Finally! I have finished the two felted bags. This is my little basket bag from a pattern in Crocheted Pursenalities, although I did omit the basket "weave" effect. Really love how the handles came out with the plastic tubing inside. I added a magnetic snap under the flower on the flap. It is a small bag, but can still hold quite a bit.
I am proud to announce that I attempted the circular needles (torture sticks) again and this time - success! What a pleasure they are to use. I found a shorter pair (60cm long) and it worked much better. And just look at this felted bag - no seams to sew! This is a variegated wool from Elle and felts like a dream. I finished knitting the entire bag in two evenings, threw it in the washing machine two nights ago, and tonight it was dry. A very simple bag. All I did was to sew a button on the flap.Now I am just waiting for my brown wool to arrive from Thimbles Quilt & Knit in Cape Town and i can finish the striped bag I am busy with. I used dark brown, green and yellow in a random pattern. Love the effect.
Oh, and I spent this evening trying to crochet a coin purse to fit into a small metal frame. Not as easy as it looks! I am battling to find some simple patterns on the internet. More on that soon.
I cannot wait to start on Kate's challenge tomorrow night! Nothing like sewing a new bag.
This is close up view of the bag body and the flower I also crochet and felted. I am so pleased with how the flower came out! There is still some stitch definition on the bag but not much. I used the pretty little basket pattern in my new book Crocheted Pursenalities. I wanted to do a test run of this pattern before I use my horrendously expensive wool to make a grey and pink basket bag as is displayed in the book. 
The handles show an almost weave-like pattern once felted. I assume it is because you felt it with the plastic tubing inside.
I also felted samples of some of my new wool. I am a bit disappointed with some of the samples, like the dark grey, top right. I had high hopes for this wool but it did not felt at all. The cheap dark green wool, bottom right, did felt. The light grey, middle right, is the horrendously expensive wool for my next basket bag. It did not felt too great, but I think I can improve on it. The bright green, top left, is local handspun and dyed angora wool. It felted great but shrunk almost 50%! It is also extremely difficult to crochet with all the fluff. I think I will have to knit with this wool as it will be easier to see the stitches. 
This book has 20 fabulous crocheted, felted bag patterns inside! I will post some pics of some of my favorites as soon as I have taken them. I am already busy making one as you can see in the picture in a lovely mustard yellow and rusty brown colour. This is local felting wool from Elle that I found on sale at my local Bernina store on Monday. 
Success! The Sublime Angora Merino wool felted beautifully! Sadly, the bag is a long sausage shape and the top opening is rather small, but I am still so pleased that it worked! Here is a close up of the felted bag...
Love it! The little bow I knitted also felted beautifully, although a little uneven.
As for the black and orange round bag, not so good...
And this wool yarn is supposedly specifically for felting. Umph! I am also a bit miffed because I only read on a blog today that you must stitch the opening of the bag closed to avoid this gaping. Overall not too bad, but not as good as the first bag.
As for my samples, mixed feelings. The pink is a sample of the 100% wool yarn from Portugal which I had high hopes for, but it did not felt so well. The purple is the same Portuguese wool. It took me several days to knit this piece! The wool is very thick. Felted OK.
This yarn is amazingly soft! At almost $8 a skein I expect it to be! It is Sublime angora merino yarn that consists of 80% extra fine merino wool and 20% angora and seems to be made in England. I found a free pattern here 
I also crocheted this round bag. I found the idea here 
I also found this fabulous 100% wool yarn in a local shop. It is from Portugal. It also feels so soft but so difficult to knit with as it is double knit. I am trying to split the pink yarn but this seems very difficult as it breaks. 
So I have been surfing the internet and found a very basic tutorial on how to crochet a simple circle. It is all about increasing the stitches gradually. The hole is too big as well as felting makes holes even bigger! Best to unravel and start again. I can already see this lovely bright orange and black bag, felted and hanging from my shoulder....although I can use a nice hat as well...
