Knitted Impressionist bag

Piecework Magazine for Fall 2025 had a knitting project that appealed to me. Called Water Lilies Tote, by Sarah Kelly, it is a knitted bag inspired by Monet’s Wattler Lilies series. I liked the look of it and thought it would be an interesting knitting challenge. I also happened to have some wool in similar colours, some of which was even in the recommended wool, Rowan Felted Tweed though not enough dark pink for the whole, and none in the dark blue background colour. I did, however, have a whole 200gm ball of Bendigo Woollen Mill’s  10 ply Rustic Tweed in a very close colour, and three pinks to mix.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I gathered resources and set off stitching. 

I found the instructions a little confusing.  I didn't want this to be my debut in double-layer knitting. I didn't have enough of the pink and green wool to work two sides and I had no intention of working it using the intarsia method. I therefore adapted, working the floral front back and forth, using mainly Fair Isle, then a plain back, sides and base. I added a few stitches to the front, to allow for joining. Unfortunately I miscalculated, and ended up needing to adjust the chart. 

It took a while. There are a few places where I used Intasia (the yellow, for example) and but I enjoyed the challenge. There are errors, but I figured felting would cover them.

When I began the plain back, it occurred to me if I created a steek I could knit it in the round, without purling, I seem to have come a long way since my nervous first steek in 2022! It worked a treat. It used the same number of stitches as the front but because the tension was much looser without the multiple colours, it was wide enough to cover the sides as well. The 200gm ball of dark blue ran out a few rows short, so I added a green edge.

I stitched between two stitch lines on the machine and cut the steek. I also used the machine to join the front to the back and form sides.

For the base, I picked up stitches along the lower front and worked across, binding each row into the sides of the base at either end as I went. I found a very close match  to the dark blue left over from  Alice Starmore's St Brigid Aran. It served for the handles as well.

I closed the last seam with knitting, after pinning it to make sure I got it even. 

The result pleased me. It was a decent size but a bit loose and floppy. Since it was meant to be felted, I wasn't concerned.

It's a while since I felted an item in a washing machine. I'd forgotten that when I last did it, I had a top-loading machine. I prepared the bag, but couldn't raise the temperature of the machine on anything but a 140 minute cycle, longer than recommended in felting instructions. I took a punt and tried the  shortest cycle which only heated to 30C. It didn't work, so I tried hand-felting. That barely worked.

I then took a risk, and added it to my washing machine along with my sheets, and washed it on the bed linen cycle, with temperature raised to 60C. Two and a half hours later, it emerged - felted. There are places where you can make out the lines of stitches, but it is well felted.

 It was also damp, but not saturated, after  the spin. I placed a cotton cushion inside it to give shape as it dries.

This, I think, will be a useful and sturdy bag. It looks quite good and has used up about 300 gms of stashed wool.

That's a win on several fronts (and backs)!