Hanna Tote Bag - Free Knitting Pattern For Women in Paintbox Yarns Recycled Cotton Worsted by Paintbox Yarns

Hanna Tote Bag – Free Knitting Pattern by Paintbox Yarns

The Hanna Tote Bag is a stylish, everyday knitted tote bag designed for women, offered as a free downloadable PDF pattern by Paintbox Yarns. With a finished height of 16in/41cm and a width of 13½in/34cm, this is a generously sized bag with plenty of room for daily essentials. The design features a bold, colorful chart motif on the front panel, making it a functional accessory that also showcases your knitting skills. Rated as intermediate in difficulty, this pattern is ideal for knitters who are comfortable with basic techniques and ready to explore colorwork.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a seamed tote bag knitted in two flat panels — a front and a back — that are joined together. The front panel features a decorative colorwork chart motif, while the back panel is worked in a simpler style. The bag is completed with attached straps, making it a practical carry-all suitable for shopping, the beach, or everyday use. Because it is worked in Paintbox Yarns Recycled Cotton Worsted, the finished tote has a natural, slightly textured feel with excellent stitch definition.

Techniques Used

• Bottom-up construction: Both the front and back panels are cast on at the base and worked upward, giving the knitter a clear sense of the bag's shape as it grows.
• Worked flat: All pieces are knitted flat on straight needles, row by row, rather than in the round. This makes the pattern accessible to knitters who prefer traditional flat knitting.
• Intarsia colorwork: The front panel uses the intarsia technique to create the chart motif. Intarsia involves using separate small lengths or bobbins of yarn for each distinct color block, rather than carrying yarn across the back of the work. This results in a clean, single-layer fabric with no floats, which is particularly well-suited to a bag that needs to be sturdy and neat on the inside.
• Seamed finishing: The front and back panels are seamed together after knitting, a method that adds structure and durability to the finished tote bag.
• Chart reading: The pattern is guided by a colorwork chart, so knitters will practice reading and following a visual knitting chart across multiple rows.

Stitches Used

• Knit (k): The foundational knit stitch, used throughout the pattern.
• Purl (p): Used on wrong-side rows to create the smooth stockinette (stocking) stitch fabric.
• Stockinette stitch (st st): The primary stitch pattern used for both the front and back panels. Stockinette is created by alternating knit rows on the right side with purl rows on the wrong side, producing a smooth, flat fabric with excellent stitch definition — ideal for showcasing the intarsia colorwork chart.
• Cast on and bind (cast) off: The pattern specifies casting on with yarn A (String) and binding off the front panel with yarn C (Jam), and the back panel with yarn A (String), adding a subtle color detail at the top edges.

Materials Required

Yarn

This pattern is designed specifically for Paintbox Yarns Recycled Cotton Worsted, a worsted weight yarn made from recycled cotton — an eco-conscious choice that produces a durable, slightly textured fabric perfect for bags. Three colors are used:

• 1 ball in String (A) – a neutral base color used for the back panel and cast-on edges
• 1 ball in Tea Dance (B) – a mid-tone used within the colorwork chart
• 1 ball in Jam (C) – a bold accent color used in the chart and for the front panel bind-off

Each ball is 3.5oz/100g. Paintbox Yarns notes that yarn quantities are approximate and based on average requirements. The brand also advises that it cannot accept responsibility for the finished item if any yarn other than the