needleworkmonday | zero waste produce bag

It's been a really busy time in the garden, harvesting crops and storing them for winter use. I grew potatoes and onions for the first time this year. I buy organic vegetable boxes during the winter and potatoes and onions are always the things that run out.

We've been eating new potatoes through the summer. I planted them in pots and there is just enough in each pot for a meal or two.The main crop is nearly ready. Last week, I harvested the onions. They've been really easy to grow, even in this strange summer of torrential downpours and dry weeks. We put them in some large flat sieves, turning each day, to let the skins dry.

Onions prefer to be kept in light, cool conditions to store well. (By the way, these are very good onions, I have already tried them - firm flesh, beautiful colouring. We have pickled the tiniest ones with fresh chillis for Christmas). I wanted some storage that would allow air to circulate to prevent rotting.

First crop onions with some trimmings from the bay tree. I've also took some bay and rosemary cuttings for the plant swap next summer.

A quick search online brought me to a lovely blog with lots of different ideas for creating zero waste net produce bags. I already had some cotton dishcloth yarn in my stash. The blog shows many different variations using different types of yarn for bags for different purposes (holding chillis, for example), and with different finishes - handles, drawstring etc.

The base of the bag starts with a magic circle and six single crochets. The next seven rounds increase by four stitches, one at each corner, each time, then continues in rounds, using double crochet, until it reaches the length you want. At that point, you have a choice of finishes. I chose handles, which are created using single crochet and foundation single crochet.

There's a lot of give in the bag. We've only half-filled each bag so that it is easy to turn the contents and keep the air circulating through them. I was surprised how soft the fabric was, it had a lovely drape. I have been thinking about using a similar stitch for a throw I want to make.

The bag was very easy to make. I made a couple of mistakes (usually forgetting to chain between stitches or making two stitches in one chain space), but the pattern is very forgiving. I did unravel the first handle, the join to the main part of the bag wasn't quite right, but otherwise, I left mistakes as they were. I guess it took a couple of hours to make. It was the first time I've used the magic circle to start an item. It worked perfectly :)

Here's the very easy to follow pattern. She's using a much finer yarn than mine, which would be great for smaller items and bags. I will look out for something similar when I'm out and about. The Knitting and Stitching Show is here again at the end of October - could be the perfect place!

Here's the full pattern with charts and variations. There's also lots of other brilliant ideas in the blog: Handy Finch: sustainable living with Sarah Potts.

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