my creative space: knitted/felted bag - take 2

I have FINALLY finished my second knitted bag and felted it! And I am VERY happy to report that it all came out of the wash, just perfect... Hooray! I can tell you there was a massive sigh of relief from me, PHEW!!! When I put my knitted bag into the washing machine (to felt it), I had to take my little man out for the morning... I just couldn't handle, hanging around the house for 2 hours and 20 minutes, waiting for the washing machine (front loader) to go though the cycle... that would have been complete torture!

:: olive and grey wool felted bag

I am SO please with how it turned out... the only thing I wish I had done was use three colours instead of two and slightly brighter colours as well... maybe next time...? I still love it and can't wait to use it! It still needs to be lined... I really need pockets in my bags!

Notes:
Here are a few of my notes... if you are interested in making this bag:
The original bag info can be found here - ishi knit on Ravelry and there are more images on her blog. These links where quite helpful too - here and here!

My knitted/felted bag:
before felting - height 49cm - width 52cm - straps 166cm
after felting - height 36cm - width 39cm - straps 108cm

I used 4.5 mm knitting needles
5 x 50 grams balls of  grey wool and 5 x 50 grams balls of olive wool
It's a good idea to knit a test square and put it in the wash to make sure that it will felt - a big lesson I learnt, that's for sure!!!

:: moda vera 8 ply wool

Cast on 25 stitches and knit 50 rows of garter stitch to make each square.
You will need to knit 22 square blocks and 2 half squares (triangle) for the top of the bag. I added triangle pieces to the top of the bag - I just thought it looked neater.

:: sew bag  sides together 1, 2, 3

I started from the middle and worked my way outwards. The squares can be knitted separately and then sew together. I chose to knit as much together as possible by picking up stitches on the sides of the knitted squares to add new squares. I still had to sew up some sides of the squares that couldn't be knitted together.

:: picking up stitches
(photo of my previous knitted bag)

Once the bag body sides are sewn together (see graphic image above for the order to sew it up), you can start on knitting the attached i-cord - tutorial here! First i-cord the top of each triangle piece, then the rest of the body of the bag and then for the straps, knit a plain i-cord - tutorial here! I made extra long straps (166cm before felting) as I wanted the bag to be more like a messenger bag. I had all my fingers crossed that it was going to work out and be the right length after felting... luckily it was!

post note: The straps have stretched quite a bit so I wish I had now made them shorter now... maybe only 120cm long!

:: knitted bag completed and ready for felting

Once it was all finished and all loose ends have been sewn in, I put the bag in the washing machine with an old denim jacket (to help with the agitation for felting) on a very hot wash - 95 degrees celcius for 2 hours and 20 min! Once out of the wash, I stuffed the bag with towels to mold the shape and then allowed to dry.

Hope that is of some help! Sorry, I forgot to take photos of the process during my knitting frenzy of this bag! I was a little bit obessed :)

Good luck... if you have any questions, feel free to email me laminag@hotmail.com

Hope you are having a great creative week!
There are loads more creative people over at my creative space...

Oh dear... can I please cry on your shoulder....

Remember the bag I was knitting the other week....this one... well... I finished knitting it and it looked excellent, ready for felting! It ended up being quite a big bag (height 52cm x width 56cm) but was confident that it would shrink a lot after felting!

:: knitted and ready for felting

 And I loved how the i-cord turned out too... a very helpful tutorial here.

:: I love my i-cord

I couldn't wait to felt it - which basically means chucking it into the washing machine on a hot wash! I had no idea how it was going to turn out... I was excited, scared, petrified and crossing my fingers for 2 hours while it went through the washing cycle!
When I pulled it out of the washing machine... argghhh... felting disaster!!! I'm quite (VERY) upset/devastated! All that knitting ruined...
sob sob sob... sorry I'll wipe all those tears off your shoulder! :(

:: felting disaster...

:: the middle section didn't felt :(

The top and bottom felted perfectly (love those bits) but NOT the middle section... the section of wool that I dyed and it faded a bit too! I have a feeling that the wool may shrunk a bit from when I dyed it, so I think that's why it wouldn't felt! Drat!! :(

I am rather devastated... I've tried to think of ways to rescue the good felted bits.. I've unpicked the bad section and tried a few things ie. like a fabric section, but it just didn't work!

Oh well... things can't turn out perfectly every time, hey! I have learnt a lot! So now it's back to the drawing/knitting board for me... I REALLY want to make this bag! This time I have done a felted test patch of the wool I've bought, so I know it will work! I am, again, the crazy obsessed knitter in my house!

Hope you are having a better day!
Thanks for letting me cry on your shoulder  xxx