Knitted Purse

Last fall I took a felted purse knitting class with my friend Amanda. It was a great project because I was able to learn some new knitting techniques, including knitting in the round and also doing seam stitches. I had finished most of the purse before Christmas, but then put it away temporarily to get ready for the holidays. In February I realized that I hadn't finished it, so I picked it up again and finished knitting the purse straps.

One of the new stitches I learned was the kitchener stitch - it's a cool technique that creates a smooth seam from the strap to the purse. However, one problem: I attached the strap to the wrong side of the purse top. YIKES! I had quite a time tearing out the kitchener stitch and produced some random holes in the process. Oops, that's what happens with an inexperienced knitter. The great news was that since I was going to felt the purse, the holes would magically disappear and no one would be the wiser. (Hmm, then why am I disclosing all of this on my blog? Oh well, I believe that telling about one's mistakes adds character.)

Felting knitted projects is such a neat process - like I said it covers up all of your knitting mistakes and creates a very neat look in the end!

The felting process shrinks your project quite a bit - here's a photo of the purse before felting (felting = wash in hot water in the washing machine):

Here's a photo of the finished product, I was so excited that it turned out this well!