Felted Memo Bag revisited

This is the Felted memo bag [Ravel It!] I made as a CAL at Yahoo crochetchallenge in October 2006. In this previous post you can see it pre- and post-felting. I used an old belt as a strap, but I never liked the look of the ripple flap on top of the striped bag. For the past 18 months it has been hanging on the door knob of my yarn room. I thought of this bag while felting this past weekend and came up with a solution for the flap. I turned the ripple flap into an inside pocket for the now flapless bag. I like it a lot better now. Here's the old version for comparison,
and a few photos of the new inside pocket.

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FO: Lacy-Flap Felted Bag

I knew this would be a quick project! The Lacy-Flap Felted Bag [Ravel It!] by Lauren Irving [Ravel It!] of Little River Fiber Arts was a CAL at Yahoo CrochetChallenge. I'm decided to leave off the flowers, but the bag itself I love. I showed the pre- and post-felting photos with all the dimensions in a previous post. I did off course make a few pattern changes so here are the details.

Project details:
Pattern: Lacy-Flap Felted Bag [Ravel It!]
Main Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool [Ravel It!]
Colorway: Dark Gray
Flower Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes [Ravel It!]
Colorway: Hush
Hook: Brittany K - actually ~6.75 - 7.0mm
Pattern Changes: Just a few!

• Bag size was a bit different from pattern. My K hook is a bit larger than 6.5mm so my base piece was about 2 inches longer (5" x 17"). The bag itself was not as tall as the pattern - I crocheted until I ran out of yarn (after making the flap and strap).


• The shaping was a bit more dramatic, because it started wider and I feared running out of yarn, I started making the decreases every row instead of every other row.


• Strap was made with hdc instead of sc.


• I felted the bag and strap more severely than the flap. I wanted to maintain the lacy look of the flap and wanted the bag to be smaller and to lose stitch definition.

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CAL - WIP: Lacy-Flap Felted Bag

Startitis continues here at Yarning with a Hook. Unlike the others, this one will get to completion sooner as it is a CAL I agreed to do in March. For this CAL at Yahoo CrochetChallenge we're doing the Lacy-Flap Felted Bag [Ravel It!] by Lauren Irving [Ravel It!] of Little River Fiber Arts. I'm still not sure about the flowers, but the bag itself I like. I'm using Cascade 220 Wool in dark gray and my new Brittany (6.5mm) K hook (closer to 6.75mm). Crocheting went very fast and here are the final pieces...
Before felting.
Dimensions: Bag Base - 5" x 16"; Top opening - 5" x 12" ;
Bag folded flat - Top - 17", Bottom - 21". Height 12.5"
Flap - 14" x 6" ; Strap - 30" x 1"

and after felting...
Dimensions: Bag Base - 3" x 10"; Top opening - 3" x 7";
Bag folded flat - Top - 13"; Bottom - 10"; Height 8.5"
Flap - 11" x 5" ; Strap - 20" x 0.75"

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Felted Clutch Purse

I'm not the gal who collects purses. I use bags and totes to carry my stuff. If I don't want a big bag, I put my license and a credit card in the back pocket of my jeans. But, this time, I need a clutch. My dh has won another award and we are invited to a snazzy dinner at the Boston's Four Season's Hotel with the CEO & Board of Directors for his company. I have my sister and another babysitter lined up. I found a dress - it's a dark navy sleeveless sheath dress with a matching jacket - and minutes ago UPS delivered my shoes. I just needed a purse. So a few days ago I had an idea for a felted clutch. I hunted through my stash in search of dark navy wool, but instead found Cascade 220 Quatro Black/Blue plied yarn. I thought it might be dark enough and set out to just wing it. My goal was a clutch about 8.5-9" x 5". So what do you think?

Felted Envelope Clutch

Hook : K (closer to 7.0mm)
Yarn: Cascade 220 Quatro
Prefelting dimensions:
12" x 19" unfolded,
12" x 11.5" folded, flap open,
12" x 8" clutch
Postfelting dimensions:
8.5" x 9" flap open,
8.5" x 5.5" clutch

Ch 36 (until I had 12 inches)

Row 1: hdc in 2nd ch from hook and each ch across, ch 2, turn. (34 hdc)

Row 2-33: Repeat row 1 until fabric measures 15-16" (or desired length)

Row 34: hdc dec over first 2 stitches, hdc in next 30 st, hdc dec over last 2 stitches, ch 2, turn. (32 hdc)

Rows 35-40: repeat row 34 six more times. Fasten off. (20 hdc).

Fold bag bringing row 1 to row 31 (3 rows before the first decrease row). Whipstitch the side seams. FELT! Embellish with vintage pin. Here I use my dad's college ring given to my mom before he left for WWII and later made into a pin.