I choose this yarn because it is machine washable; something I’d really want to be able to do with a market bag. It also is a 50:50 blend of Cotton and Acrylic and I am hoping this will eliminate the stretch somewhat.

I started with the circular cast on I had come across when I made the Pinwheel Flower Spa Cloth

For the body of the bag I knitted 21 repeats of rounds 1 and 2. The mesh part of the body is about 12”; measuring from the center cast on on the bottom the bag measures 15” at this point.

For the top edge and strap I used a seed stitch except for the decrease and increase rows and the kitchener stitch joint which I knitted in plain stockinette stitch. This did eat up more yarn but made the handle less stretchy. Of course, when you use seed stitch over an even number of stitches you will have two of the same stitch next to each other the last one of one round and the first one of the next round. If this bothers you, one could k2tog in the first round and then M1 in the last round to get back to a stitch count of 100.

I deliberately made the strap just long enough (16 inches) to fit comfortably over the shoulder.

The colors remind me of a beach and the ocean and why not use it as a beach bag since it is much like sandals letting any sand which comes in quite easily out again. Of course since this is a gift I don’t really have any input on what it may be used for :)