My daughter thought if October is Socktoberfest, then November should be Knitvember... But what to knit in Knitvember? How about Feltvember?
The socks were done, and I didn't feel like another pair of socks right away. Not that I don't still have plenty of sock yarn sitting around the house.
I also still have some
Lion Brand Wool left over from my very first felting project. It was a
water bottle cozy that supposed to be done on a "
Knifty Knitter." I bought the instrument in question, got started on the project and didn't like it. So I returned my not so "Knifty Knitter" and decided to crochet the water bottle cozy instead.
As I said, this was my very first felting project, so I didn't really know what to expect. And if you know me, you know that I am not good at following instructions. Not because I can't, but because I usually have some other ideas (call it ADD), and then things often turn out rather unexpected.
Anyway, I am not sure if you are still supposed to see the stitches after you felt something, or if that's because I crocheted rather than knitted, but...
So, I thought to test my own theory (that crocheting is not for felting), I will knit something with the same yarn (did I mention that I still had lots of yarn left over??) this time around to see what happens.
I found all kinds of really cool ideas on Ravelry and started knitting. The pattern I liked the most was
Angela's Fabulous Felted Bag. But don't expect a perfect copy!
So here is my version:
Anita's Amazing Afelted (AAA) Tote(of course you can use whatever colors you like and in whatever combination--be as creative as you like--I am just telling you how I made this one...)
I cast on about 80 stitches in black wool.
Knit back and forth for about 5 inches.
Then I picked up stitches all around my little rectangle and started knitting in the round. It's a little tight at first, but gets easier, as you get away from the bottom.
About 2 inches up from the bottom,
I changed to color #2 (in my case pink). Knit 2 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 4 rounds.
Switch to color #2 (pink). Knit 4 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 1 round.
Switch to color #3 (gold). Knit 2 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 4 rounds.
Switch to color #3 (gold). Knit 7 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 12 rounds.
Switch to color #2 (pink). Knit 2 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 3 rounds.
Switch to color #2 (pink). Knit 10 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 3 rounds.
Switch to color #3 (gold). Knit 3 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 8 rounds.
Switch to color #2 (pink). Knit 6 rounds.
Switch to color #3 (gold). Knit 3 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 2 rounds.
Switch to color #3 (gold). Knit 14 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 3 rounds.
Switch to color #2 (pink). Knit 6 rounds.
Switch to color #1 (black). Knit 12 rounds.
Bind off.
Create one cord of the same length in each color represented in your project (or just pick three, if you used more than three) either with a
knitting spool (
Strickliesel) or using an
I-cord method.
Braid the three cords together and sew the braid onto your bag, starting on the bottom of one side, looping all the way around (the loop handle of your bag will be as long as you made your cords--keep in mind, though, that you will loose some length by felting) and going down the other side of your bag.
Voila! Done! Well, you got quite a few loose ends to weave in (the inside of your bag, of course). Oh, and you still have to felt, i.e., wash your bag in hot water and dry.
And here is a picture of mine after the first round of felting. I think I will do a little more...
I really like the way mine came out. I might make some more... I definitely dig felting! I am going to change my blog title from "What comes after Socktoberfest" to "I felt your presents!" Because that's what I am going to do this year. Felt my friends' presents...
I still had wool left over from the bag. So here are some more felting projects, inspired by
Leigh Radford's Felted Bowls (note: this link is from Ravelry, but the pattern has been published in her book
One Skein):
Cast on 64 sts
Knit for about 2 inches in the round on four dpns
Start decreasing as follows:
Every other round start each needle with ssk and end each needle with k2t, thus reducing by 8 sts every other round until you have no sts left.
And another one:
Cast on 100 sts
Knit in the round for about x inches
Start decreasing as follows:
Divide sts by five
Every other round start each set with ssk and end each set with k2t, thus reducing by 10 sts every other round until you have no sts left.
Then I started felting them. Hmmm. They just did not quite come out as bowls...
So, I tried shaping them by placing them under some kitchen canisters:
This still did not quite produce the desired results. I must be doing something wrong. I should buy the book...
Meanwhile, I kept knitting, using up the remainder of the wool I had. The next round (haha) I made rectangular (pun intended).
The first one I started with the pumpkin, aka burnt orange, color.
I made the "base" about 50 sts wide
and knit about 60 rows in seed stitch.
Then I picked up the sts all around
and continued in seed stitch in the round in black for about 10 rounds (roughly--I just used up all the black I had left).
Switched to pink and knit another 20 or so rounds, also seed stitch.
Then I bound off.
And started another one to use up the rest of the pink.
Also rectangular.
Cast on 40 sts
seed stitch for about 45 rows.
Picked up sts all around and continued seed stitch in the round until I ran out of yarn (about 10 rounds.)
Okay, and then I washed them...
Finally getting frustrated enough with the felting process, I went to the bookstore... And read the book... And learned a thing or two about felting...
One of the big things I did wrong was putting them in the dryer. Apparently, you wash them (with as much "agitation" as possible), then stretch them into the desired shape, then let them dry in that shape. And that worked much better! So, voila:
I am so excited!!! Aren't my four felted pieces beautiful?! I am off to the yarn store to buy more wool... A-felting I will go...
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