03/02/13 - Another commissioned project! Making a felted bag to hold spreader bars. It’s design is similar to a yoga mat bag, just taller and thinner. Hopefully the mathing all works out.

03/09/13 - Yarn was gotten, mathing was done. Swatching/felting was attempted with no success. Guessing was done and casting on done today … and when I finished with the ball I was on I realized I had made a mistake. The bottom needed to sit flat and it wasn’t. ~sigh~
Ripped it out, back to the drawing board

03/10/13 - Rinse, repeat with yesterday’s problems. I kept increasing in stitches, but I still had the “tenting” problem, though not as bad as yesterday’s attempt.

03/11/13 - New day, new approach. Instead of knitting it bottom-up, I’m going to go top-down. I figured out roughly how many stitches will make a circle that’s 12” wide, and I’ll cast that on and knit it down, and figure out the decrease when I need to knit the bottom. It seems that decreases in multiples of 8 (instead of 6) should work. But I’ll cross that bridge when I get there and need to figure it out.

04/01/13 - Been knitting on this off-and-on. Went to wind another skein. It knotted. Like whoa. Took 8 hours to unknot the thing. Seriously disliking this bag.

04/20/13 - Realized that I didn’t have enough yarn, so I let him know and he decided to add another colour to it. Now instead of a solid grey bag it will be grey and green. I think this will look great when it felts. Still keeping at it. Project due in 10 days, yikes.

05/06/13 - I didn’t finish by my promised due date, but he’s being good about giving me more time. Today I finished the bag. I did a little dance then decide to show just how big it is. Pictures of me laying beside it (I’m 5’6”) and me standing in it. Bag is about 80” and huge. Felting this should be “fun”. Onto the strap!

05/19/13 - Changed the number of stitches on the strap from 56 to 28 - I think it will still be big enough and save yarn.

05/30/13 - Did not have enough yarn for the strap. Got another skein and used almost the whole thing finishing the strap. I seamed it onto the bag and attempted felting today. The bag felted well, the strap … not so much. Had to cut the strap off the bag because it just wasn’t working. Bag is now drying in the bathtub after being stuff with towels, blankets, and wet jeans to help shape it. Strap has been kicked around the floor because of failing.

06/05/13 - The bag is almost done. Bottom is re-enforced, ribbon tie added. Just waiting on N to decide how he wants the handle done and will add it when I have the supplies.

06/11/13 - THE BAG IS FINISHED! He brought over the strap tonight and I rushed to finish it as soon as possible. The fail-felted-strap did have a purpose, and I cut pieces off of it to wrap around the O-ring to hold the strap to the bag. I’m worried it’s not strong enough, but we’ll see once it’s filled with the proper supplies.

I’m so done with knitting bags, and felting. So naturally I plan a felted bag as a present for someone later this year. Awesome.

Pattern Notes:
~ CO 160 stitches
~ Knit in the round for 6”
~ Eyelet Row: K2TOG, YO, YO - repeat around
Second row: knit across, dropping second YO
~ Continue knitting in the round for 78”
~ P all stitches for 1 row, K all stitches for 1 row (markers placed after every 20th stitch, 8 sections total)
~ Decreases for the bottom:
Odd Rows: K all stitches
Even Rows: K2TOG, K to marker repeat to start of round
Knit for 39 rows, moving to smaller cable and DPNs as needed
~ Strap: CO 28; Knit all stitches; stopped when strap measured 81”

New technique learned: How to weave in ends as one knits