This is the first of a number of cotton market bags I want to make.

Making the bag:
I liked this design, because it has a solid bottom (to stop smaller items falling through) and because it didn’t appear to require as much yarn as some of the other patterns I’ve seen.

As it happens, the designer was correct. It used just under 2 x 50gram skeins of cotton aran.
However, I was afraid I would run out of yarn before I finished, so I ommitted the last sc round and slip stitched instead (although I probably didn’t need to worry).
(I also slip stitched along the edges under the handles as I felt it matched them better to the rest of the bag).

Once the bottom section was done, I made the mesh part of the bag completely in the round. Rather than slip stitching at row ends, I just moved my stitch marker up.

Easy pattern to do (as long as you remember that it is written in UK crochet terms, so trebles are US dcs and dcs are US scs…).

Finished bag measures 12 inches wide by 14 inches long, unstretched, but it is quite stretchy so will take a fair bit of shopping.

I added some beads to finish it off, as I felt that although the bag is in a pretty variegated yarn, it needed a little bit of bling :)

A nice, quick and easy pattern to use.
I will definitely use it again :)

Just a mention on the cotton yarn I used:
Rico Design Creative Cotton Print - it was very easy to work with and the only time it split was when I was weaving the ends in. It didn’t split on the hook once, so I’m very pleased.
However, it could be because I usually work with acrylic yarn, but this particular yarn felt sort of ‘rubbery’ to me. Fine for a bag, or table covers, wash cloths etc, but I’m not sure I would want to make any clothing or blankets with it (but that may be just me and/or the colour I used?). And that’s a shame, because it was so easy to work with I would love to use it for all sorts of patterns.