More Christmas Presents

Felted Purse

This was another Christmas present that I made for a good friend of mine. It was first experience with felting and I like the results.


Materials:

Bernat Felting Natural Wool or any other bulky weight wool yarn
size 11 needles


Pattern:

CO 66 stitches on straight needles

work in stockinette stitch for 22 inches

(You could use circular needles and work 3 rows flat then pick up stitches along the other 3 edges and then work in the round for 11 inches)


Work for Flap:

K2tog, knit until last 2 stitches, k2tog

repeat for 6 more rows (7 rows total)

after finishing decreases knit straight until the flap is your desired length


Finishing:

Sew up the two sides to create the purse


For Strap:

CO 105 stitches (on circular or 14 inch needles)

Knit 5 rows

BO

You could also CO 7 stitches and knit until the desired length


Here is a picture if the finished purse BEFORE felting.

The finished dimensions before felting are 11"W x 11.5"T x 5" flap
The strap measured 1.5"W x 39.5" long

Here is a picture AFTER felting.

The finished dimensions were 9"W x 6.25"T x 3" flap

I think I may have let it felt a bit too long since it shrunk so much but it still looked fine, next time I may keep a better eye on it just so it would be a bit bigger. All in all I would say my first felting experience was a good one.