Tag Archives: felting

A year (almost) in the making

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**I’ve had this post written for over a week but waited until this was in the recipient’s hands before I could show it here.**

A year ago I took my first knitting class and started my first felted project: the Garter Stitch Bag.

I finished the bag in time to take on a business trip to Vegas at the end of October 2011.  On the plane I started the same bag for my sister.

Her bag was going to be larger than mine but not as large as the original.  For my sister’s bag I cast on 21 stitches and made the squares 42 rows.  Click here for my Ravelry notes for those interested in my bag.

I worked on her bag when ever I felt like it.  I had no deadline so I could work at my leisure.

It got bigger and bigger and once summer and the hot temperatures arrived, I couldn’t work on it too much.  A wool blanket + 90 degree temperatures = an unhappy and unproductive knitter.

Once the thing was assembled, there was still the i-cord border.  I had forgotten how to do an attached i-cord border but managed to find some great instructions on the purl bee blog site.

The before felting measurements were 22 inches across and 36 inches from front  tip to back tip.  Each square was 5 1/2 inches square.  The post felting measurements were 18 inches across and 29 inches from front tip to back tip.  Each square was 4 inches after felting.  (I think.) I could have felted it more and made it smaller but that was the perfect size for my sister.

Felting was a breeze.

Lining it was not.

I have a few suggestions for those who have made this bag and want to line it.  Fill the bag with towels, yarn, whatever you have.  This will give you a more sturdy surface and 3-D form to work with.  I pinned the lining fabric, right side to the right side of the bag then used a fabric marker to outline the shape.  I made sure to mark which side was which as my bag was not perfectly symmetrical.  Trim the fabric leaving plenty of room for the seams, at least one inch.  Sew on any pocket(s) before sewing the sides and darts.  Trim any bulk and put it in your bag, lining up the top and sides.  Pin the whole thing inside the bag.  Fold the top edges under about an inch and hand-stitch in place.  I did have to notch the lining around the “valley point” at the center.  The last thing was to sew on the leather straps.  My sister wants to put in a magnetic snap so I left the tops section of the lining open.  She’ll have to finish that part herself.

Cascade 220 in Primavera (green) and Jet (charcoal heather).  Size 8 US needles.  Leather straps.  Satin-type lining, matching thread, 1 1/2 inch piece of elastic, and a 7″ zipper.

21,084 stitches.

The finished product, inside and out.

Zippered pocket.

I added a piece of elastic inside and slipped a carabiner in it to attach keys.  I also used iron on interfacing where I thought her magnetic snap would go.

Houston, we may have a problem

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Silly me.  I assumed something and we know what that means.

My iPad cover swatch.  Remember it?

I pinned the felted swatch to the cover on my ironing board to dry so I could use the squares as my measurement.

Great plan.

Those squares are one inch so my swatch would be five inches square.  And I really had to tug to get the width to five inches.

Mr. Aitch’s cover was 48-49 stitches so I thought I would make this one a few stitches bigger since I was doing a two-color design and I had to work within the color pattern.  I cast on 26 stitches for this swatch since I planned on 52 stitches for the width.  Wonderful.  I needed the cover to be about 10 inches wide.  This was going to be a piece of cake.

After felting and measuring the wet swatch, I went on my merry way.  Now with only a few more rows left to knit I’ll be ready to felt in no time.  Then I decided to remeasure the dry swatch one more time.  The swatch is not five inches square.  The swatch is 4.5 inches square and the finished cover just might not be wide enough.  How can this be?  It must have been stretched so much that once it was unpinned, it relaxed.  Relaxed a half inch.  Which translates to one inch on the finished project.

Had I realized this before I cast on, I could have just made it eight stitches wider.  But n-o-o-o.  I had to hurry up and cast on before checking and double checking my swatch.  Length-wise there is no problem.  I can knit a few more repeats.  Width-wise is the issue.

I’m going away next week and really, really, really wanted to have this cover finished for my iPad.

Do I keep going as though nothing is wrong and hope and pray (and tug, and tug, and tug) that it will fit?

Do I pick up some stitches along the sides and make a gusset-type of thing?

What would you do?

The CCM hat decision

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Remember a few weeks ago when I finished my Carrie Cahill-Mulligan hat?

Well, I finally decided what I was going to do with the brim.

Paisley.  I love paisley and found some generic paisley shapes to use as my inspiration.  My plan is to embroider eight paisley designs around the entire brim but I’m going to start at the front and work my way around from side to side so I don’t have to have it completely finished before wearing it.

Yes, I know it’s April and we’ve had some unseasonably warm weather of late (90 degrees yesterday!!) but I don’t want to wait until next fall before I return to find it still naked of all embellishment.

I love this hat.

And you can have your very own!

It’s easy.

Go to Carrie’s website and:

  1. Order a kit.  Or two.  Or three.  You get to select the colors of yarn you want.
  2. Buy a gift certificate for a kit or a hat for a dear friend, your spouse, yourself, or anyone.
  3. Buy a hat.

I know that Carrie and Andy, her husband, would really appreciate it right now.  Go on, check it out.