Week 10

The half-bushel bag. I love picking apples with the kids. Heck, I just love picking apples. It's nice to be out in the fresh air in the fall. The apples taste better than you'll ever get any other time or place. And you know exactly where your food is coming from.

The one thing I don't like about apple picking is the bags. In the case of our closest orchard, they're plastic, they come from China and the handle makes it nearly impossible to put anything but apples in them. It's fine for carrying a heavy load of apples, but you can't put anything big in the bag.



So I made one out of some flag material I picked up on Freecycle and the rope and grommets I've been using a lot of lately. I wanted to keep the handles in the same place and orientation, but make it possible to swing them out of the way to fill the bag. Sewing flat straps in place would mean the handles would always be a little bit in the way. Grommets and rope allow the handles to pivot out of the way. I measured how much rope I'd need to go from grommet to grommet and then added enough to tie the knots that secure the ends. A little fire, a pair of pliers and some heavy pulling and we were all done.