Knitted & Felted Pumpkin Shoulder Bag

Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitful Makes

I love Autumn and the run up to Halloween. There are lots of spooky projects to make and I look slightly less weird than when I do this stuff in July.

My first Autumn knitting project is this felted shoulder bag. It's from a PDF pattern I found on Etsy from Arly. PDF patterns are great as they take up no room at all until it's time to print it out and make your project.

For the bag, I used some Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran I had left over from my knitted rabbit back in the days when I didn't know the difference between a 50g and a 100g ball.

The bag is knitted in the round on 5.5mm circular needles with a 40cm cable, giving me a chance to get out my super Knit Pro Rosewood  interchangeable needle set. I found the first couple of rounds hard going - the cable seemed too big for the piece, but then it settled down to a nice relaxing knit.

For the top of the bag, I opted for 2x2 rather than the 1x1 rib in the pattern just because I find it a bit easier to follow the knits and purls. After casting off, I just had the bottom of the bag to sew together using mattress stitch (I confess to becoming something of a convert to knitting in the round after arguing vociferously that it was a ridiculously complicated way of going about things).

The pattern uses braided yarn for the strap. I don't really understand braiding too well so I opted for a six stitch i-cord on 5mm double pointed needles. I then sewed the strap to the bag.

I knew this wool felted beautifully and my bag was a little bigger than it should have been so I sent it for a 60 degree felting trip around the washing machine to make it wonderful and soft (and hide any dodgy bits).

For some added structural integrity, I made a lining for the bag from a beautiful orange spider's web fat quarter I had in stash and some heavy weight sew-in interfacing. I machine sewed the sides of the lining and then slip stitched it by hand into place in the bag.

I did add a magnetic closure to the lining, but I have to confess that the two halves don't match up properly so the bag is slightly skew whiff if you use the closure. Magnetic clasps are terrifying to fit as you have to jab through the fabric with sharp scissors to make the hole for the legs of the claps and there's no going back once it's in.

For final decoration, I used a delightful ceramic pumpkin button from Injabulo and made a little tassel from three strands of yarn.

So, notwithstanding  a slight hiccup with the magnetic closure, a good start to the season...

Melx