My first felted bag! I'm quite pleased with it. I plan on using it as my knitting bag.
I went into Four Ladies yarn shop in August with the goal of making something "cool." I saw the sample bags, and decided to try felting. I started this twice, and pulled it out because I was afraid the bag was going to be too small. When you felt something, it needs to start out HUGE!
METHOD:
The pattern was actually for a different bag, so I played around until I got it the way I wanted it. It's an 80 x 80 base, with 20 rows per stripe, then 15, then 4. The yarn is Cascade 220 in Purple Hyacinth and Azur (2 skeins of each). I LOVE the color combination. Needle size was 10.5 and it was done all in the round.
AND WHAT DID WE LEARN?:
Picking up and knitting stitches was a nice way to avoid a seam at the edge of the bottom and sides. This was my first official project done totally in the round. FUN! Of course it took forever. If I didn't mind doing seams, I might think about doing all this on a knitting machine instead of doing it by hand.
I learned how to make I-cord, with a 6-stitch I-cord cut in sections for the straps.
The felting was ... different. I actually ended up with a smaller bag than I really wanted because I sort of forgot to check the washing machine. The wet bag stunk like a wet dog, but when it dried it lost the smell.
I would do this again, maybe for a gift. It was fun! But I think I WOULD do it on the machine.
