Friday, June 30, 2006

The Magic of A Finished Felted Bag...

I knit like crazy all week and finally finished knitting the Cleo Clutch today. It's a fairly easy knit, and it didn't take that long. I found the pattern to be really clear too.

The one thing that I thought I might get stuck on was the "whip stitch". I'd never heard of this way of joining before, but I Googled it and found some really good instructions for the whip stitch on my first try. I really like the whip stitch now!

This was my first try at felting, and I'm really happy with how the bag turned out. It's like watching magic!

I've included some before and after shots of my efforts, so you could be part of the cool felting experience.

I followed the instructions exactly, except I didn't fold it in thirds, I made the top fold over part a little smaller than the rest, because I wanted to make the bag part a bit deeper.

I used Cascade 22o yarn in color number 8891. The color is actually a bit more vivid in person. What can I say, my camera doesn't like color.



I stopped by A Touch Of Wool on Dunbar Street today, and picked up a couple of new books. I finally found a copy of Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlotte Schurch, and the 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Calendar (the cover was bent, but you're supposed to rip it off anyway, so I figured it didn't matter).

I also went and bought myself a new bikini today. It's super awesome! Have I mentioned that I've lost 30 pounds since the end of January? That makes bikini shopping much more fun. I decided to further reward myself by getting a little cover-up skirt, and a new pair of flip-flops. Here's the link to a pic of the bikini. It's the bottom one in black. I love the little pink ruffles.

Anyway, I hope to get my KSKS package in the mail next week. I just can't wait! Oh yeah, I almost forgot to tell you why I went with the Cleo Clutch. My pal already has a bag she uses for her knitting stuff, so I figured that this could be used on its own, or thrown in the other bag.

What do you guys think? Should I put a button on it? I don't know.

P.S. Make sure you enlarge the felted/unfelted pics so you can see the detail best!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, never seen a felted cable bag before, very cute...go for the button would be my advice, mabe something big.

And both those books are money well spent, two of my most favorite knitting books that I usually refrence to.

Anonymous said...

The bag is adorable! I've also never seen felted cables, but yours turned out really nice. I'm surprised how much of the detail you can still see. Nicely done!

Chrissy said...

Thanks guys! I was thinking of using a chunky button too (maybe wood?).

aija said...

I love your felted clutch! :) I like it plain myself-- btu a wood button would be cute.

30 lbs??! Congrats!!

KnitPastis said...

Your cable bag turned out great. Watch out, felting can get addictive!

Donna M said...

Love your cabled bag! I have done slippers, mitts & hats and just love felting.
I would go with a big button!