Grocery Tote

Grocery Tote

4.5 oz worsted weight synthetic yarn (or use a cotton or wool yarn or plastic bags cut in 1/2" wide strips)

U.S. 10.5 circular needles (or smaller)

Finished bag: 12" x 4" x 11"

Provisional cast on 40 stitches for bottom. (I used a crochet chain and picked up stitches in the back of it.)
Mark the beginning of the round.

Knit every row until you have 14 ridges. Pick up 13 stitches along the side edge. Unzip the provisional cast on and pick up 40 stitches on the back. Then pick up 13 stitches along the other side (106 stitches). You may add markers between the side stitches.

Begin knitting in the round.
Knit every round until 10" from the bottom (or desired height).

Handle:

1) *Knit 16 stitches, bind off the next 10 stitches, then knit the last 14 stitches of the front. Knit 13 side stitches.* Repeat from * to *.

2) Purl the next round. When you get to the bound off stitches, E-wrap cast on 10 stitches. (If using a less stretchy cast on, you can cast on 15 stitches or more depending on how long you want the handle.)

3) Knit the next round. Knit each E-wrap stitch. You'll have a lot of slack yarn left. E-wrap more stitches on with it to take up the slack and give you a longer handle. Knit around to the other handle and repeat.

Alternate knitting and purling rounds (garter stitch) until the handle is about 1" wide. Bind off all stitches.

Variation:

To add a decorative touch, knit the first 5 rows from the bottom.

On the next row, *knit 2 stitches, yarnover,* repeating across the row.

On the following row, knit 2 stitches and drop the yarnover. This will give you a longer knit stitch.

Knit 5 more rows and repeat again. (I added 3 of these rows to my bag.)

After you're finished knitting the bag, weave a doubled piece of contrasting yarn through every other loop. Tie in a bow in different positions across the front of the bag.

Notes on different yarns:

Acrylic yarn is pretty stretchy. You might want to use a smaller needle size and reduce the depth of the bag. I put 2 full milk cartons in my bag. It held them easily but it stretched to about twice it's original length. For heavy items, I’d suggest reducing the bag to about 7" tall to compensate for the stretch.

With a non-stretchy yarn, you can make it as tall as you like. I wanted a bag deep enough to handle milk cartons and cereal boxes.

With a feltable wool yarn, knit it using the pattern as written. Felt it to make a very sturdy bag.

Feel free to knit the bag using a mesh or a lacier stitch. If you do so, I'd recommend knitting the bottom in garter stitch and 1-2" up the side before you start the mesh. It will help keep smaller items inside the bag.