Knitting: Felted Bag

I've been knitting again, which explains the lack of posting this week. Sometimes I feel like writing about what I've knit, and sometimes I just feel like knitting more. I'm sure you understand how that goes! :)

This week I tackled a felted bag project. I absolutely love how this bag turned out! The whole process was so much fun.

I started out with the Garter Stripe Square Bag pattern, a free pattern you can access through Ravelry. Since it was originally written in Japanese, and Google Translator didn't help at all with the directions, I searched through other projects to find directions in English. The original pattern calls for you to make 21 squares and then sew them together. I found project notes that described how one lady accomplished the same thing via entrelac. Since I recently learned entrelac and really enjoy it (whereas I hate seaming), I was excited to give it a try.

When it was all done, I was really glad I had done it in entrelac. And although I enjoyed the process, the finished bag was a bit ugly, in my opinion. That's mostly because I don't like the look of garter stitch. BUT after I threw it in the washing machine with a pair of jeans to see if it would felt, I was in love with the finished, felted bag!

I will definitely be making more of these!

ETA: I should have mentioned that I made this from 100% lambswool I upcycled from two thrift store sweaters. I didn't need two whole sweaters, I just used two different ones because I wanted it to be two-color. It used about 1/4 of each sleeve, if I'm estimating it right. You have to have mostly animal fiber to achieve felting.