A lightweight crochet market bag is a must to sling over your shoulders to take grocery shopping, or on a picnic trip, or to the beach – or anywhere you need! My new and free Freccia Filet Market Bag is just the ticket for carrying your oranges – or anything else that takes your fancy!
I think there’s an even bigger need for crochet bags these days as we all try to utilise eco-friendly reusable bags over plastic ones. It’s a great way to use your crochet skills to make something useful and practical – and reusable bags are also perfect summer projects when made in a lightweight yarn!
I’ve had in my mind a pattern for a market bag for ages, so when the lovely folks at Anchor Yarns asked me if I’d like to make a bag with some of their Anchor Freccia yarn I quickly said yes!
Freccia is a 3 ply high quality 100% Egyptian Giza cotton thread offering a delicate balance of softness, flexibility, body and brightness. It’s a versatile thread, available in 6 thread thicknesses, which I’ve used it before for a scarf (see FREE Freccia Flor Scarf here), and it comes in a wide range of different colours.
I used no. 6 thickness again this time, with a 2.5mm hook (US size C/2), and I chose to make my bag in a lovely rich royal purple (shade 00092). The whole bag, including the straps, used 4 x 50g (4 x 175m) balls in total to create a bag with a width of 38cm (14″) x length 40cm (15″) , bag handles 62cm (24″) in length.
Made with cotton yarn the Freccia Filet Market Bag is super robust and if it gets dirty, you can just throw it in the washing machine and hang it up to dry!
I wanted to create a bag that was strong and durable, but also that would be a bit pretty – that’s where the filet came in. To begin with I had in mind a larger filet design on the bag, but quickly realised that wasn’t going to be at all practical as things could potentially fall through the ‘holes’ so I decided the design would be served better by having a filet detail around the top.
The bag and the filet sections are worked in a unique way in rounds and in rows to minimise a visible seam at the end. Crocheting the bottom and the straps, with extra slip stitches, also makes the bag extra durable so they can hold then a lot of weight even with only using a lightweight cotton.
The Freccia Filet Market Bag is a free download available directly from the Anchor Crafts website here where you can just download the pattern or register for an account. It doesn’t cost anything for an account, but by signing up you’ll gain access to loads of other free patterns by other talented designers too.
Crochet a single colour bags or in variegated yarn, or maybe in the rainbow colour palette, there are so many possibilities – the choices are all yours!
The pattern is written in UK crochet terminology and I’ve linked it up on Ravelry too if you’d like to save it to your favourites on there (at the link below).
Super simple to make and so practical; this pattern is perfect for beginners, as it only uses simple stitches. Great for anyone that wants a new reusable bag, or maybe someone who wants to try a bit of filet crochet (it’s a technique I don’t think I’m ever going to get sick of!).
Perfect for rolling up and popping in your handbag for when you need a bag, or pack it up and go!
If you hook up the Filet Market Bag I hope you’ll tag @kcaco.uk on Instagram using the hashtags #kcacouk and #proud2craft or #anchoryarns (so the folks at Anchor Yarns can see) or share your projects in my Facebook group as I love to see your finished work!
Until next time folks! Happy hooking and keep calm and crochet on my friends xx
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