Help! ‘Felter Madness’ Still Has Me In Its Grip!

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Yes, I am still felting like crazy, although I’ve calmed down a bit since the last article I posted on the topic.  I think I actually went a week without felting anything. I’ve added some crocheted pieces to my collection of felted items, but, yes, I confess, I am still knitting pieces as well.  Probably because the pattern for the felted bags is so easy to whip up (thanks, Nanea at Aloha Yarn!).  I can knit a big bag in a little under a week, and a smaller version of the bag in about three days.  Using #13 needles and a double strand of yarn makes the work go pretty fast.

More Crochet and Knit Felting Projects

So, here is an samples of some of the bags I’ve knitted  The three-color striped bag is my best piece so far.

This three-color felted knit bag is my best effort yet

I want to add a different kind of closing to it, so I crocheted this flower to act as a holder for a thin I-cord that I plan to attach to the bag.

I’m wondering if this flower closing for the felted knit purse will work.

The flower looks lovely unfelted and would probably make a great design element, but I’m going to felt it just to see how it turns out.   The pattern for this flower and the one below come from 201 Crochet Motifs, Blocks, Projects and Ideas by Melody Griffiths.  I think the book is out of print because I had to purchase it from an Amazon Marketplace seller.

Here’s a photo of a smaller, unfelted version of the striped bag above that I’m doing for Christmas gifts.

Two-tone knit handbag ready for felting

I’ve done three of these, one in Washington Redskin colors (gold and maroon – have a relative who is a serious fan(atic)), one in green with a black base, and this one, in a dark shade of lavender and a black base.  These smaller bags are 12″ long unfelted.  The big, mauve, magenta and maroon bag is 18″ long unfelted.  Both sizes have the same width.

This blue flower is for a blue and black bag that I’ve finished knitting and felting (no photo yet).

This crocheted flower should accent the purse nicely.

I’ve decided to add grommets to this bag to put the straps through, but I’m procrastinating because I’m kinda nervous about doing the grommets.  If I mess up, that’s going to be it.  But I’m going to do it sometime this week, and I just have to keep telling myself that it’s going to be perfect.

I used a single strand of yarn for all of the crocheted projects, thinking a double strand would be too thick.

This blue, felted crochet purse was made with one strand of yarn.

The pattern for this blue bag (do you think blue might be my favorite color?) is in Jane Davis’ Felted Crochet.  The pattern is incomplete, however; there are no instructions for the strap, so I knit an I-cord which I thought came out nicely.  I’m supposed to add some embroidery to the front, but my embroidery skills aren’t what they used to be.  I tried to follow the instructions, but it just didn’t look right, so I left the two leaves that are supposed to be on the front off.  I also left off the tassel that’s supposed to go on the tip of the bag.  I think I’m gonna make this one again, but leave that pointy end off so the bag body will just be a square.  The body is double crocheted, btw.

I’m thinking of using a double strand of yarn if I crochet more of these little bowls.  I did those “off the  cuff,” without a pattern, using single crochet.

Bowls I crocheted off the cuff, as a felting experiment

I just wanted to see how the pieces would felt.  Nanea, at  Aloha Yarn, suggested that I should stuff a piece of plastic, like a bottle inside the bowl so it will shrink to the shape of the bottle on the inside.  I also knit a coaster and crocheted one.  The knitted coaster was done with double pointed needles; first time I’ve tried those.  It took a little getting used to, but I finally got it going.

This is what the crocheted coasters look like unfelted.  I stopped increasing the last three rounds (10 rounds total with a beginning round of 6 sc sts) so that when they felt, the ends won’t get stretched out of shape (been there, done that, and don’t want to do it again).  The final round is reverse single crochet.

These crocheted coasters are ready for felting.

I’ll definitely post a photo of the blue and black bag once I get the grommets in as well as the three-color knit bag so you can see what the felted flowers look like.  I also have ideas for some additional pieces for the blue/black bag that will probably be my purse.

I want to add an eyeglass case, a cell phone case, and a larger container to hold them as well as my wallet, so these items don’t fall out of the bag.

I've been crocheting for over 40 years and blogging since 2004 - two of my favorite things in the world to do besides walking the beaches of windward Oahu, Hawaii.

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