I just kind of winged this project as I went along.  I still had leftovers of the Mission Falls 1824 Super Wash Wool……I swear, that stuff breeds in the yarn bin because there is still enough left to make a coffee sleeve or something small like that.

Supplies:

size 7 10in needles

200 yds of aran weight wool

Darning Needle

Stitch Holder

Pattern:

Cast on 45

Knit 40 rows of the red in garter stitch

Knit 12 rows of grey in garter stitch

Knit 2 rows of red

Knit 12 rows of grey

Knit 26 rows of red

Cast off 15 sts, knit across row

Cast off 15 sts, knit across row

SSk, k to last 2 sts, k2 tog

k next row

Repeat till you have 9 sts

The 9 sts are your handle.  Knit them for as long as you want your handle to be.

Make one more for your other side.

Put the wrong sides together and stitch up the sides, not the bottom.

Fold the purse so that the handles are on the sides and the seem is in the front.  Backwards to how you would usually do it.

Seem the bottom.   At this point you can turn it inside out and sew the bottom edges to create a false bottom.  Lining this would be smart if you are worried about the yarn stretching or loosing something.

This is a cute little bag, and easy to line if you wanted to.  I just cast on about 60 at the top, did an eyelet row for the I-Cord and then knit to the desired length and decreased evenly at the bottom till I had 6 sts.  Drew through those and seemed in my ends.  This took about 125 yds of aran weight yarn on size 7 needles and is about 7 inches long.  I also knit the first couple of rows before the eyelet row in seed stitch (1 in) to keep it from rolling.

This pattern is also at the LYS.  I designed it for some new Noro yarn that was just coming out at the time.  I made sure that it only used one skein of the yarn because it was a little expensive, but you could use any worsted weight that you wanted.  I also added a frog on the front to dress it up a bit instead of a button.

This project was not only my first experience working with wool, but it was also my first felted project.

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This makes a cute, felted mini bag with stiched on handle for stability. Perfect felted bag for carrying a large water bottle.  Have fun!  This yarn was hand dyed and spun just for me by a dear friend.  I know everyone loves it!  But she won’t spin any more, she hated the thin and thick of the yarn….too bad that’s what I loved the most.

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