Quaint Gift Sack

This is a really quick and simple gift bag to make to hold anything for anyone!  You can make it in any size you can think of, and it will mold to fit any shape!  Although, if you go too big it turns into a grocery bag and becomes very see-through!  I used mine to hold the Pair of Birthday Slippers I made not too long ago!  There are two tops available with this bag, the first is just a simple bind off and the second creates more of a present type top.  Instructions are included for both!




Yarn:
The best thing about this pattern is that you can really use any yarn you want on any size needles.  If you want the bag to be bulkier and less see-through, use a bulkier yarn on a smaller needle.  For mine, I used a Fingering, almost Sport weight (Phildar Charly – gauge = 20stx28 rows = 1.5 in on size 3 US needles).

 Abbreviations:

C/O = Cast on
B/O = Bind off 
K = Knit 
P = Purl 
Inc1 = Increase 1 st 
K2tog = Knit two together
YO = yarn over 
Kfb = Knit front back, increasing 1 st 


Are you ready? 
 1.C/O 8 st and divide evenly across 4 dp needles This is always a little bit tricky, but once you increase to 4-5 st per needle it gets a whole lot easier! I like to knit a row with the 8 st just to get all the needles in place. 
2.After the first row, k1, inc1 k1 on each needle. There should now be a total of 3 st per needle, or 12 total.
3.K1, inc1, k2 on each needle (16st total) 
4.K1, inc1 k the rest on the needle (your total number of st should increase by an increment of 4 each time) 
5.Keep going in this manner until there are 15st on each needle (60st total…or however many you want for the size of the bag but keep in mind that the bag will stretch a lot, so don’t make the bottom too big! 
6.Now, YO, K2tog for the whole row. This will take some maneuvering of stitches the first row or so, and you always need to YO before you K2tog on each needle. 
7.Now, knit an entire row. 
8.Follow steps 6+7 until the bag reaches its desired length! (Mine was probably around 40 rows, but I didn’t count, I’m sorry!) 
9.To make the top cuff of the bag simply, K2tog all the way around until you have cut your number of stitches in half (if you’re following my pattern, you should now have 30 st total). 
10.(If you want, you can switch to a 2nd color here, which will be a nice accent)P entire row 
11.K entire row 
12.Repeat steps 10+11 until you’ve got about 5 nubs. (if you want more, add more!) 

13. If you want to ruffled top:On a knit row, increase 3 stitches in every stitch (Kbf,k in 1 st) around 14. Purl a row
15. Kfb every stitch.
16. Do a 2 row bind off:
          a)K1, P1
          b) Slip K st over P st, leaving P st on right hand needle
          c) Continue steps a-b around.
          d) slip the first 2 st from the left hand needle to the right hand needle.  Slip 1st stitch over the 2nd to bind off.
          e) slip next st from left to right needle and bind off in the same way.  Continue around.

17.If you want the straight top:B/O using the "Stretchy Yarn Bind Off" (Click on link to go to a website that gives very clear instructions + a video!) The first time I just bound off normally, and it made it really hard to fit anything into the bag, since it doesn’t stretch. 

Drawstring To make the drawstring: C/O 2 st to a dp needle. 1.Knit these stitches. 2.Slide stitches to other end of needle.
3.Pull yarn across back, and knit across. Giving the cord a fairly tight tug will make the cord even (it should look like a shoelace) 4.Repeat until you can easily fit the cord around the top cuff of the bag and tie a bow with it (about 30 inches, but measure anyway) 5.B/O by slipping one of the stitches over the other. Cut a long tail and pull through.
To weave in the cord, simply put a needle onto the tail of one of the ends and stick it through the top cuff of the bag (from outside to inside) and about 5 st later pull the needle through the top cuff again (inside to outside this time), and again 5 st later, push the cord through (outside à inside).  It should be really easy to just pull the cord through afterwards.  Repeat until the cord goes all the way around.

Stick your present inside!

 Tie a bow!
Make someone very happy!

It looks a little sad with nothing in it...

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me via e-mail or Ravelry (my page here)!