Amazing Knit Soap Bag

I decided to knit some soap bags for Christmas presents to go along with a nice bar of soap. My yarn was Debbie Bliss cotton dk 84m/50g ball - it is a nice thick weight cotton (28 rows of 20 stitches on size 4mm/US6 needles will be 10cmX10cm square). Phew - ok got that written down so now it is safe to throw away the empty label.

Anyway, I used size 8 needles and the Chinese Wave pattern... so far I've made 2 bags and now I am out of yarn. But, the bags I made are W-A-Y big because even though they look pretty darn near perfect compared to the soap - the knit bag s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s! Oh well, maybe it will shrink? And if not, I am happy with my 1st trys and as soon as I get more yarn - will try again - and even better, by making them smaller I should be able to get 3-4 out of each ball instead of 2.

The Chinese Wave pattern:

Cast on an odd number of stitches (for the 1st one I did 45 and then the 2nd I did 25).

Row 1: Knit

Row 2: K1, Slip 1 - repeat ending with a knit stitch

Row 3: Knit

Row 4: K2 then the rest of the row Slip 1, K1 all the way across until ending with a Knit stitch. I am almost positive I had to K2 at the end to get it to end with a knit.

That's it - keep working until it is as big as you want. The 2nd one I did was a perfect 7" square and while it is the correct width for the soap, I should have made it 5" long instead of 7" - next time! If you have smaller soap, make it smaller!

Bind off and leave 4X the length of yarn - thread that with your yarn needle, fold the piece over and sew 1 side and bottom together. I threaded a single crochet chain through the top for a drawstring closure. Viola!

Now, I have to tell you - my original intent was 2 Christmas presents, but my Little Boy latched on to one of these in a BIG way. He really, really wanted one - to which I replied that maybe he would get one for Christmas (I NEEDED to get that soap/bag in the mail today for it to reach its destination), but what Momma can resist this logic?.... "You know Momma, you don't have to wait for Christmas to give someone you really love a present". Um yeah, ok. I think my sister will understand! Besides - the one I gave to him - I kept losing track of what row I was on so the knitting is a bit funky and he doesn't know it. The joys of giving gifts to young children - they just don't see any flaws in your work!!! Ummm - the perfect one is going to my Mother in law! Even though it is the bigger of the 2 bags - it IS the one with perfect looking knitting!

And the AMAZING part of this knit soap bag? Little Boy declared that it was AMAZING - I started AND finished it in the same day! Too funny - he is used to me working on quilts that take much longer than just a day! Amazing indeed!

Edited on 13/Dec/2012:  This post seems to get a lot of traffic and I have people e-mail to ask if they can make this bag to sell at craft fairs.  I don't have a problem with that - craft away!  If you make one, it would be nice if you linked back to me (we all love readers!), but you don't have to.  Anyone can come up with their own patterns if you know knitting stitch patterns.  I would recommend a knitting stitch book.  My library has one and I borrow it all the time.  If you want your own book, if you would order it from my Amazon link, I would appreciate it!  I have copied a book from Amazon below that has very happy reviewers!