Weekend Tote
Look out, weekend, here you come! Designed by Aubrey Baumgartner, our free Weekend Tote knitting pattern is an easy-to-knit bag that’s structural, sturdy, and super soft in our delightfully dappled Sunshower Cotton yarn!
Depending on your weekend plans, pick from two sizes. The smaller size will fit everything you need to bop around town for an afternoon, while the larger bag can hold an overnight’s worth of take-alongs with room to spare.
Aubrey chose Sunshower Cotton for this project, a favorite yarn for knitting bags, thanks to its mix of softness, strength, and structure. Knitting with needles on the smaller side of the recommended gauge results in a dense yet supple fabric that won’t stretch and grow too much. Made with 100% organically grown cotton, this 4-ply worsted-weight yarn is machine wash- and dry-able, too, so you don’t have to be overly precious about this beautiful knit!
Choose which color you’d love to sling over your shoulder from a palette of sunny and stormy stippled shades, each color printed onto the yarn in a lovely drizzle, or pick the classic, goes-with-everything Heirloom White. Three skeins make the smaller bag, or grab five for the larger size!
There’s lots of simple, satisfying knitting ahead: You’ll begin with a flat, garter-stitch bottom, then pick up stitches around the edge to knit the body in stockinette in the round. To shape the straps, divide the stitches in half and decrease at the edges to form a comfy V, then finish with just a handful of stitches and join the straps with Kitchener Stitch. Aubrey cleverly leaned into stockinette’s natural curl here, with the top of the strap edges rolling in to create a beautifully rounded, hand-friendly handle!
As full of promise as the weekend itself, the Weekend Tote is made to carry the best kind of baggage: books, bathing suits, fresh market finds, or whatever makes your days feel wide open!
Yarn lovers, if you adore the yarn used in this project, you’ll love exploring all of our other yarn collections! Discover over 45 thoughtfully designed yarns in nearly every natural fiber and in every spectacular color you can imagine. Only available here at Purl Soho’s online yarn store, where every skein is created with care and your creativity in mind!
Designed for Purl Soho by Aubrey Baumgartner. Aubrey is a New York based knitwear designer originally from Greenwood, Indiana. Geometry and bold colors drive her designs, and she draws inspiration from her love of nature, architecture, and history. Aubrey is a wife and mother to three children and loves being outdoors, singing, gardening, and doing arts and crafts with her kiddos. She hopes to one day pass her passion for knitting on to them!
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Want to print this pattern? On desktop, find the “print” icon in the right margin, and on mobile, scroll to the end of the pattern for it. Use the on-screen instructions to remove anything you don’t want to print!
Materials
- 3 (5) skeins of Purl Soho’s Sunshower Cotton, 100% organically grown cotton. Each skein of this worsted/aran-weight yarn is 159 yards/ 100 grams; approximately 475 (710) total yards required. We used the colors Heirloom White and Upper Atmosphere.
- US 5 (3.75 mm), 24- or 32-inch circular knitting needles, depending on size you are making
- Stitch marker
- Stitch holder or scrap yarn
GAUGE
21 stitches and 42 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch
21 stitches and 32 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch
SIZES
Small (Large)
- Finished Circumference: 31½ (36¼) inches
- Finished Depth: 10¾ (14¾) inches
- Base of Bag: 12 inches wide x 3¾ inches long (13½ inches wide x 4½ inches long)
- Strap Depth: 9¾ (11) inches
SAMPLE: The Heirloom White bag is the Small size, and the Upper Atmosphere bag is the Large size.
NOTES
SLIP STITCHES
Slip stitches purlwise with yarn in back on right-side rows, and with yarn in front on wrong-side rows, unless directed otherwise.
PATTERN
BASE
Cast on 63 (71) stitches. We used a Long Tail Cast On.
NOTE: Place a removable stitch marker or piece of scrap yarn on first row to indicate right side.
Knit every row until piece measures 3¾ (4½) inches from cast-on edge and you have 20 (24) garter ridges on right side. End with a wrong-side row.
BODY
NOTE: For help with picking up stitches, visit our Picking Up Stitches Tutorial and scroll down to the Along a Vertical Edge: Garter Stitch, Between Ridges video for picking up along selvage edges, and the Along a Horizontal Edge video for picking up into the cast-on edge.
Set-Up Row (right side): K63 (71); rotate work 90 degrees clockwise, and pick up and knit 20 (24) stitches along left selvage (one stitch between every garter ridge); rotate work 90 degrees clockwise, and pick up and knit 63 (71) along cast-on edge (one stitch for each cast-on stitch); rotate work 90 degrees clockwise, and pick up and knit 20 (24) stitches along right selvage (one stitch between every garter ridge). [166 (190) total stitches]
Place unique marker and join for working in the round.
Knit every round until piece measures 9 (12½) inches from Set-Up Row.
DIVIDE FOR HANDLES
Division Round (right side): K114 (130), slip next 83 (95) stitches onto stitch holders or scrap yarn, removing end-of-round marker as you come to it. [83 (95) stitches remain on needles; 83 (95) stitches on hold for Second Handle]
FIRST HANDLE
Set-Up Row (wrong side): Slip 1 (see Notes), purl to end of row.
Row 1 (right side): Slip 1 (see Notes), k2, slip slip knit (ssk), knit to last 5 stitches, knit 2 together (k2tog), k3. [2 stitches decreased]
Row 2 (wrong side): Slip 2, purl to last 4 stitches, purl 1 through the back loop, p3, slip last 2 stitches back onto left needle and p2.
Row 3: Slip 2, k1, ssk, knit to last 5 stitches, k2tog, k3, slip last 2 stitches back onto left needle and k2. [2 stitches decreased]
Repeat Rows 2 and 3 until 9 stitches remain (35 [41] more times), then repeat Row 2 one more time.
Next Row (right side): Slip 2, k1, slip 1 knitwise with yarn in back, k1, pass slipped stitch over and off right needle, slip resulting stitch from right needle to left needle, pass second stitch on left needle over first, slip resulting stitch back to right needle, k3, slip last 2 stitches back onto left needle and k2. [7 stitches remain]
Next Row (wrong side): Slip 2, purl to end of row.
Place stitches on stitch holder or scrap yarn.
Cut yarn.
SECOND HANDLE
Return 83 (95) on-hold stitches to needles and rejoin yarn, ready to work a wrong-side row.
Work as for First Handle, beginning with Set-Up Row. When finished, leave stitches on needles and cut yarn, leaving a 13-inch tail for grafting.
Slip on-hold First Handle stitches onto other end of needles, making sure Handle is not twisted.
Holding needles parallel with tips pointing to right and working stitches on front needle, use long tail and Kitchener Stitch to graft Handles together.
FINISHING
Weave in all ends. Wet block as desired.
Learn About Sunshower Cotton + All Our Beautiful Yarns
We used Sunshower Cotton for this project to show off its soft, stippled surface, like the sun shining through an afternoon drizzle! This worsted/aran-weight yarn has a very pleasant hand, both substantial and soft, as well as supple. A machine washable yarn, Sunshower Cotton is 100% organically grown cotton and absolutely wonderful for adding interest to lovely garments, blankets, baby knits, and housewares. Take a sunshower!
More Free Knitting Patterns
- Be sure to explore our inspiring collection of free Sunshower Cotton knitting patterns and cast on!
More Worsted/Aran-Weight Yarns
- Shop our entire collection of worsted/aran-weight yarn (What does worsted-weight yarn mean, really? Our guide to worsted-weight yarn will answer your questions and more!)
- If you want to use a different yarn, be sure to take the time to get the correct gauge. Need help? Check our All About Gauge Tutorial!
More Yarns With Similar Fiber
- Shop cotton yarn (What helps cotton keep its cool? Learn all about this soft, natural fiber in our guide to cotton yarn!)
- Shop plant-based yarn
- Shop machine washable yarn
Looking for more inspiration? Explore all of our free knitting patterns and knitting tutorials, buy one of our many knitting kits and yarn bundles, and shop for beautiful yarn. We have over 35 gorgeous natural fiber yarns in 100’s of magnificent colors, designed to bring integrity, beauty, and joy to your next knitting project and only available at Purl Soho!
Looks like an excellent pattern
I wonder how heavy are the bags themselves?
Hi KT,
Great question! The smaller size requires 475 yards of Sunshower Cotton, and since that yarn comes with 159 yards per 100g skein, that size would end up weighing about 298.74 oz, or about 0.66 lb. Likewise, the larger size requires 710 yards, so it would weigh approximately 446.54 oz, or 0.98 lb.
I also want to mention that the type of yarn you use will affect the weight! Plant fibers, like cotton, are relatively heavy compared to animal fibers, like wool. So if you choose to use a different yarn than Sunshower Cotton, the finished tote will weigh slightly different!
All the best,
Lili
Is there a printable version of the Weekend Tote pattern
Hi Melissa,
Yep, you can absolutely print this pattern out! Here’s how: If you’re on your computer, you’ll find a “print” icon in the right column just below the “Save To Favorites” button. If you’re on a mobile version of the site, you will find the “print” icon below the pattern and above the comments.
Click on this button, and a window will pop up where you can delete whichever parts of the pattern you don’t want to print. When you hover over any image or a text block, it will be highlighted in yellow and a “trash” icon will appear. Just click on this icon to delete anything that’s not necessary to the pattern! For example, you may decide to shorten the pattern by omitting certain images or the list of materials. Then, just click on the “Print” button in the upper left-hand corner of the pop-up window!
All the best,
Lili
Thank you for the amazing weekend tote bag pattern. It is just what I need. I intend to make several as Christmas presents to good friends and family members. It is perfect as is but I intend to also crochet a large initial for thier first name on the center front!
Do you offer this in a crochet pattern?
Hi Lynn,
I’m afraid we haven’t designed a crochet version of this tote bag yet, but I love that idea! I’ve passed along your message to the rest of my team for future consideration!
All the best,
Lili
When you say add a stitch marker to indicate the right side row, is this after already knitting the first row, or just after casting on, ie do we end on an even or odd number of rows knit?
Hi A P,
That’s a great question! I’d recommend attaching the removable stitch marker after knitting at least the first row. That’ll give you more space to attach it to. I also like moving the stitch marker up after I’ve knit more rows just so that it’s moved more towards the middle of the right side and that way it’s more visible as you knit!
All the best,
Lili
I am looking forward to attempting this.
Love this yarn