Bath Buddy Bag - Pattern

Here is the pattern that I designed for my kid's bath toys!

Bath Buddy Bag
This bag was invented out of a need to use up 25g of 4 ply baby yarn that I dyed as a test, and also out of frustration in tripping over bath toys all over the bathroom floor!
Yarn used, needle sizes and gauge are not very important for this project, use whatever your heart desires. But obviously, the finer the yarn used, and the bigger the needles, the more open the lace pattern will be.

I used 4ply (fingering) yarn, and 10mm needles.

note: there is no WS or RS for this project.


Loosely cast on odd number of stitches. (I used 39)
Knit 6 rows
Row 7: kfb, continue until last stitch, k1.(I now have 77 stitches: 38 x 2 + 1)
Begin mesh pattern.


Mesh Pattern.
Row 1: k2tog, yo until the last stitch, k1.
Row 2: k1. then k2tog, yo until end of row.
Repeat these 2 rows until your bag is the desired length. (mine is approx 10 inches (around 25cm) unstretched from top to bottom)


Note: Your mesh pattern should look like this when pulled tight:
All the diagonals are going the same way. If you find you have a row with the diagonals criss crossing over each other, then you need to go back and fix ;)
You will find that there is a different definite way in which the stitches sit on your needle (and the way in which they are knit together) for each of the 2 rows and you will learn to recognise how each row behaves as you knit it, and so should be able to pick up any errors quickly.

Now you will continue with a decrease row:
K2tog until last stitch, k1 (I now have 39 stitches again)
Knit 2 rows.

Bind off loosely. (as loose as possible will ensure that your bind off row has as much stretch as the rest of the bag)


Seaming:
Fold the bag in half from side to side, so that the 10 rows of knit are at the top.
Begin at the bottom, and seam the edges together, but stop just before you get to the knit rows at the top. I left these open, so that the opening of the bag wasn't too tight. Depending on what you are using the bag for, and how loose or tight your knitting is, you may want to seam all the way up the edge. I like the frill effect that it creates being open.

Here are photos of the bottom and the top of the bag, showing the open frill.






Creating the i cord: (if you don't know how to create an icord, search google here)
You may want to use smaller needles to create the icord, if you want a neater finish. I used the same 10mm needles that I used to create the bag, to make the icord and it looks fine.
Knit an icord of your desired length, and again, this will depend on what you want to use the bag for. Make sure that it is long enough to enable the bag opening to open right up. Mine is approx 30 inches (around 75cm) long.

Thread the icord through the top row of the mesh pattern. I threaded it through every second hole, to reinforce it a little. Pull it tight to close, like a drawstring. And you're done!

Please contact me if you have any questions, or if I've made a boo boo! :)