Cute Fins & Mad Grins

I can't believe these babies are still alive!!

I couldn't believe my eyes when while rummaging through my parents' sock drawers in search of something warm all of a sudden these two mad fellas popped right out of the drawer! Seeing these poor innocent things after being apart for a decade I was moved to say the least.

I had made them for my dad at the turn of last century and now they were there, nestled in the sock drawer at my parents' little summer hideaway, looking very worn but still happy to serve. I pour my heart into most things I knit, and was touched that these awkward, clumsy little creatures had paddled their way into my dad's heart (and feet) into such extent that even after 10 years he still wears them. Aaaawwww, my daddy must love me, or else he wouldn't have kept them. Or maybe he just has a thing for cute fins and mad grins..

Cherry tree hand bag

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. After the Magnolia bag I decided I would never again take on another project that requires so much detailed embroidery.And here we are again, another knitted felted embroidered hand bag done! I'm not publishing instructions this time, as I hope to some day sell a few of these bags I wish to keep them as original as possible and avoid people copying these (though if truely inspired, it only takes an intermediate knitter to figure this one out without me publishing any instructions so good luck with that..)

I'm once again truely proud of myself after creating this bag that was first knitted, then felted. The embroidered theme is a dark coffee shade tree with french knot cherry blossoms in white and four different shades of pink. On the inside there is a beautiful cotton lining with similar colour themes featuring a little pocket pouch for keys and such. The light bamboo handles compliment the teal bag perfectly!

Sunglass case

This little pouch was completely improvised so unfortunately I can't offer a pattern for it. It's perfect for keeping sunglasses unscratched (heaven knows my sunglasses surely would've needed one of these long time ago and are now beyond help).

I used scrap yarn for this little piece, about 50g of Novita Huopanen and used the same principle as in making the Magnolia hand bag, minus the decreases and the handles, in smaller scale naturally. For the embroidery I used DMC six strand embroidery cotton and various different stitches.

Purple coin purse

Oh, gorgeous Finnish summer! It's hot as hell, let me assure you, but can't complain. After another snowy cold winter we truely deserve a summer like this. And I for one am embracing it whole-heartedly. And what better way to enjoy the sunny season than escaping to a primitive, yet lovely little cabin by a clear blue lake. No neighbours, no electricity, no running water. Just gorgeous scenery, a Moomin-beach mattress, BBQ and of course, a sauna by the lake. Truely heavenly! Between attempting to catch melanoma floating half conscious on the beach mattress on the quiet soothing waves and toasting marshmallows on the camp fire at sun set it is best to take a break once in a while in the shade, sit down and do a little needlework while sipping some wine. Perfection! Result: a little scrap yarn knitted felted coin purse embroidered with little fishbones stitch leaves/feathers. Pretty, eh? 

Dragonflies it is

After struggling with these babies forever, they are finally finished. I was aiming for a size 41 and ended up with 39-40. And the dragonflies aren't as refined as I would've wanted, kinda just gave up on them. Summa summarum, I'm not over the moon. But here they are..

Dragonflies??

Oh bugger.. The thing is, after the Magnolia bag I've felt ever so proud of myself and had all the faith in my abilities as a knitter. Now I've come down from that high and boy, how the mighty have fallen.. I was expecting perfection from myself when starting another slipper project. The slippers are quite satisfactory in every other aspect but I'm having major difficulties in decorating them. I've tried embroidered vines, bead flowers, everything. I've started to decorate them a million times only to realize my designs never work and have had to unravel them all. Tonight I thought I'd try make a dragonfly out of seed beads. I'm so frustrated I don't want to undo the decorations AGAIN, but I'm not satisfied with how it turned out this time either.

Now I don't know am I just expecting too much from myself or is there actually something wrong with the design, I just don't know what exactly it is that's preventing me from getting satisfaction from the FO (learned a new craft term recently, apparently it means finished object). So any feed back on the dragonfly is greatly appreciated, be as critical as you please, just tell me what the heck am I doing wrong???

Magnolia Hand Bag

I doubt I've ever been prouder of myself. My goodness. I should award myself somehow for this. I'm speechless. My new hand bag took ages to finish. It was quick to knit, easy to felt, but oh sweet Jebus, what in the world convinced me that embroidering a million tiny leaves was a good idea. Took some time, believe you me. But it all paid off as this is super cute!!

Without further ado, let me present my very simple knitting pattern for a knitted felted hand bag plus embroidery instructions.

Yarn: Viking Naturgarn (50g = ~55m, 100% wool)

6 skeins

Bag:

Cast on 50st on size 6mm 50cm cable needle. To create the bottom of the bag knit flat stockinette for about 20-25 rows. The last row worked flat should be the right side. Then pick up 12st from the short edge, 50st from the long edge and again 12st = 124st. Knit stockinette in the round from there on and begin decreases after about 20-30 cm. Place markers at the corners if you choose and SKP1 (Slip 1, knit 2 together, pass slip stitch over) at each of the four corners on every second row for 5 times = 84st. Knit garter stitch for 8 rows and cast off. Darn in the ends.

Handles:
Cast on 6st on 6mm double pointed needles and knit i-cord: Knit the first row and instead of turning slide the stitches to the end of the needle. Bring the yarn from behind and knit to the end of the needle never turning, but sliding the stitches to the end of the needle after every knitted row. Knit for about 60cm, cast off and darn in the ends.

Finishing:
Sow a plastic bag (see through, not coloured) on the inside of the bag with few loose stitches of cotton yarn so that the inside of the bag doesn't end up felting together. (I personally skipped this step and nothing dramatic happened, but I'd still recommend doing it just to be on the safe side.) 

Toss the bag in the washer along with an old towel etc you don't mind getting hairs all over. Set washer for 40 degrees. Once the program is over shape the bag carefully by hand. Shape the bottom part into a neat square so that it "sits" nicely on a flat surface. TIPS: with a size or two bigger needles you get a looser knit that wont felt as tightly as this did and is less likely to end up this lumpy. For good tips on felting go to: Knitty.com

Embroidery:
For the embroidery you will need approximately 16 skeins of DMC Six strand embroidery cotton, 1 skein per colour unless mentioned other wise :

898 Very Dark Coffee Brown (2 skeins)

3820 Dark Straw

3847 Dark Teal

3812 Very Dark Seagreen

958 Dark Seagreen

3831 Dark Raspberry

3833 Light Raspberry

3354 Light Dusty Rose

987 Dark Forest Green (3 skeins)

989 Forest Green (4 skeins)

Satin Stitch

Fishbone stitch

The branches, the bird and the flowers are created by simple satin stitch. 
The leaves are in fish bone stitch. All stitches are made with all of the six strands of the thread.


1) Start with the branches. I free-handed the whole pattern (apart from the bird, that was the tricky part so had to pencil in the outlines to get started), but you can use this embroidery chart if you please. Click to enlarge and print the image. Then copy it to your felted bag and stitch away! Add the leaves later depending on how much foliage, if any, do you want.

2) After the branches move on to the bird. In the detailed picture you can see the direction of the satin stitches.

3) Then move on to the flowers, starting with a bit of forest green, working up pedal by pedal starting with the darkest shade of raspberry at the bottom, then moving on to the lighter shades as you work your way up the pedals. Few stitches of the darker colors should be enough, the lighter color can be used a bit more, as the pedals narrow down towards their tips.

4) Last but not least, add the fish bone leaves, as many as you please.





5) Add a popper on the inside should you wish. Then shave off gently the excess fuzz from the surface with a razor, sow on the handles, add a seed bead to make the eye for the bird and you've got yourself a mighty fine bag!