History of Rita's Favorite String Bags

Several years ago I was attending a Multi-Stake Relief Society Women's Conference in Connecticut. During the luncheon I noticed one of the other ladies at the table had a string bag. It was not net, but was close enough to it that I asked if I could look closely at it. It looked like the bag I had been wishing to find. It had handles, and a wide mouth. It was deep enough that things would not fall out, but small enough that it would be easily carried. I had my netting bag with me and all my mesh sticks, so while the ladies watched me I counted the rows, counted the number of knots in each row, and figured out what size mesh stick to use. Then I wrote down my findings and enough directions concerning the handles that I could make it again. The handles looked like twill tape, so when I made my first one, that is what I used.

The diamond mesh netting worked up quickly and I was able to reconstruct the handles. I was pleased with the results, except for one thing -- the handles had to be hand sewed first to catch all the netted loops. I liked the pattern enough to net 11 more bags (with my daughter's help). I pinned and hand sewed the handles for all 12 while traveling cross country that summer. To make sure my hand sewing held, when we arrived at our destination, I borrowed a sewing machine and resewed the handles on all 12 bags.

I liked everything about the bags except for the handles. I tried several different solutions, but nothing worked until I was asking for suggestions in a hardware store and the person assisting me suggested using heat shrink tubing with quarter inch rope. I tried it and I liked it.

Heat shrink tubing is available in most hardware stores. It can also be purchased on-line. The on-line source I used is Circuit Specialists Inc..