Meanwhile, last night I began an afghan. I’m using yummy, hand died yarn Mom’s friend Jill gave me. It’s variegated and looks terrific in my living room which is in shades of deep green and redish-burgundy. (The yarn color looks more burgundy in my living room and more red on my computer screen. )

I’m knitting this at a fairly loose gauge in panels, increasing in the center and decreasing at the edges. I think the zig-zag stripe effect looks more interesting than uninterrupted horizontal bars. I’ll be sewing the panels together when I finish, which will result in a blanket with a zig-zag hem.

I hope it looks as beautiful as I expect.

Now, believe it or not, after I sew the strips together, I’m planning to felt the afghan. That means I need to knit an enormous blanket so it’s still big after it shrinks. (I hope Jill doesn’t learn of this idea and shriek!)

I wasn’t planning to felt this at first. But, knit a small swatch last night, and thought: “What the heck?”. So, threw the swatch in the wash. It felts slowly, at the end of one cycle it only shrunk a bit, but “fluffed up”. The felted fabric is unbelievably cozy. The colors stay true, but the fuzz makes it look sort of blurred or fuzzy. It’s just beautiful.

I figure this is a terrific use for the beautiful yarn because I keep afghans for years and years. So, once I finish knitting, I’ll have this forever.

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I almost can’t believe it. Last night it was huge!

This one fit with just a little extra space. I figure fabric has less stretch after it felts, so I charted these one size larger than my raspberry ones. Also, felted fabric is more wind-proof, so I thought these might make nice “over mittens”. That’s another reason to make them one size larger.

I plan to wear them over my rapberry ones on very windy days.

After I tried the mitten on, I decided that it would be nicer if the thumb were wider when mittens are felted. So I added a choice to the generator for these mittens. Now, if you pick “felted or lined”, it makes the thumb 2 stitches wider. I’m going to go back and add this option to the other generators.

Today, I’m going to make the second mitten!

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Machine knitters with ribbers can use the HK version to make a purse, but it requires you to make some changes to adapt to the KM. (It’s not hard…. But, do you really want to knit garter stitch?) I recommend the MK version, which uses a single bed machine.

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I’ve had the pattern programmed into a generator for a long time. The only thing was, I wanted really thick slippers. Really thick. So, having felted a purse, I thought why not make felted slippers?

Monday, I resolved to make a pair and felt them. It worked perfectly! You should give it a try. If you are going to felt a pair here are three pieces of advice:

1. Felt your swatch and use that gauge when running the generator.
2. Pick two shoe sizes bigger than your feet. Felt doesn’t stretch as much as knitting, so you don’t want them as snug as I advised for unfeltedslippers
3. Don’t worry that they are way too big before you felt them. Look to the right. That’s how mine fit.

Make them. You’ll love them.

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The felted purse generator is now officially on line!

The purse is a good project to work if you want to learn how to felt, how to work short rows, and how to run a generator. Unfortunately, you will need to consult a manual or a “how to knit” reference, to learn how to actually do the short rows. But, if you need pointers, ask. If zillions of people ask, I’ll take pictures next time I make a purse, and show you exactly how to work short rows on a knitting machine.

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This generator is organized for machine knitting, but hand knitters are welcome to knit it. Ask a couple of questions, and I can give you tips for how to knit it. (It’s not difficult, but you will need to work short rows.)

If you do scan the directions, and try to ‘air knit’ the purse, or even really knit it, let me know if you think they are clear or confusing. Posting in comments is the best way. That way, people can read the discussion here, which tends to help everyone.

Or, if you notice a difficulty, let me know if any important information is left out. (Do MKers need to be reminded to hang weights when knitting short rows? I can never decides what’s too much information, what’s too little!)

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I’m much happier with this purse because it’s much, much easier to make than the beige purse. The body of the purse took me about an hour– and that’s only because I stopped and took several pictures as I knit. The straps took about 10 minutes? Not very long.

I’m working on a generator now. (You can see the draft web page here.)

I’m only going to write a generator for this very simple lunch bag style bag. If you want to make some really cool purses, buy Natalie’s book, 101 felted bags..

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