The Felted Clutch

Ok, so I’ve wanted to felt something for a long time.  Felting seemed like an insurmountable challenge for a deliberate and slow knitter....like me.

Felting is the process of knitting something normally and bigger than you actually need and machine washing it to shrink and “meld” the wool yarn fibers together. 

I’ve been an accidental felter but I never felted on purpose.

In case you haven’t observed, I get bored with my knitting projects easily – perhaps because I am a  dawdler careful crafter.  Also, sometimes the codes are difficult for me to decipher… k2tog, ssk, k1p1, wyib, and so on.   I am a visual learner and I have recently found illumination in the handy knitting tutorials on YouTube (Foodie told me about these). 

Anyway one day, I saw this pattern for a simple, little felted clutch in my Best of Knit It book.

Land sakes!  Even I can make that!  So I casted on the required 24 stitches on size 13 needles, carrying two yarns of wool along the way, and stockinet-stitched my way to a LBC (little black clutch).  As added incentive, I bought a beautiful rhinestone broach to bedazzle the finished creation.

I wanted to make it thinner (more like an old pencil case) than the pattern…yikes!  So, I decided to knit to 15” instead of the required pre-felted length of 18”. 

So here it is...

Bound off….

Sides single crocheted together….

...and ready to felt.  The instructions suggest to wash it in a "delicates" bags....

Felting instructions....

I used Delicare....

While drying, shaped using a book..."Tuesdays with Morrie"....

Bedazzled and (almost) perfect! 

Not bad for a first attempt!  I am not happy with the little fabric balls that appeared on the finished felted piece so I will be very careful to wash with only cotton tee-shirts the next time I felt an item.  Other than that, it felted beautifully!  I think I'll line it with a pink satin fabric too.