Produce Bag Round Up

One of the crochet items that I most often receive compliments on is the toy produce bag that I made for my son. The cute little fruits and vegetables are simple irresistible—even adults want to play with them. 

For those of you who are interested in making your own produce bag, I've compiled a round up of the patterns I used to make mine. The best part? They're all free! Isn't the internet wonderful? This project is definitely a labor of love, but it makes a great stash-buster if you need to get rid of scrap yarn. 

This cute eggplant pattern comes from the Lion Brand Yarn website. My very favorite part of this pattern is the cute shape of the stem on the top. 

The squash pattern also comes from the Lion Brand Yarn website. I altered the pattern slightly by making it all one color and adding a stem at the small end to make it look like a crookneck squash. 

This apple pattern is one of a few different apples found on the Lion Brand Yarn website. I chose this apple for its size relative to the other fruit and modified the stem by chaining and then slip stitching to make it thicker (the original is just a loop of yarn). 

Here's yet another free pattern from the Lion Brand Yarn website, this time of an ear of corn. I love the way their corn looks with the darker green yarn, but I was working with yarn scraps at the time and had to just use what was on hand. My favorite element of this pattern is the way the stitch texture reminds me of corn kernels. 

This potato pattern comes from the website NyanPon, which also features lots of other cute free food patterns. I think this pattern is super clever because of the way that the "eyes" of the potato are added to give it a more realistic shape. 

The chili pepper pattern is a spicy addition to the bag from NyanPon. I also modified the stem on this one so it wouldn't fray, but I think the original version is super cute. 

This clever banana pattern comes from Barbara Strasser. The best part about this pattern? It's all worked in one piece, so there's no joining involved. Brilliant. My only modification was to omit the face (as the Rizzo the Rat would say, "Mother always taught me: never eat singing fruit"). 

This carrot is clearly my son's favorite. Let's just say it's been well-loved (and chewed on....a lot). The carrot pattern comes from Kristi Tullus and is available in different sizes. I ended up making the "small" carrot for my produce bag.

This sweet tomato pattern comes from Julia of the blog "Look At This Crap I Made" (don't let the URL frighten you away). This tomato is cleverly shaped to give it authentic ridges and everything. So cool. 

This is hands-down my favorite piece in the bag. It's just so clever and perfect looking. The bell pepper pattern also comes from Julia of "Look At This Crap I Made." The shaping can be a bit tricky until you figure it out, but she has a couple of diagrams available to help you. 

Another gem from Julia of "Look At This Crap I Made." I love this strawberry pattern and how cute the details are. Admittedly, the original is cuter than mine because I was impatient with the seeds, but I still just want to pinch its little strawberry cheeks.

This cherry is another pattern that would have turned out a lot cuter if I'd had the right type of yarn, but I still like it (even if my husband says they look like kidneys and ureters). The cherry pattern is once again from Julia of "Look At This Crap I Made."

This lime pattern comes from the wonderful June Gilbank of Planet June as part of a citrus fruit pattern collection. And while we're on the topic, if you ever need crochet tutorials, check out her site. Seriously, she's awesome. 

The lemon pattern comes from the same citrus collection on Plant June. Be sure to check out her other citrus options and donate if you're able. I especially love her little clementine pattern. 

And for anyone who's interested in the market bag itself, the pattern is from Craftaholics Anonymous. I wanted mine to be toddler-sized, so I stopped the base at "step 5" and then continued the rest of the pattern from there (if you're interested in exact measurements just let me know). 

These patterns are only the tip of the iceberg. Here are some more free produce patterns that I'd love to make if I can ever finish up all of my other crochet projects going on (serious yarn madness over here). But even if I never get to them, you can benefit from my google searches and make them yourself:

• Garlic by Julia of "Look At This Crap I Made"
• Mushroom by Julia of "Look At This Crap I Made"
• Onion by Julia of "Look At This Crap I Made"
• Butternut Squash by NyanPon
• Beet by NyanPon
• Little Leek by NyanPon
• Pomegranate by NyanPon
• Pears by June Gilbank of Planet June
• Raspberries and Blueberries by Melissa Shepard (paranoid parent note: these are a potential choking hazard, so don't make these for small children to play with)
• Grapes by Hannah of Bitter Sweet 
• Pea Pod by Rachel Hansen of Sheep Dog's Fleece
• Broccoli by Rachel Hansen of Sheep Dog's Fleece

Hopefully this will be more than enough to get you started on a produce bag of your very own. If you make one I'd love to see a picture of it, especially if you try out one of the patterns I haven't used yet. You can reach me on Twitter, Facebook, Ravelry, Pinterest or by email or in the comments section below. And, since I'm super tech-savvy, you can also find me on my shiny new Instagram account; you can even follow me @thecookiesnob and see what I'm up to. Happy hooking!