Saving the world with crochet

Getting older has found me changing my ways quite a bit in the last few years. The idea of slow fashion has completely changed the way I shop for clothes. I’ve become a much more mindful person, which reflects in the way I eat, exercise and spend my money. But most importantly, I’ve become a lot more aware of the environment and my carbon footprint in it.It’s probably because my husband and I are finally getting serious about starting a family and I worry more about what the littluns will get. The point is that we’ve taken the 3 R’s to another level! We recycle everything we can, take really short showers, I don’t eat meat or fish anymore and I’ve even swapped tampons with applicators for that other kind.However, regardless of how hard I try, I still leave the supermarket with tons of those annoying flimsy little plastic bags where I’m asked to put my veggies into. It's so frustrating to see them just accumulate in a kitchen drawer! I have lots of big market bags for when I go to the Farmer’s Market, but I realized the other day that I don’t have anything to substitute these baggies with.Until now....I’ve made about 6 of these mini market bags in the last 3 days. Not only are they super cute and useful, but they’re also super quick and easy to make!So here’s a little tutorial for how to make your own. Whether you use them to bag veggies, to put your dirty laundry when you travel or to keep your kids toys, I’m sure you’ll love them!What you need:

• Thread or yarn of any kind. I used double stranded size 8 thread here, but you can literally use anything you have in your scraps bag.

• A crochet hook. Again, you can use any size! I used a 4 mm hook here, but any size would work.

• A tapestry needle

• Some beads (optional)

• Scissors

Let's get startedLeaving a long tail to sew the bottom, start by making a chain of multiples of 6. It should be twice as long as the width of your bag.I chained 60. Join to the 1st ch with a slstRound 1: ch1, sc all around, join with a slst to the 1st st.Round 2: ch8, sk3 sts, dc on the next st, *ch5, sk2sts, dc on the next st* rep *to* until you have 2 sts left, ch2, dc onto the 3rd ch of the round.Round 3: ch8, dc on the next ch5sp, *ch5, dc on the next ch5sp* rep until the last ch5sp of the round, ch2, dc onto the 3rd ch of the round.Repeat Round 3 until your bag is as tall as you want it to be. Remember that they stretch loads, so don't go too crazy. Mine is about 20cm tall.Then continue with Row 4.Row 4: ch4, *sc on the next ch5sp, ch3* rep *to* until the last ch5sp, join with a slst to the 1st ch of the round.Round 5: ch3, make 3 dc on every chsp and 1 on every st, join with a slst to the 3rd ch of the round.Round 6: ch1, sc all around, join with a slst to th 1st st, fasten off and cut.Use the tail you left at the beginning to sew the bottom of your bag and weave in the ends.Now you need to make a long chain to use as a tie. You could also use a ribbon or a string of your choice.Weave the tie around the dc sts on the penultimate row.If you have a big bead, pass it through both ends of the tie to make closing and opening easier and add beads to the ends as well.There you go! You’re ready for that weekly shop!Doing your part for the environment is not that difficult, and now you'll look damn cute while doing it.