How to Crochet a Granny Market Bag

Dear Artsy Craftsy Friends,

I came up with a pattern for a crocheted market bag using the granny on the straight stitch as the main stitch some time ago. I asked my mom to put my instructions to practice and here is what she made! A beautiful, handy, practical bag just perfect to be used while at the market, for shopping and grocery, from light to medium weight items and products. It won’t be able to carry a few kilos of potatoes or tomatoes, but it is absolutely perfect for plants like parsley and dill, for your newspaper and magazines and even for your yarn shopping!

Materials and tools needed: Mom used about 4 skeins of bulky/chunky yarn, a blend of acrylic and cotton yarn. As a matter of fact, I recommend using yarn with the highest composition of cotton, preferably 100% cotton. Each skein my mom used was about 100 meters long. She used a 7mm European size crochet hook for the main body of the market bag and a 6mm one for the upper band and handles. Working with such small hook sizes for such a chunky yarn might be slightly awkward, but it is necessary in order to avoid the bag from stretching in time.

Abbreviations:

sl st – slip stitch;

ch – chain;

ch sp – chain space;

beg ch – beginning chain;

sc – single crochet stitch;

dc – double crochet stitch.

The base of the market bag is done in rounds and has the shape of a circle .

Here is how you should crochet the base:

Round 1: Using the 7mm hook, chain 4 and join with beginning of the chain with a sl st to form a ring; ch3 (counts as a dc here and throughout); 11dc in the ring; jooin with top of beg ch3 with a sl st. (12dc on round 1)

Round 2: Ch3; 1dc in same stitch as ch3, which is beg ch3 from previous round; 2dc in each of the following 11dc from round 1; join with top of beg ch3 with a sl st. (24dc on round 2)

Round 3: Ch3; 2dc in next dc; * 1dc in next dc; 2dc in next dc *; repeat from * to * around; join with top of beg ch3 with a sl st. (36dc on round 3)

Round 4: Ch3; 1dc in next dc; 2dc in next dc; * 1dc in next dc; 1dc in next dc; 2dc in next dc *; repeat from * to * around ; join with top of beg ch3 with a sl st. (48dc on round 4)

Round 5: Ch3; 1dc in next dc; 1dc in next dc; 2dc in next dc; * 1dc in each of next 3dc; 2dc in next dc *; repeat from * to * around; join with top of beg ch3 with a sl st. (60dc on round 5)

Round 6: Ch3; 1dc in each of the next 3dc; 2dc in next dc; * 1dc in each of the next 4dc; 2dc in next dc *; repeat from * to * around; join with top of beg ch3 with a sl st. (72dc on round 6)

Make sure that you made the right number of stitches on each round. This detail is very important! Now that the base of the bag is finished, let’s continue to the main body of our project.

You can see from the photos that this part of the bag looks a little lacey. That is because I instructed my mom to use the granny on the straight stitch which uses lots of chain-1 spaces and sets of 3dc. There is no need to make any increase of the bag from now on. Continue working with the 7mm hook.

Round 7: Sl st in next dc from previous round; ch3; 2dc in same dc as beg ch3; ch1; skip next 3dc; * 3dc in next dc; ch1; skip next 3dc *; repeat from * to * around; join with top of beg ch3 with a sl st; ch3 annd turn the project on the inside. (18 sets of 3dc annd 18 ch-1 sp on round 7)

Round 8: 2dc in same ch-1 sp as beg ch3; ch1; skip next set of 3dc; * 3dc in next ch-1 sp; ch1; skip next set of 3dc *; repeat from * to * around; join with top of beg ch3 with a sl st; ch3 and turn the bag on the other side. (18 sets of 3dc and 18 ch-1 sps on round 8)

Round 9: Repeat round 8 until the bag measures 31 cm in length.

Do you see your market bag taking size ? Don’t worry about it looking like it is going to grow too big! My mom was utterly scared that the bag would end up too long and big and slouchy, but eventually she realized it turned just perfect! But if you think it is growing too big, you can stop making the granny on the straight rounds at any point, reducing the size of the bag to suit your taste better. Only a few more steps left and voila! You’ll be the proud owner of a crocheted bag that you made. Now switch to the 6mm hook.

Round 20: Repeat round 8, but skip making the ch1-sp between the sets of 3dc.

Round 21: Sl st in the second dc of the set of 3dc, where you just ended the previous round; ch1; 3sc in same dc as ch1; skip last dc of this set and the first dc of the following set; * 3sc in the second dc of the set of 3dc; skip last dc of this set and the first dc of the next set *; repeat from * to * around; join with first sc with a sl st; sl st once mor in the second sc; ch1.

Round 22: 3sc in same sc as ch1 from previous round; skip third sc of the set of 3sc and first sc of the next set; * 3sc in the second sc of the set of 3sc from previous round; skip third sc of the set and the first sc of the following set of 3sc *; repeat from * to * around; join with first sc with a sl st; sl st once mor in the second sc of the set of 3sc; ch1.

Round 23-30: Repeat round 22.

Now let’s go to making the two handles for your market bag. Follow the next instructions to make two pieces alike. Continue using the 6mm hook.

Chain 6, but leave a long tail. You will need this to saw and attach the handle to the bag; 1sc in each chain across, 5sc in total;, ch1 and turn: * 1sc in each of the 5sc from previous row; ch1 and turn *; repeat from * to * until the handle is 42cm long. Cut the thread and leave a long tail for sewing.

I used the term ‘sewing’ to explain the way you will attach the handles to the market bag, but I am sure you noticed yourself that sewing a yarn so thick and frisky might be a challenging task. I only have plastic needles around the house that I use for sewing and mom already broke a few of them while sewing lighter yarn. As a result, I recommend that you use a crochet hook, preferably a smaller size, like 5mm or 5.5mm to help you during this last step Using this hook, attach 2cm of the handle on one side to the inside of the bag, on the band of sc. Use sl sts to do this, as many as you can. Make sure you don’t pull the yarn on the front. Keep it on the back as much as possible. Do the same with the other side of the handle, then attach the second one following the same steps. Use the same crochet hook to ‘saw’ and conceal/hide any other tail of your yarn resulted after knotting the thread.

That is all, dear friends! Now go show off your new bag at the market! You can also teach others to make one of their own! This way we can help reduce the usage of plastic bags at the market! I would be very happy if you shared pictures of your market bag on our Facebook page that you can find in the sidebar!

Thank you for following these instructions and don’t forget to share!
The Coolorfuls.

 

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