Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Making a Felted Bag

Knitted, Felted Bag with Decoration and Snap Closure

After having family around for nearly a week, I'll have to admit it's sort of a letdown to get back to 'normal.' It's wonderful when the kids and grandkids are here, and the house seems very big and very quiet when they all go home. Then again, this is why we have dogs and cats. :-)  One can hardly feel lonely with dogs underfoot all day and a cat wrapped around one's head at night. Do you suppose that I'd get better sleep at night if there weren't a 22 pound cat resting his chin in my ear and purrrrrring??

Okay, on to the felted bag...

This bag was guesswork when I first knitted it. After finally getting it small enough through felting it many times in the washing machine, along with a friend taking it home and running it through HER washing machine, it became a nice size: about 7 x 9 inches. (It's already been given away as a Christmas gift, so I'm once again guessing at the size.) If you missed the first blog post about this bag, you can read it here and see the needles and yarn I used for the project.

As you can see by the date of that blog post, the poor felted bag sat around, feeling neglected, because it just didn't thrill me - until a few weeks ago, when I had a brilliant idea (if I do say so myself). What made all the difference was purchasing a pair of earrings and a large sew-in snap. I cut the hook from one of the earrings, then affixed it to the front-middle of the bag with needle and thread. On the inside, at the top-middle, I sewed a large (3/4"?) snap so that the bag now has a nice decoration and will stay closed when you want.

For the instructions, CLICK HERE and scroll down until you get to 'Taos.'  When you read the instructions, you will see that I followed them somewhat loosely. Still, I love the final outcome. I'm thinking about making a pair of slippers and felting them, but I'll admit that's a little scary. Somehow I just can't imagine that they'd come out the same size. That could be a problem.

I know that some of you are knitters. Have you made any felted projects?? Anything scheduled for 2012?


Photobucket
...and more! Check out all my handcrafted soaps at
Soap'n'Such



 This post is linked to some or all of the following: Amaze Me Monday and Skip to My Lou and What's in the Gunny Sack and  Making the World Cuter Mondays and Make the Scene Monday and  Made By You Monday and  Something I Whipped Up Monday and  Motivate Me Monday and  Making Monday Marvelous and Get Your Craft On and Tip Me Tuesday and  Made from Scratch Tuesday and  Take a Look Tuesday and  Tasty Tuesday and Tasty Tuesday and  Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays  and Two Maids a Baking and Overflowing With Creativity and What's Cookin' Wednesday and Cast Party Wednesday and  We Did it Wednesday  and It's a Party at Creative Princess and Threading Your Way and Lisa's Gluten-Free Blog and Favorite Things Friday and I'm Lovin' it Friday and It's a Hodgepodge Friday  and Creative Bloggers and  Serenity Saturday and  Home and Family Friday



Photobucket

25 comments:

Maggie Ann said...

What a clever idea! Special touches make all the difference sometimes. I made a felted purse and a felted tote. Way back when. There are pictures of them on Ravelry where I am Maggie2 if you get over that way.

I try to stick with things that are guage free...I always have 'glitchs' with gauge. I do like to knit though, and go to a knitting group once a week when we meet. Thats fun & helpful for me.

Your 22 lb? cat sounds cozy....my teddy bear is as silent as he is light weight! ha ha. Smiles, Maggie

Marti said...

I can shrink things in the dryer. I did a good job on a beautiful sweater someone gave me, it ended up a size fit for a young teenager. But I guess that is not what you mean. Have a good day.

Anonymous said...

That's a nice little bag :) I am not much of a knitter but do enjoy seeing others great work! Have a lovely day!

Ruth Kelly said...

Was the bag made of wool ?

Cranberry Morning said...

Yes, the bag was knitted with Icelandic wool. The problem wasn't the wool, it was my washing machine that wasn't agitating as it should. Kevin got that fixed, so hopefully with the next knitted project I won't have to outsource it to get it felted. :-)

Denise said...

very nice.

Lois Christensen said...

Accessories! It looks beautiful and to think that you made this is even more beautiful! Very talented! Enjoy your day!

Terri @ A Creative Princess said...

Look at you go! It looks awesome! Now, wasn't it all worth it?

Carla from The River said...

I am working on a felted tote right now. I am almost done! Excited to see how it turns out. Next, I plan to do a small purse. I am a beginner, thankfully my sister helps me when she visits, or I visit her.

Janel from NellieBellie said...

I have always wanted to do a felted project but its a bit scary! Yours is just great!

Maggie Ann said...

How I do admire you for completeing two sweaters! What a great way to end 2011!

Midwest to Midlands said...

Very nice. I am not a knitter but I like the result.

Unknown said...

I remember this post when it first went up.. loved the bag then and still love it now :)

Empty Nester said...

Have I made any felted projects? I do good to turn out a stocking cap or six! LOL

Heide at ApronHistory said...

My sister made me a pair of felted slippers for last Christmas. Love them! So thick and warm! And some ingenous person thought of putting puffy paint on the bottoms for non-slip.
You could make slippers by just knitting a large square and cutting out and sewing them together. Just saw a pattern that way.

Rachel said...

I LOVE that bag!! I'm not sure if I could make one myself, I might try though!

:)

Karen Harris said...

Such a pretty bag. I would love to learn to knit someday. I am presently helping my daughter learn to sew on her new Christmas machine and her first project is a tote bag.

Cranberry Morning said...

I may have told you all this story before, but if not:

I had tried to learn to knit when I was very young. I simply gave it up in short order because I knitted way too tightly and hated trying to pull those stitches off my needle! It wasn't until a couple years ago that I tried it again and when I was knitting too tightly, I went to Walmart to buy bigger needles, thinking that would help. I talked to the woman in the yarn department who told me, 'Go home and practice. You don't need different needles; you need practice.' I laughed, went home, and practiced!!! And sure enough, she was right. After a while, my stitches became looser and more even. And now I love it! (even though I still make mistakes and sometimes get stuck and have to 'phone a friend.' :-)

Pam @Threading My Way said...

What a fantastic idea!!! The earring adds a great finishing touch. I don't know if I'd be game to felt anything. I'd love for you to share this bag (and any other bags) on my linky that's exclusively for bags...
http://threadingmyway.blogspot.com/2012/01/threading-your-way-bags-and-totes-link.html

Yenta Mary said...

That is so cute!!! I took a knitting class a few years ago and was so proud of myself; but, like with everything else, there just wasn't time to keep up with it and now I've forgotten what little I knew ... :(

laurie said...

I love this bag! It's awesome!

Anonymous said...

Your bag is lovely! I've felted wool that I've bought in a thrift store (sweaters and what not), but I would love to learn to knit so I can felt my own. Your bag is inspiring!

Unknown said...

Love it! Thanks for linking up! Check out my giveaway....


XO, Aimee

Heather Rae said...

This is beautiful! I would love for you to link up with my party at: http://anoriginalbelle.blogspot.com/2012/01/make-it-yourself-monday-10-link-up.html

Thanks! Happy Monday!

Natasha Mairs - Serenity You said...

Thanks for linking up to Serenity Saturday link party
Hope to see you there again this week
http://serenityyou.blogspot.com/search/label/Serenity%20Saturday

Natasha

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails