Soap Sack Anyone?

Over the past few years I've amassed quite a collection of unique little soaps. Problem was, I generally use a luffa and body wash as my preferred method of shower time dirt removal and they just languished in a drawer. Recently, though, the addition of the two awesome smelling soaps Gerry got me from Lush inspired me to actually start using them. I was good and waited until I used up the last of the body wash I had before switching over to soap and a wash cloth. The one I went for first was the Snow Globe (which you may remember me getting really excited about in this post). There's a couple things about soap though, especially specialty soaps. First, soap is slippery and no matter how careful you are, it likes to take trips out of your hands. Second, it's not always easy to get the right amount of soap onto the wash cloth and then trying to use the part of the washcloth you have the soap on is not always as easy as you'd think it should be. Finally, soap gets very small as you continue to use it and it doesn't help when it came in three rather thin slices to begin with, like the Snow Globe did.

This morning, I woke up with the worst crick in my neck/shoulder that I've been alternately icing and heating all day, but which is still very painful. Let's just say my shower was not a totally pleasant experience and I had to deal with the soap on top of it all. I got to thinking about the soap socks and sacks I'd seen on Ravelry when I was looking for something else. They're kind of awesome because they make the soap easier to hang onto, you don't have to worry about them getting soggy gross soapiness on a soap dish in between showers, you can use the bag itself as a scrubby instead of a separate wash cloth, and tiny pieces aren't an issue since they're contained in the bag. And so I found an easy pattern and whipped myself up a little soap sack.

All ready to be filled with soap!

Quicky Soap Sack
(link to the Ravelry page)

Supplies:
25 yards worsted weight 100% cotton
Size US 7 knitting needles
Ribbon, raffia, or yarn for drawstring

To knit:
Cast on 15 stitches.

Rows 1-4: Knit in stockinette (knit one row, purl the next, repeat).

Row 5: *K2tog, YO* then knit the last stitch.

Row 6: Purl

Rows 7-10: Knit in stockinette (starting with a knit row).

Row 11: Knit the entire row, wrapping the yarn twice around the needle when forming each stitch (so that it looks like you have double the number of stitches by the end of the row).

Row 12: Purl, dropping the second loop of every stitch (as in purl one, drop one, repeat). You should be back to 15 stitches when this row is complete.

Repeat these 12 rows two more times (for a total of three times).

Knit four more rows in stockinette (starting with a knit row).

Knit one row *K2tog, YO* then knit the last stitch.

Knit four rows in stockinette, starting with a purl row this time.

Cast off. I chose to cast off knitwise to match the cast on, but binding off purlwise would have resulted in a smoother edge.

Seam the sides of the bag using mattress stitch. Line up the YO rows and the drop stitch rows, noting that the middle drop stitch row is the bottom of the bag. (I was lazy and didn't use the mattress stitch, partially because my knitting wasn't neat enough to do it easily.)

Weave a piece of ribbon, raffia, or yarn through the top row of YO's, insert soap, and tie the drawstring. I chose to braid some left-over yarn for the drawstring.

I can't wait to fill it with my soap and use it tomorrow!