The Knitting Fiend

I finished knitting for my felted purse; I can move on to felting.

This is what I did since yesterday:

• I finished knitting across the bottom, consuming stitches until there were only 11 left on the “stitch holder” needle. This left two rows of 11 live stitches facing each other in the corner. I grafted those stitches to close that corner. The technique for Grafting is shown in my sock lesson.
• I decided to knit straps in garter stitch. The straps are 10 stitches wide, which matches the width of the sides and bottom. ( Sort of. Since the purse is knit from top down, and I picked up and knit up, the 10 stitches fit around the 9 bottom stitches. ) I knit until the strap was 26″ — I’m hoping the strap ends up about 20″ long. I grafted the lives stitches to the body of the purse.
• I tidied all the loose ends.
• I wrote measured the actual dimensions of the purse for my records. The purse is 19.5″ around. The bottom is 2 1/4″ – 2 1/2″, depending on whether I measure inside or outside that ridge. The length from the cast on to the bottom is 8″.
• I collected 4 t-shirts and I plant to put them in the washing machine with the purse. The machine will be set to hot, and regular agitation.

Now, I’m ready to felt. I’m crossing my fingers, because I’ve never felted a finished knit object on purpose. Wish me luck!