Another Felted Bag

WooHooo! I have another handbag...cannot have too many of them right? Come on now everyone must have several felted bags in their closets. No? Is it just me? Mmmm...that may be a true statement. Anyway, I now have a brown bag with a bit of maroon, a flap and button closure. Love it!

After finishing up my CPH way back in August I cast on for this bag with the left over Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride in Cafe-Au-Lait. After knitting a bit it looked as if I may run low on yarn so I added some Malabrigo Stonechat from the stash. I last used the Stonechat on the Arrowhead Shawl I completed last fall as a test knit. I love these two colors mixed together...the brown tones are so warm all mixed together with the maroons/greens & browns from the Stonechat. After a wash in some hot water and a week to dry I got out my eyelet tool and wacked away. Both on the handbag and my fingers...my middle & thumb got in the way of my hammer. Good news- I can still knit. Bad news- the fingers really hurt...just not enough to stop me from knitting. Anyway, I got the eyelets in all four corners, threaded the icord handle through & presto another bag. One that is the perfect size for my wallet and a few accessories...which is just the way I like it.

Details:
Yarn:Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride, Cafe-Au-Lait, 85 % wool, 15 % mohair, 190 yds/113 grams , about 1 1/2 skeins and Malabrigo Stonechat, 100% merino wool, 216 yds/3.5 oz., about 1/2 skein.

Pattern: Modified version of the Coco Bag by Diane Sutliff at feltedhandbagworkshop . I added an icord bind off at the top on three sides, then picked up stitches on the last side and knit a trianular flap to cover the top. I made sure that I created a button hole for my handmade button...after felting it's a wee bit tight, but should loosen up with use.

Needles:Knit Picks Harmony Options, size 13, 24" cable

Gauge: Didn't matter so I didn't measure it.

Size: Oops forgot to measure before felting. Post felting: width= 11"; height= 9".

One last thought about the Lamb's Pride is about it's feltability which was terrific. I am amazed at it's thickness after felting. I did use this double stranded so that was part of it, but compared to Patton's Classic Wool this is so much denser. Come to think of it this denseness is probably why I had so much trouble getting those eyelets beat into submission. It's going to really help this bag hold it's shape even better over the long haul. I'm off to wind up some Malabrigo Azul Profundo and LP's black for another bag...yep now I need one to go with my Mermaid.

Modified Coco Bag

My new modified Coco handbag is almost dry & ready for photography- finally. It had in fact dried once, but after putting in the gromments and rings it just didn't look or feel felted tight enough. So back to the hot water. Almost dry so tomorrow it can all be put together and photographed.

I have finished half of my Emma shawl- it's looking a bit smaller than planned, but once it is blocked it should be a bit longer. I just hope it will be as long as I need it to be...don't want to feel like I "wasted" my Handmaiden Sea Silk!