FCEC felted bagalong

[allimac]

I am soooo in! I ordered my yarn last week....whooo hooo:yay

[Hooker]

I have the base and 5 rows of the sides finished. It crochets up beautifully and I'm loving the Paton's Wool Yarn that I'm using. I'm hoping to be able to finish and felt it tomorrow.

[Karen C.]

For those who have completed this bag....Did you use the prescribed felting method in the magazine? I prefer felting in the washer and I was wondering if any of you used your washer instead of the sink method. How did it turn out? I'm thinking that there's really not that much difference.

[airmedh]

For those who have completed this bag....Did you use the prescribed felting method in the magazine? I prefer felting in the washer and I was wondering if any of you used your washer instead of the sink method. How did it turn out? I'm thinking that there's really not that much difference.

 

Thanks for posting this Karen. This will be my first felting project so this is definite good information for me to get!!!

[Mel2nsluvsCrochet]

I would love to try this one out but I am going to have to wait until the 14th before I can get my wool yarn to do this CAL....my first felt project

[firemanshunny]

For those who have completed this bag....Did you use the prescribed felting method in the magazine? I prefer felting in the washer and I was wondering if any of you used your washer instead of the sink method. How did it turn out? I'm thinking that there's really not that much difference.

 

I used my washing machine. Its a top loader. I put in a pair of jeans and a little bit of detergent. Use the longest cycle that your washer has and the hottest water setting. I checked after the first cycle (14 minutes) and decided to go another cycle of 4 minutes. I used the rinse cycle on cold and delicate. Don't over spin. make sure you rinse enough to get the soap out. set it out to air dry. I put some rolled up towels in mine to get the shape. Hope you are all making progress!!

[airmedh]

Woo hooo!!!! My yarn is finally here!!!!!

[airmedh]

Help please!!!!! I've finished my base and am ready to start the sides, but even after reading all the posts about those of you who have already done this I am lost.

 

Do I finish off my yarn on the last stitch of the base and then start the first stitch for the sides or do I just start the sides in the first sc I just finished? This is the first time I've made anything like this and I obviously have no idea what I'm doing!!!

[allimac]

Ginny,

 

I just received my yarn yesterday and started my base last night after doing a gauge swatch. I decided to go with an "I" hook so hopefully won't run into the problem of running out of yarn . I haven't started the sides yet and might not get to it until tonight but from the directions it looks like you do not fasten off after the base. I would chain 1 and turn to work one sc into each end of row, then do the 44 on the long edge, 16 again into the ends and then 44 again and join each round before starting the next round. When I get there, hopefully tonight, I'll see how it works out. Hang in there!

[Hooker]

I finished this bag last night and it's currently drying on my ironing board.

Before felting

After Felting

 

(if you click on the photos it takes you to my flickr account. I put my hand in the before and after photos so you can see how much, or little, it shrunk up)

 

The Patons wool felts up so nice and soft. I was surprised at the size of this bag. I expected it to be smaller, but when I was done crocheting, it was so big!

 

A run through in the washer felted it right up. Now, how do I get this to dry faster. I actually put it through the dryer last night to get some of the water out. So if anyone is considering this it should be fine, no ill effects.

 

I'm thinking of running it through the dryer on a timed cycle so I can get it dry.

 

Also a question. How many of you HATE doing the sewing part? It takes so long to crochet I just want it done already!

[airmedh]

Ginny,

 

I just received my yarn yesterday and started my base last night after doing a gauge swatch. I decided to go with an "I" hook so hopefully won't run into the problem of running out of yarn . I haven't started the sides yet and might not get to it until tonight but from the directions it looks like you do not fasten off after the base. I would chain 1 and turn to work one sc into each end of row, then do the 44 on the long edge, 16 again into the ends and then 44 again and join each round before starting the next round. When I get there, hopefully tonight, I'll see how it works out. Hang in there!

Thanks Alli! That's what I was getting to, but since I had never done one of these before I wasn't sure if I was guessing right. I'll give it a go this evening and see how it goes!

[airmedh]

I finished this bag last night and it's currently drying on my ironing board.

 

Excellent job Amy!!

[GinaLaughed]

Just to update: I frogged what I had started (hadn't gotten that far anyway) and will start over on Monday when I can get the Patons yarn. I had some Lopi yarn that I was going to use, but the pattern I had been waiting for came in and I decided that I really wanted to make this bag with the Paton's yarn just for the sake of working with a different yarn.

 

I finished this bag last night and it's currently drying on my ironing board.

Before felting

 

After Felting

 

 

I love it, Amy! I especially love the colors. Thanks so much for sharing before and after pics! Great job!

 

Edited to add: Thank you for your help, Firemanshunny! I think I'll do my bag like you did yours and not skip those stitches. That just wasn't working for me.

 

[airmedh]

Hmmmm...I thought I knew what I was doing and started the sides but now I'm in doubt. Should it look like just a big growing rectangle or should the sides stand up?

 

Here is what I did. I finished the base so I chained one and started crocheting around 16 on the short sides, 44 on the long. Now what I have is just a large rectangle which is just getting larger with every round. I think this may have something to do with the whole corner thing. Was I supposed to do something special to make the corners?

[allimac]

GInny

 

THe directions say to make your first stitch of every side into the same stitch as the last stitch of the last side you did, so that there will be two stitches in every corner and every round should have the same number of stitches, so that very soon you should have something resembling a bowl instead of a flat rectangle.

[airmedh]

GInny

 

THe directions say to make your first stitch of every side into the same stitch as the last stitch of the last side you did, so that there will be two stitches in every corner and every round should have the same number of stitches, so that very soon you should have something resembling a bowl instead of a flat rectangle.

 

I was afraid of that....I'll frog the sides and start it again.

[allimac]

Good luck, Ginny, don't get discouraged:hug

[Karen C.]

I got the yarn from Joann's yesterday, so I'm going to begin this project this long weekend.

[allimac]

Ginny, I think that after the first round, you will just sc in every sc and it will be even all the way up. Make sure you keep track of your first stitch of every round with a marker so you know when to join your round with a slip stitch. If this is not correct, I hope someone tells me soon because I'm on round two. This is so exciting to be making something other than baby blankets!!!!

[allimac]

Here is my bag taking shape...I think I'm on round 6 or so. http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/ameschwitz/DSC00149.jpg

[firemanshunny]

Ginny, I think that after the first round, you will just sc in every sc and it will be even all the way up. Make sure you keep track of your first stitch of every round with a marker so you know when to join your round with a slip stitch. If this is not correct, I hope someone tells me soon because I'm on round two. This is so exciting to be making something other than baby blankets!!!!

 

I didn't use a slip stitch at the beginning of the row. I just kept going around in a spiral and moved the stitch marker when I started the next row. When I did the slip stitches at the end of the body it all evened out. Did anyone else do it that way? the directions didn't say to use a sl st to join the rounds so I didn't.

 

Amy (hooker) the bag looks great! I love the colors!

[Lanik]

I didn't use a slip stitch at the beginning of the row. I just kept going around in a spiral and moved the stitch marker when I started the next row. When I did the slip stitches at the end of the body it all evened out. Did anyone else do it that way? the directions didn't say to use a sl st to join the rounds so I didn't.

 

I'm doing that too... I kept going around with no slip stitch at the end of each row. Up to now, mine looks very similar to Alli's bag. So, I think it should be okay.

[allimac]

I didn't use a slip stitch at the beginning of the row. I just kept going around in a spiral and moved the stitch marker when I started the next row. When I did the slip stitches at the end of the body it all evened out. Did anyone else do it that way? the directions didn't say to use a sl st to join the rounds so I didn't. QUOTE]

 

Yes, it's the end product that's important!!!

[airmedh]

Here is my bag taking shape...I think I'm on round 6 or so. http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y109/ameschwitz/DSC00149.jpg

 

I'm very frustrated!!! I just can't get mine to do this. I have frogged the entire thing and will start again tomorrow or Sunday. Right now I just want to scream. I was so excited, but I'm beginning to think this project is beyond me. I've never had much success with rounds.

[allimac]

Ginny,

 

What helped for me was to mark the beginning of each side with a marker and counting to make sure there were 16 each short side and 44 each long side. Only the first round has two stitches in the corner, one for each side that meets at that corner, so for the 2nd and consecutive rounds, sc in each stitch around and you should have the same number of stitches. It may take a few rows to get the shape of the bag. I joined my rows just because I like the evenness and I like to know exactly where my rounds start and end. After it's felted I probably won't be able to see a "seam". Does that help, I hope?