Well, now that Mom’s birthday has passed and the present is no longer a surprise, here are the bloggy details!
- Pattern: Gelato Bag (Fiber Trends AC-76 by Bev Galeskas)
- Yarn: Cascade 220 (wool), colorway 2401 Burgundy, 1 skein (only a couple yards leftover) + Bollicine Etoile (mohair/acrylic), colorway 111, just a little more than one ball (only used 6 grams of the second ball)
- Needles: Size US 11 Clover 16″ Circular (also Boye US 10.5 aluminum straights to hold stitches for 3-needle bind-off on handles… I later found my size US 11 aluminum straights in a UFO to be frogged)
- Started: 7/6/08
- Finished Knitting: 7/13/08
- Felted: 7/30/08
- All Finished: 8/2/08 (added clasp)
- Clasp: Clover magnetic closure and copper-colored dragonfly button, bought at Yarns R Us, Hamburg PA
- For those on Ravelry, project page is here
This was a really fast knit — even though it was a whole week from cast-on to bind-off, I didn’t work on it every day. In fact, I think there were at least 4 days or so where I didn’t touch it at all, and there were some days where I only did a couple of rows. The bulk of the knitting was done on the first and last days. It’s also an extremely easy project to make!
The photo on the right shows the bag before felting. The photo below shows the bag after felting, while it was drying. (Click on the photos to see a larger version.) It shrank a little more in height than width. After felting, the purse measured about 12″ across (when flattened), and about 9″ from the center bottom to the opening on top. So, it ended up roughly 75% of its pre-felted size.
I probably could have felted it a little more, but any smaller and it wouldn’t really work for Mom. As it is, I don’t think it will be a daily-use purse for her, since she tends to have a heavy purse full of all kinds of stuff. But I think she’ll still appreciate it and use it at least occasionally.
