Market Bag : Pros and Cons

A while back I posted a new knitting project and got started right away: the Market Bag. It's been finished for a few weeks now. For me, it's got its pros and cons.


Pros:
- I like the pattern I made for it. I wanted to get started on the Market Bag project quickly, and was too lazy to look the pattern back up on Ravelry. So, I started what I could remember for the base and just sort of made it up as I went. I worked in a simple M1 K2tog pattern and repeated all the way up to the top band. That M1 K2tog all the way around made the diagonal line pattern you see.
- The heavier the load, the longer the strap gets. This is kind of nice in my opinion, because a heavy load under your armpit isn't exactly easy to carry. If it's resting against your hip as you walk, it's much easier to manage.
- I experimented with my first ever two-color knit project. I love the simple pattern around the top of the bag, where the strap attaches.
- The needlework I did actually used a bit more yarn than the original pattern called for, but in turn, it made a bag that should be much more sturdy for heftier produce or whatever else the bag is used for.
- The poppy red color mixed with the creamy ivory is a very pretty and simple combination.


Cons:
- The bag turned out a good deal smaller than I had originally expected. I guess because the original pattern called for the yarn to be knitted together so that it wrapped around itself fewer times... and so each loop had more leeway (I made the same sized loops with more yarn wrapped into them so each loop has less room to stretch and move), the original pattern had more stretching power and could expand more. I was able to put 4 lemons, two bottles of V8, and two cans of veggies into my bag, but it still didn't seem as large as the photos showed for the original pattern.
- The top doesn't taper in to hold things in. The original pattern didn't call for any tapering either, so I didn't consider it. But if I were to fill the bag with a dozen peaches and drive home, the top of the bag would just spill over and the produce would spill out. Next time I would make the opening at the top smaller, or create a closure of some sort for it to stay shut until I say so.
- I'm not happy with how the strap attaches to the bag. If there is much weight in the bag at all (like the items I listed above), the strap really tends to tug on the top rim of the bag too much. I should have started building more structure into the bag in the areas that the strap was knitted out from. That way, the sturdier the base for the strap, the less stress there would be on the overall construction of the strap attachment. For now, the bag will do as far as small produce, or produce for two people, but it I wanted to actually use this at the grocery store, there would be too much struggle involved.

In the end, I think I'll probably use the bag every now and then but not as a primary shopping bag at the market. I would prefer something a little bigger, a little more sturdy, and overall more practical (strap attachment, size, etc). I've found one on Ravelry that seems to address these issues. What do you think?

Firstly, the handle-style straps are built right into the top rim of the bag, for a sort of button hole effect. The top and bottom of the bag are knitted in a seed stitch which is supposedly very sturdy and strong, and only the center of the bag stretches out (notice the cable knitting that flops over and bunches up to the left). The fact that only the center of the bag stretches should mean that the regular seed stitch top should naturally taper in enough to hold all those loose apples and peppers in place. Plus, all those colorful stripes are just plain cute. Once I finish with the dollies, I'll probably get going on this new market bag style. I'll keep you updated!