Felted Bag

Above is the "before" collage showing the unfelted bag measuring about 12" wide x 7" deep x 12" tall.

The finished size is 11.5" wide, x 6.5" deep, x 8" tall. I wasn't prepared for how much it would shrink downward.

This bag was made with some leftover Wool of the Andes, Araucania Wool (worsted), and a tiny bit of Cascade 220 in light orange. Using a US 15 circular needle, I held three strands (Wool of the Andes Storm, Winter Night, and ... something green, one ball of each) together and cast on 30 sts. I knit back and forth until I had 18 garter ridges, then picked up all around the edges (18 sts on the short sides and 30 on the long sides) for a total of 96 sts. I placed a marker and knit in the round until I didn't have enough yarn to make a full round.

Then I joined three strands of the red blend (Wool of the Andes Hollyberry and ... something that was a bright red, plus the Araucania in a deep orange, just one ball of each) and kept knitting all sts until the the Hollyberry Wool of the Andes ball wouldn't make a full round. That's when I joined in another Araucania orange (a tad brighter). This went about three rounds, I think. Finally I dropped the last Wool of the Andes strand and joined in the light orange Cascade 220. It make it only one round. After that, I held three strands of leftover Cascade 220 & Araucania (one dark blue, one dark aqua and one lavender) and worked 3 rounds of knit and 2 rounds of purl. Then I bound off, worked in the ends, measured the unfelted bag for posterity and tossed it into the washer. And then I tossed it into the dryer.

Tonight I held together two strands of the remaining Araucania oranges and, using US 10.5 dpns, knit a 4-stitch eye cord that was big enough to go around the perimeter of the bag. Instead of just binding off, though, I threaded it through the holes I'd cut into it (on the line between the last of the orange and the top blue sections) and then grafted it together into a continuous loop. The reason for this is that I can pull up the loops to make a carrying handle but, more importantly, when I want the bag open the handle around the top holds the shape at the top so that it doesn't just flop around. That handle is functional in that it provides some stability.