My Awesome Bag

[anogete]

I decided to make my mom a knitted handbag for Mother's Day. I never know what to buy her, and I'm unsure as to whether she'd actually wear any garment that I could knit for her. So, I dropped by the yarn store on Monday after work and bought some wool yarn. I loosely used a pattern from the first Stitch 'N Bitch book. I finished the sucker last night and threw it in the wash to felt it.

Oh. My. God. It looks so completely awesome. Now I want to keep it for myself. But I can't. So, I'm going to ship it off to my mother in a couple weeks and make myself another.

This is what it looked like before I felted it. It was a bit floppy and some of the stitches were loose. Due to the type of stitching used, the loose stitches couldn't be helped, but that's why it was intended to be felted.



And this is the finished product after I felted it. I stuck a few paperbacks in it to fill it out a bit. Ignore the hideous doorknob on my balcony door.



The bag is about a foot deep and ten inches wide, so there's plenty of space inside for goodies. Right now it is a bit stinky because it's still wet. Wet wool doesn't smell all that hot.

And because I'm posting pictures, I found this picture I took of Ferguson and Bean sitting on Jason's lap in my car. They both look tired because it was the day we took them to the fundraiser for Quixote Humane, and they were exhausted after meeting all the other dogs.

Comments

[bleedtoblue.livejournal.com]

I love the bag! How much smaller is the felted bag from it's original size? I haven't tried felting yet.

[anogete.livejournal.com]

I didn't measure it before, but I don't think it is much smaller than the non-felted version. I would say it's 10% to 15% smaller. I could have left it in the washer for longer (which would have made it tighter and smaller), but I didn't think it was necessary. I just wanted to tighten the loose stitches and make it look all fuzzy. I really like how it looks now. I'll be trying to felt everything I make from here on out. The coolest thing is that the pattern told me to double up the yarn and knit with two strands at once. This made the bag a great deal thicker and much more sturdy. And, silly me bought twice the yarn I needed to complete the bag, so the materials were only a little over $20, which is much better than the $50 I spent.

[neriah.livejournal.com]

I'd put in an order if the strap was longer. I love the colors. Bean looks frazzeled. Fergie just blah.

[anogete.livejournal.com]

I actually want some longer straps myself. I always put my bag over my shoulder and I can't do it with this one. Anyway, I'm going to try to make the straps longer when I make mine. It shouldn't be difficult at all. If it works, I'll whip one up for you and send it your way.

[neriah.livejournal.com]

Cranberry color or a shade there of?

[mist72.livejournal.com]

I love the bag! Beautiful! And not matter how many times I see him, I can never belive how much Ferg looks like a yound Val. So sweet!

[fredericks.livejournal.com]

I can never think of what to do for my mom for Mother's Day. Your bag? Like an answer to a prayer I never got around to saying aloud. Very cool. Wish I knew how to knit. I'll prolly end up falling back on flowers and a home-made dinner.

[bookofmoonrevel.livejournal.com]

I finally realized that you friended my normal life lj, so I friended you back on there. This must be some indication of how much attention is paid to my real life versus my fanfic life. Hmm. Best not to think about that. Feel free to add this one is well if you would like to be a party to my general fanfic/HP whining.

I was thinking of making that bag from Stitch 'n' Bitch, but after finishing a sweater I am rebelling against using patterns again, like I always do after making something that isn't a rectangle. Thus, it seems that more scarves and wraps are in my future. You have given me knitting inspiration, though. :)

[anogete.livejournal.com]

I always end up changing the patterns I use. I can't seem to bend my will enough to stick with the directions. I always change them, and sometimes not for the better.

I'm off to friend your writing journal right now. My writing journal is dead, I think. I never update it, and its paid account expired recently.

[witchy-1.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous bag and cute doggies!

xx