19 November 2013

The felted bag is finsihed




This project was a bit of a lark and a way of using up some of the smelly wool I purchased last year. Surprisingly most of the smell left after the dyeing process. After all the color choices I made, I wasn't that thrilled with the effect of the two yarns combined but what the heck. Another problem was not really knowing how many stitches to cast on. I did a gauge swatch and all was good until I ran out of yarn. This cute square bag ended up looking like a clutch.






Here I sewed the sides with double yarn on the outside because I wanted a tightly felted seam.
Next I popped the entire piece into a pot of boiling water for a while and stirred. I then added the knitted piece as well as all the boiling water to my front loader (lots of pounding motion for the felting process) and set it on the "sanitize" cycle - boiling!!



I didn't even realize this was inside out but I actually like this side better.


The felting process really blended the colors much better than I anticipated. 


Right side out is a bit boring. Think I will stick with purl side out.

So now I have an oddly shaped purse but what I did learn was 
1) Use 17 needles with 2 strands of yarn, 
2) Knowing the finished size of the piece I can plan an appropriate number of stitches to cast on,
3) Dye more than one skein of each color

I am going to try to make some sewn on leather handles.
Expectations were low since this entire project was a lark but I have to admit, it looks pretty good. The handles are pigskin with clothesline as piping.





3 comments:

  1. I'd say that's a pretty good looking finished clutch! Sounds like you learned a lot from your first try... can't wait to see how future projects come out!

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  2. I love the instant reward of felting-always a learning curve but very nice ! I like the colors.

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  3. Nice clutch. I like te felt knitting. It's such a beautiful structure.

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