I got the idea for this bag because two friends of mine are using the Interweave Knits pattern. I didn't want to shell out for the pattern (sorry, Interweave) so I searched online for other knitter's ideas. I found this entry in a blog and I used her specs to create my bag.
Her bag was 25" by 22" when folded, and after felting it turned out to be 17" by 13.5", a loss of about 8" during felting. I measured my laptop (a 14" by 10.5" by 1.5" Dell) and decided I would want a post-felting size of 17" by 11.5" to ensure enough room for the thickness and for some handles. That meant that I would need to have a 25" by 19.5", and because I wanted to make my stripes go up and down rather than across, the pre-folded, pre-felted piece would have to be 50" by 19.5". That, my friends, is a lot of knit, knit, knit; purl, purl, purl.
You bet your sweet ass I knit a swatch first. I always knit a swatch. Anyone who doesn't is a fool.
So here's a picture of the finished piece pinned to my rug:
When I tell you that this thing took forever, I mean it. I had to take breaks to knit a couple of baby hats and to begin a sweater while I worked on this thing. It was mind-numbingly boring. I'm sorry, but it was.
But, this afternoon, all the work suddenly became "worth it" when I felted the bag. It took me two cycles to get it to the right size (I thought it might take three!) And here is a picture of the bag next to my laptop. I stuffed it with newspaper to shape it for the laptop. Now I just have to wait until it dries...
2 comments:
It usually takes me at least three goes in the washer before my knitted stuff felts to my taste. And I can understand how it took so much time, with all that striping. But it looks so good, so it was sooo worth it!
(I found your blog through my college buddy Kel. I write stuff about knitting too.)
Oh, on my other blog, http://publicprivate.livejournal.com/
Post a Comment