I admire knitted, felted goodies…mostly from
afar. I love to examine them, and stroke them, but as much as I love
all these beautiful creations, I have been dubious about the idea of
making felted objects for myself.
Floral Felted Bag
For example: Everyone seems to love felted handbags, and I have seen
some really pretty ones. However, I’m pretty hard on my tote bags and
purses; I’ve been known to wear through a really good leather bag in a
couple of seasons. I think I am a bit leery of putting that much work
into something that I know would have a very hard life in my
possession.
The other reality of my life is that I have cats, cats who love
curling up on mom’s hand-made items. One always has to look at
potential projects from the cats’ point of view: would it make a good
cat bed? If the answer is yes, then one carefully weighs the
possibilities for keeping the item out of the cats’ reach along with
the cost of yarn and other considerations before deciding what to make
and what not to make. A lovely felted intarsia bag would make a fine
cat bed, and thus a poor Sandi project.
Still, I love to look, and to touch, and to see all the ingenious
ways that folks come up with to make fabric into something that is as
useful as it is beautiful. And I admit that I am sorely tempted to make
Amanda’s Squatty Sidekick purse, simply because it is very practical,
and pretty—and yet not so intricate that if I found a cat sleeping in
it my heart would be broken.
Besides: The thought of tossing my knitting into the washing machine
is strangely seductive. I am normally so careful NOT to put my knitting
into the washer. And wouldn’t it be fun to carry around something I had
knitted all day long?
Perhaps I could knit the pieces for Amanda’s bag, and then knit an
extra square of cat-sized proportions, so that the cats would have
their bed, and I would have my bag.
my cat Sparrow thinks this is his bed
Oh, wait. They are cats. Everything I have is theirs.
I think I will still make the bag. I can put my knitting in it and
keep it at work to take to knitting-friendly meetings, thereby avoiding
the danger of it becoming a cat bed.
I am off to find some lovely felt-able wool.