Knitted Jar Pouch

I’m still very much the novice knitter, but I’m getting the hang of it, slowly but surely.  I’ve made a couple of pouches from patterns, but none were perfect for what I had planned.  I worked a bit to come up with my own pattern.  I wanted a pouch that I could knit relatively quickly to house a jar of home-canned goodness.  Much better than a gift bag or another basket, in my opinion.  This is a pretty easy pattern, I think and one that lends itself to endless variation – stripes, beaded drawstring, ribbon instead of I-cord, etc.

Knitted Gift Pouch

• Needles: Size 10 Circular
• Yarn: Bulky Weight for the bag(I used an acrylic blend left over from Christmas hat making) – I used a contrasting worsted weight for the I-Cord, which was wool.

Cast on 60 stitches.  Join being sure not to twist your stitches.

• Rows 1 – 4: Knit 2 Purl 2
• Rows 5 – 6: Knit
• Row 7:  Knit 7, Yarn Over, Knit 2 Together – Repeat until the last 6 stitches, knit those.
• Knit remaining rows until the pouch is about 3 inches longer than the jar you are planning on putting inside (for a pint jar I knitted to a length of 7 1/2 inches).  After you get to your desired length:
• Row: Knit 2 Knit 2 Together
• Row: Knit 1 Knit 2 Together
• Final Row: Knit 2 Together all the way around.
• Cut yarn leaving 6″ tail, thread yarn end onto tapestry needle and thread through remaining stitches. Pull on thread to cinch stitches snugly together. Bring needle through the very in order to bring remaining yarn to inside of the pouch.  Weave in ends.

I made a 17 inch I-cord for the drawstring.  Thread the I-cord or other ribbon through the eyelets you made in Row 7.

If you make this, please let me know if I’ve made any mistakes in the pattern.  As this is my first shared pattern, I’d hate to steer anyone wrong.  Also, if you do make it, please share photos of how you made it your own creation, I’d be interested in seeing how different people mix it up.