Felted Striped Bag

Knit and felt a roomy shoulder bag with bold stripes of color. Felting smooths away imperfections, making this bag knitting pattern from Premier Yarns great for beginners.

Finished Measurements
Unfelted: 19" wide by 60" long
Felted and assembled: 13" wide by 15" high (excluding strap)

Materials:

• Yarn: Merit (100% Wool; 186 yards/170 meters; 3½ ounces/100 grams)

1 ball 35-104 Rouge (CA)
1 ball 35-106 Cool Water (CB)

• Knitting needles: US 10 (6mm)
• Large-eye yarn needle
• five 1" buttons in desired flower petal color, one 1" button in desired flower center color
• sewing needle and thread

Gauge: 16 sts and 21 rows = 4" in St st. Use any size needles necessary to obtain the specified gauge.

Abbreviations
CA, CB – Color A, Color B
St st – Stockinette stitch (knit RS rows, purl WS rows)
Sts – stitches
K – knit
P – purl
RS – right side
WS – wrong side

Instructions:

With CA, cast on 75 sts; beg with a knit row (RS) work in St st for 2", ending with a WS row; cut CA.
With CB, work in St st for 2", ending with a WS row; cut CB.
Work even in St st, alternating 2" stripes of CA and CB until piece measures 60"; loosely bind off all sts.

Strap
With CA, cast on 8 sts; beg with a knit row (RS), work in St st for 2", ending with a WS row; cut CA.
With CB, work in St st for 2", ending with a WS Row; cut CB.
Work even in St st, alternating 2" stripes of CA and CB until piece measures 36", ending with a WS row; loosely bind off all sts.

Assembly
With RS facing, fold 22" of the piece up and sew side seams, leaving a 16" flap. Sew each end of strap to top of bag at flap fold. Weave in ends.

Finishing
Set washing machine to low water level and hot water. Add a small amount of laundry detergent and place bag in washer. Agitate the bag in the wash cycle, checking frequently to see how much the bag has felted. NOTE: Darker colors sometimes felt quicker than lighter colors. Do not run bag through the rinse cycle. If agitation cycle is complete and bag is not felted enough, reset the wash cycle and start again. When bag is felted to desired size, remove and rinse thoroughly under cool running water until all detergent is removed. Wrap bag in a thick towel and squeeze out excess water in a towel. Shape bag and strap and allow to dry completely. Arrange buttons in a flower pattern and sew to bag.
 

Project courtesy of www.premieryarns.com.
© 2009 Premier Yarns. Reprinted with permission.