing it for any size and a one-of-a-kind bag!) I think I used 6's for the bottom, cuff and strap and 8's for the body. I wanted a small netting for the body so I did not go up to suggested size 10's for the body.

The pattern for Grrlfriend Market Bag is available for free over at Ravelry.