Felted Tote Bag

This felted tote bag pattern was contributed by Jenanne Hassler.
This pattern may be freely distributed as long as the pattern and this copyright notice remain intact and no profit is made from its distribution or use.

What you need

Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted (1 skein of each of three colors)
Needle: 9 – 10

Instructions

Stitch pattern: Stockinette Stitch

Cast on 120 stitches with Amethyst (M64) and join (being careful not to twist) so you are knitting in the round. Knit for 30 rows. Switch to Limeade for 5 rows, then 1 row of Supreme Purple, then 9 rows of Amethyst, then 1 row of Supreme Purple, then 5 rows of Limeade, then switch to Supreme Purple for the rest of the bag (another 50 rows).

So, to sum up so far:

30 rows Amethyst
5 rows Limeade
1 row Supreme Purple
9 rows Amethyst
1 row Supreme Purple
5 rows Limeade
50 rows Supreme Purple

Bind off all but 8 stitches at the top edge. Continue knitting in St St those 8 stitches only for 200 rows (or until the handle length equals approximately 1.5 times as long as you’d like it to be). Bind off the 8 stitches and attach to the opposite side of the bag. (When felted, these 8 sts will roll in on the edges and make a nice easy to hold handle).

You have to seam the bottom next. After seaming it straight across, you’ll also make two more seams. See the photo above for details on this.

Turn the bag inside out. Now, looking at the bottom of the bag, at the seam there, flatten the bottom out so that its as wide as you want it to be. Then take a seam on each end, straight across so that you have a triangle on one side, a rectangle in the middle, and a triangle on the other side.

All that’s left now is felting your bag! I popped this one in the washer, using hot water, for a full cycle and it came out just how I wanted it. When felting, just be sure to keep an eye on things (I’m constantly pulling the felted object out and measuring it, feeling it, looking at it, to decide if its done yet).

NOTE: I foolishly didn’t write down my measurements pre-felting. I do know that when felting my goal was to change how tall the bag – ie, I felted until the bag was 1/3 taller than it was when I began. I almost never pay big attention to the width on bags as how wide my purse is doesn’t matter to me as much as how tall it is.

FELTED BAG dimensions:
Handle – 23″ long
Around the purse: 25″
Height: 9″
Bottom: 7″ x 5″