French Market Bag

Okay. So it’s taken me nearly four years to finish this bag. I base that loosely on the date on the bottom of the pattern I printed up from Knitty.com – November 19, 2004.

But don’t go calling me a procrastinator just yet – I was hung up on the Kitchener stitch I needed to graft the handles together. After a few missed attempts, I turned to YouTube and watched a video from the TheKnitWitch who explained things in terms that finally made sense, and voilà, the French Market Bag was finally complete!

I made a few modifications, like centering the handles over the front and the back of the bag and knitting up the sides of the bag until they were 10” high.

Bag pre-felting:

Bag post-felting:

I put it in the washing machine on a hot cycle with a bath towel, and it took about 40 minutes on the regular wash cycle until it was felted to my liking.

If I’d make another, I’d make it even taller, probably about 14”, and felt the dickens out of it again. As it was, this bag took the better part of 6 skeins of Kureyon in colour 149. Also, I’d make sure both handles were the same colour, one of mine is grey and the other sort of oatmeal. I swear it didn’t dawn on me until I saw the finished product.

All told, I am happy with the end result.