Designer Notes: The Smoke and Mirrors Felted Bag

Friday 9^th September 2016

I have now taught this design a fair bit and I have also released the pattern which is here, for anyone who has not attended the course.  So I think now is a good time to also set out some Designer Notes. This is a felted bag, washed in your washing machine.  I have done a great deal of hand-knitted felt including Shibori Felt but this my first big venture into non-Shibori texture. The concept is for a large, sturdy project bag which is knitted in three pieces excluding the pockets.  The stitches I use create a significant depth of texture after felting and so the bag does not need lining.  But you can of course, if you wish. Here are the basics:

• Knitted in Rowan Felted Tweed in 2 shades; you will need 3 of A and 6 of B.
• It has been designed to fit well with handles from here.  But if you find other handles you prefer, use these approximate dimensions.
• There are beads, placed traditionally, i.e. not with a crochet hook, but in clusters of 3 rather than singly.
• You will need 4 mm needles.  For the sides which are quite hefty, I used a fixed cable circular needle about 80 cm long.
• Felted at 60 degrees for between 80 and 90 minutes in a standard wash programme.
• There are two interesting but not difficult stitches in use, all fully explained and I will set some notes out here too.
• Suitable for an average knitter – it is easy to moderate.

The bag begins, inevitably, with some stocking stitch.  There are few centimeters of this because we are knitting a wide flap which, once the bag is felted and dry, will be fed through the slots in the handles and then sewn down.  There is a fold line half way.  Once you complete this bit of knitting, I suggest in the pattern that you mark the beginning and end of the last row.  This is because that marked row is the row where the sewing up of the sides to the gusset will also begin and end.  There is also a visual clue in that you also, at this point, start the folded beaded pattern. The beads are placed in clusters of three – just as easy as placing them singly.  This section has deep folds which are formed by literally picking up the back of the stitch from the wrong side, so it is easy to see, some rows down, and purling this ‘stitch’ along with the next real stitch on the left hand needle.  You do this four times, then purl four stitches normally, all along these fold rows.  The row you are picking from is seven  rows down – you count the bumps.  My top tips for this are:

• Slightly stretch/pull your work down to expose the ‘ladder’ of bumps.
• You know you are in the right area if, when you look at the right side, the clusters of beads are about in the middle of the fold.
• Once you have the first of your four pick-ups right, you just pick the stitch next door for the following three pick-ups.

The stitch is a multiple of eight.  But, both the beads and the folds are off-set, so for the first part where the bag is also being shaped with increases, the numbers have been adjusted to make sure they remain off-set. The second part of the side uses two shades together, but never on the same row.  The shade not in use is carried up the side.  This part is based on garter stitch and slipping stitches in between.  The garter stitch element essentially forms the ‘framer’ of colour around the contrast shade.  I held this double, but the other yarn is held single. My top tips for this are:

• Do not pull the yarn tight as you carry it up the sides.
• There are slipped stitches so there is yarn ‘carried’ across the back.  You don’t have to do anything, it just happens, but again, make sure you do not pull this tight.
• Do not worry that this part looks rather distorted and puckered.  All will be well after felting, but I have added extra rows to take account of the loss of height that will happen when you wash it.

The two sides are made the same, then you knit the gusset which you will pin and then sew all round the sides, along the bottom and back up the other side.  Use a firm back-stitch to sew these seams. You can knit the pockets first to practice the stitches, then also felt them first to test your machine.  The wash is about 80 – 90 minutes at 60 degrees. Once the bag is sewn up, but the flaps are NOT sewn down until you sew in the handle later, you wash it and then dry and de-fluff it.  This yarn used to be very fluffy after felting and some knitters have said their bags were fluffy, but none of my samples or the two full bags I have knitted have been bad at all.  But anyway, this just needs you to use a damp hand and stroke the bag firmly inside and out to get the fluff off.  I do this outside!  Once de-fluffed, that’s it, it never happens again. I really enjoyed designing this bag and knitting it is not boring at all.  Yes it is a longish knit but the results are worthwhile.  A bag that is unique and will last you a life-time of knitting. You can buy the pattern here.