TriMiters - A Felted Bag

I finished the mitered triangle bag! I'm really pleased with the results. I designed this bag to wear with jeans. My favorite "what do you wear when it's not really dress up, but not exactly casual" outfit is a pair of totally expensive jeans with a long black cabled sweater and black turtleneck. This bag goes perfectly with my trendy duds and gets lots of oohs and aahs.

I call it TriMeters - it's based on mitered triangles tumbling in a pinwheel pattern across the body of the bag. The written instructions are much more complicated than the process - once you've knitted one triangle, it all flows quite logically.

Enjoy!


TriMiters
A mathematical felted handbag by Knitternall

Materials:

• 2 skeins black worsted wool
• 1 skein denim blue worsted wool (I used Cascade 220 for both)
• Size 10 1/2 straight needles
• Size 10 1/2 circular needles
• Size 10 1/2 double-pointed needles
• Four silver D-rings
• Set of black shoulder-length purse straps (I found mine at www.umei.com)

The main design for this handbag is based on a mitered triangle. Six contiguous triangles create a pinwheel pattern across the main body. You will begin with the pinwheel section, four sets of six mitered triangles.

Definitions:
SK2po: slip 1 purlwise with yarn in back, knit 2 stitches together, pass slipped stitch over (also known as a double decrease).

SSK: Slip 2 stitches purlwise, knit both together through back of stitches.

K2tog: Knit two stitches together knitwise.

Directions:

SECTION 1: Pinwheel Mitered Equilateral Triangle Pattern
(You will change colors on the right side - RS.)

With 10 1/2 straight needles:
Row 1: (RS) With blue wool, cast on 37 stitches using long tail method.
Row 2: (WS) K17, SK2po, K17
Row 3: With black wool, K2tog, K14, SK2po, K16
Row 4: K2tog, K13, SK2po, K14
Row 5: With blue wool, K2tog, K27.
Row 6: K2tog, K11, K2po, K12
Row 7: With black wool, K2tog, K9, SK2po, K11
Row 8: K2tog, K8, SK2po, K9
Row 9: With blue wool, K2tog, K17
Row 10: K2tog, K6, SK2po, K7. Break blue wool (you'll weave in end later).
Row 11: With black wool, K2tog, K4, SK2po, K6
Row 12: K2tog, K3, SK2po, K4
Row 13: K2tog, K1, SK2po, K3
Row 14: K2tog, SK2po, K1
Row 15: K1, K2tog, pass second stitch over first stitch, and fasten off.

Pinwheel Diagram

Pinwheel #1
Follow instructions for Basic Mitered Equilateral Triangle to knit Triangle #1.

With right side facing, pick up 19 stitches along base of Triangle #1 (you just cast off in the middle of the base).

Cast on 18 stitches. You now have 37 stitches on your needles.

Triangle #2: Follow instructions for Basic Mitered Equilateral Triangle. You now have two triangles.

Triangles #3 - #6: Continue this pattern, always picking up stitches form the base of the previous triangle, until you have five triangles completed.

To close the pinwheel, seam together Triangle #6 to Triangle #1 with blue wool yarn.

Pinwheel #2
Cast on 19 stitches. Pick up 18 stitches from any side of any triangle in Pinwheel #1.Follow instructions for Basic Mitered Equilateral Triangle, and create 6 new triangles for Pinwheel #2.

Pinwheel #3
Pick up 19 stitches from Triangle #4 of Pinwheel #2. Follow instructions for Pinwheel #1.

Pinwheel #4
Pick up 19 stitches from Triangle #4 of Pinwheel #3. Follow instructions for Pinwheel #1.Join Pinwheel #4 to Pinwheel #1 by seaming sides of the continuous triangles (Triangle #4 in Pinwheel #4 and Triangle #1 in Pinwheel #1) with blue wool yarn.

The center row of pinwheels is now complete.

Now, create a straight field for the pinwheel by knitting mitered triangles in black wool along the top, between the 5th triangle of one pinwheel and the 6th triangle of the adjacent pinwheel. These are NOT equilateral triangles as in the Pinwheel. The angle is much wider, so these mitered triangles will bind off to fit the new angle.

Mitered 120 degree Triangle Pattern
With black wool

Row 1: With RS facing, pick up 37 stitches, 19 from Triangle #5 and 18 from Triangle #6 in adjacent pinwheels.
Rows 3, 5, and all other odd rows: K2tog, knit to center 3 stitches, SK2po, knit to last 2 stitches, K2tog.
Rows 2, 4, and all other even rows: Knit across.
Repeat last two rows until you end with K2tog, SK2po, K2tog.
Knit a row.
Sk2po and fasten off.

Knit the same triangles across the bottom of the pinwheel row, between the 2nd triangle of one pinwheel and the 3rd triangle of the adjacent pinwheel.

SECTION 2: Top Of Bag
With black wool and 10 1/2 circular needles, with RS facing, pick up stitches along tops of Mitered 120 degree Triangles. Knit in round until this section is 2-3" from pick-up row. Bind off.

With blue wool, add knitted I-Cord trim between Mitered 120 degree Triangles and 2-3" black border by picking up stitches from triangles.

I-Cord Trim
Cast on 5 stitches on a 10 1/2 double-pointed needle.
*Slide the stitches back to the beginning of the needle.
Knit 4.
Knit the 5th stitch together with the next stitch in the mitered triangle. Do not turn.
Move the needle with the stitches to left hand.
Pull the yarn across the back of the cord and slide the stitches to the other side of the double-point needle.*
Repeat from *.

When beginning and end of I-cord meet, bind off and weave ends together to create a smooth line.

Finishing
With black wool and tapestry needle, stitch base together.

Felt bag: Place bag in zippered laundry bag. With a small amount of detergent, wash in hottest possible water cycle of top-loading washing machine, checking in ten-minute increments for felting progress. Once you're satisfied, let bag go through rest of rinse/spin cycles.

Block bag by stretching and pulling until it's fairly straight, then placing it on a large box wrapped in plastic. Add more plastic bags until bag has a firm form. Let air dry (may take 2-3 days).

Attach your choice of handles. I used leather straps and d-rings. I made small holes in the felted wool with a seam ripper, just big enough for d-rings to pass through. I then added leather straps, as seen in photo.)

Thanks to Michelle (Michelle's Romantic Tangle), here's a suggestion for the myriad ends these triangles produce. Make sure they're on the "inside" of the bag. Then, after you felt it, CUT THEM OFF! You don't have to weave them in! Thanks, Michelle, for helping me update these directions.

I welcome suggestions and questions and will gladly clarify the instructions as needed!