A reusable shopping bag in cotton cord: 30 cm across the top, 50 cm deep, and 70 cm including the handles. It is a net, so it stretches over a load of shopping and then folds down to nothing when it is empty — the whole point of the thing.
The construction is in two halves. The first five rows are ordinary double crochet, increasing in a flat disc so the bag has a solid base. Then, from row 6, every stitch becomes a chain space, the chain grows by one link over three rows, and the rest of the bag is thirty-one identical rows of net. The top edge closes the mesh back into solid single crochet, and one row of that edge is where the handles are cut in.
Every row is written out below.
What you need
- Yarn: cotton crochet cord that works on a 4 mm hook; about 400 g, or two rolls of roughly 200 g each. A lighter cotton yarn works too, and gives a softer bag
- Hook: 4 mm
- Notions: a stitch marker is not essential but makes the rows much easier to count
Finished size: about 30 cm across the top and 50 cm deep, or 70 cm with the handles.
Abbreviations
Ch chain, Sst slip stitch, Sc single crochet, Dc double crochet. US terms.
The base
- Row 1: in a magic ring, ch 2 (counts as a double crochet), then 11 dc into the ring — 12 stitches in total. Pull the ring closed and join with a slip stitch.
- Row 2: ch 2, 1 dc in the same stitch, then 2 dc over each stitch of row 1 (24). Join with a slip stitch.
- Row 3: ch 2, then (1 dc in the next stitch, 2 dc in the following stitch) repeated to the end (36). Join.
- Row 4: ch 2, 1 dc, 2 dc, then (1 dc, 1 dc, 2 dc) to the end (48). Join.
- Row 5: ch 2, 1 dc in each of the next two stitches, 2 dc in the next, then (1 dc, 1 dc, 1 dc, 2 dc) to the end (60). Join.
The mesh
- Row 6: ch 2, then (1 sc in the next stitch, ch 1) repeated to the end — still sixty stitches, now with a chain space between each.
- Row 7: (ch 2, 1 sc over the next chain of the previous row) repeated to the end. Each sc goes over a chain space, not over a stitch.
- Row 8: (ch 3, 1 sc over the next chain) repeated to the end.
- Row 9: (ch 4, 1 sc over the next chain) repeated to the end.
- Rows 10–40: repeat row 9 — 31 rows.
From row 6 onwards there is no need to join at the end of a row: work in a spiral and start the next row’s chains straight after the last stitch. Put a marker at the first chain so the increases stay in line, and leave one at the end of row 9 — after that, every row is identical and the only way to know where you are is to know where row 9 ended.
The mesh will look wavy while the increases are still going. That is normal and settles as soon as the chain stops growing and the body of the bag has some rows behind it.
The top edge
- Row 41: ch 2, then (1 sc over the sc of the previous row, 1 sc over the chain, 1 sc over the next sc, skip the next chain) repeated to the end, slip stitch into the starting chain to close (90). In other words: one sc on every stitch of row 40, plus one sc on every other chain of row 40.
- Row 42: ch 2, 1 sc in every stitch of the previous row, slip stitch to join (90).
- Rows 43–46: repeat row 42 — 4 rows.
The handles
- Row 47: ch 2, 1 sc in each of the next 12 stitches, ch 65, skip 20 stitches, 1 sc in each of the next 25 stitches, ch 65, skip 22 stitches, 1 sc in each of the next 13 stitches, slip stitch into the starting chain to join.
- Row 48: ch 2, 1 sc in every stitch of the previous row, chains included, slip stitch to join.
- Rows 49–51: repeat row 48 — 3 rows.
Cut the yarn, weave in the ends, and the bag is ready.
Adjusting it
- Longer or shorter handles: change the 65 chains in row 47, but keep the number identical on both handles. Everything else stays the same. As written, the handles hang about 47 cm.
- Wider or narrower handles: add or remove plain rows after row 48. As written, they finish about 2.5 cm wide.
- Colour: the bag works in one colour, in several, or in a variegated yarn — the mesh hides the joins better than a solid fabric would.
Notes
Cotton cord is what makes this bag sturdy. A softer cotton gives a bag that folds smaller but sags when loaded, because the net has nothing to hold its shape against.
The skipped stitches in row 47 are the gaps between the bag and the handles. Twenty stitches on one side and twenty-two on the other is not symmetrical in the pattern as written — the twelve and thirteen single crochet at either end of the row absorb the difference, and the handle sits slightly off-centre. Check the gap on both sides before you work row 48; it is much easier to adjust in row 47 than after four plain rows.
More bags: Floral Crossbody Bag is the granny square one with a zip, Butterfly Bag is the shaped one, and Slice Handbag in Cord is also worked in cord. Everything is on the patterns page.
Pattern source: Crochet Market Bag.
