felting takes the pain out of kureyon

Regardless of what's in the WIP basket, I always like to have a simple stockinette stitch project on the go to accompany a good book.

This latest stst project is based on the Laptop Bag designed by Leigh Radford and published in her book Alterknits (and also reprinted in the Fall 2005 Interweave Knits). It seems long long ago in a land far far away that I made this impulse purchase on ebay. I was completely disappointed with the yarn when it arrived - the colourway was just totally unworkable. The only name I can think of that could adequately describe the colourway is something along the lines of "Mummy, the merry-go-round and all that cotton candy made me feel sick to my stomach!" So away the five balls of Kureyon were stowed, deep down in the stash...

Until a glimmer of hope appeared when I saw on someone's blog (can't remember where) that felting seemed to take some of the glare off Kureyon. And thus a plan was hatched.

Although this was meant to be a simple project I could do without looking, I wasn't satisfied with my first attempt (just knitting wide stripes from the ball as the colours presented themselves), nor my second attempt (alternating stripes from the start and end of the same ball), nor my third attempt (alternating stripes from two different balls), nor my fourth attempt (the Lizard Ridge pattern from the top and tail of a single ball), nor my fifth attempt (the Lizard Ridge pattern from two alternating balls). In the end, I realised this was meant to be something simple and easy that I could do virtually with my eyes closed, so I went back to alternating stripes from two different balls.

Here is the end result, with Dog for scale (and colour contrast). Warning - put on your sunglasses!

Felting, I am happy to report, did mellow out the colours entirely. Here is the finished bag, again with Dog for scale.

And another gratuitous photo of the dog and bag.

I liked the simplicity of the pattern - just knit a long rectangle, fold it over, seam it, hem off two ends to make a 'gusset' (seen below), use scissors to cut a handle into the felted fabric. My measurements didn't match those in the pattern and, although my laptop fits in, it's not the handiest way to carry the laptop (which rarely leaves the house anyway), but it'll be good for visits to the veggie shop or for carrying books to the library, or for toting around knitting projects.