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April 29, 2010

Earlier this month, I told you about my foray into the world of knitting as a more productive solution to non-stop stress. Well, I’ve completed my first project. Yay!

As you might recall, my early attempts  produced mistakes as in dropped stitches = holes:

So, I unraveled and re-did rows as much as required to finish the purse. It looked like an hourglass — wide on the ends, narrow in the middle — before I seamed up the sides.

Then, over the weekend following instructions from my friend and knitting teacher Leslie Petrovski (over at Nake-id Knits), I tossed all my hard work into a washing machine of hot water. She entitled the handout “Fearless Felting,” but I have to say I was terrified that I’d ruin the whole thing.

Thanks to the washing machine’s agitation action and the help of a rubber gardening shoe, the part-wool, part-mohair yarn felted up like a beast.

I rinsed the heck out of it and waited and waited for it to dry so that I could sew on the handles. It was finally warm enough (and not windy) Tuesday, so I laid the purse outside in the sun.

Here is the finished product.

Not bad for a girl who didn’t know knit from purl just a few weeks ago.

I’m pretty sure Leslie picked a felted project as our first one so that any mistakes would disappear in felting. So, for now, I’m sticking with that theme.

Next up, is a lime-green purse in this somewhat more complicated pattern.

About the Author Roxanne Hawn

Trained as a traditional journalist and based in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, USA, I'm a full-time freelance writer for magazines, websites, and private clients. My areas of specialty include everything in the lifestyles arena, including health and home, personal finance and other consumer interests, relationships and trends, people and business profiles ... and, of course, all things pet related.

I don't just love dogs. I need them in my life. Seriously.

  1. Loved the final result (and all the hard work)! But was curious about the rubber gardening shoe. How did that fit into the project?

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