I have been wanting to make a bag like one of these, literally for years. I remember these great cotton string bags my grandmother used to always have in the back of her station wagon when I was in grade school. She’d use them for her library books or groceries, and they were the perfect little bags. 

So ever since I picked up knitting again about 7 years ago, I have been in search of a great cotton string bag. Well, I think I’ve finally found it.

Designed by Elisa of 2nd Floor the pattern is available for free over at the purl bee. She calls it her “No More Plastic Bag, Thank you!”  I love it, it seems just about perfect. 

I am also a big fan of these similar crochet bags by H-Star of frayed at the edges. This pattern has been on my crafty to-do list for well over a year, but I never quite got around to making it. I’ve also stumbled across a couple other great knitting and crochet patterns for great mesh bags. Check their links out below.

The Everlasting bagstopper over on knitty, has sewn in handles and a simple drawstring cord woven in along the bottom to keep your bag neat and tidy when not in use.

The Reduction Tote Bag from crochet me has a clever little pocket designed hold your wallet and keys while you shop, then later cleverly inverts to stash the whole bag into for compact storage.