Felted Purse and Impromptu Scarf

I decided to make a felted purse for the silent auction at my son's preschool. The last time I made a Sophie bag I had just discovered felting, and it was a great project to get me started. Even though my skills have advanced since then, I still appreciate the brilliant simplicity and thriftiness of the pattern. I had some Patons Classic Merino in Rosewood which I have been wanting to destash, so away I went.

I knew I wasn't going to do the handles from the pattern, so when I reached the top of the bag and had a lot of yarn to spare, I decided to knit a flap. I worked it by binding off all but the back stitches, knitting straight for about 25 rows, and then binding off 2 stitches at each end until I liked the shape of the flap - probably 8 rows with the decrease in all. I learned in a past felting calamity that flaps often become skinny and wonky when felted. I decided to try and prevent this by adding an edging. Luckily I happened to have some brown Patons which miraculously matched the Rosewood. I used it to pick up stitches around the flap and worked 6 rows in garter stitch.

Now I wasn't sure what to do about a handle, since it is difficult to know just how small the bag is going to get when felted. And, in my experience, Patons Merino goes from 60 to 0 in about 5 minutes. So in preparation for the unexpected, I made 3 30" long i-cords over 6 stitches.

As you can see, the bag did felt down quite a bit, from 13" wide and 10 1/2" tall pre-felting to 8" wide and 5 1/2" tall post-felting, and the i-cords shrank about 10". Happily, the edging did its job on the flap, and it retained its rounded shape. I braided the 3 i-cords (they were still a little wet when I did, so hopefully they will dry thoroughly) and sewed them to the sides of the bag. I'll definitely need to do a better job of securing them, but I couldn't resist taking a few pics beforehand. I haven't decided whether or not it needs a button or snap.

While the bag was felting, my 4-year-old decided that his new friend, Toa Hahli (a Happy Meal Bionicle toy that he chose from the treasure chest at school last week) needed a scarf to keep her warm. With i-cords fresh on my mind, I quickly whipped up this little number. Isn't she lovely!?