The Knitting Fiend

My neighbor Bijou suggested we get together on once a week to knit. So, we got together on Wednesday. It turns out she’s hankering to hand knit a felted purse in the round, and wants to see how to make one. So, I told her: “That’s easy! I’ll design one.” Now, I have to do it.

So, Wednesday night, I knit this swatch: This is how I knit the swatch: Using Size 10 American needles, I cast 20 stitches. I knit a few rows in garter stitch. I then started to knit the 2 edge stitches in garter stitch but the center 16 stitches in stockinet. When the swatch was longer than it was wide, switched to all garter stitch, knit a few rows and bound off.

Here are some swatch statistics:

• Number of Stitches in stockinette part = 16. Width of stockinette part= 4″.
• Number of Rows in stockinette part= 28.Length of stockinette part= 5 1/4″.

I wanted to felt this, so I threw the swatch in the laundry with a load of sheets. The swatch shrunk about 20% in length and only a little in width. It is moderately felted, and I like the feel. I ironed it, and it looks like this.

These are the new statistics:

• Number of Stitches in stockinette part = 16. Width of stockinet tepart:= 3 3/4″.
• Number of Rows in stockinette= 28.Length of stockinette part= 4″.

I sketched out what I want my purse to be like, and did some calculations using the statistics from the felted swatch. I started knitting the purse. Tomorrow, I’ll show some progress on the purse, and maybe add some directions.