yarn haul of the century!!

This is my yarn haul!! My lys "Andjareena's" in Carrying Place near Trenton, Ontario, had some Kertzer's Persian tapestry yarn that I used for the first 2 little girl's flower purses I made. Being Persian yarn, it is in 3 lace weight strands that can be separated. I use 2 strands for the felted purses. They are 40 yd skeins and usually cost $3.99/skein. Andjareena's called and offered them to me for $1/skein IF I took the entire lot of 107 skeins! My Mom bought it for me for Christmas!! Happy dance, happy dance, happy dance!!

Look at the SIZE of the bag!!!!

 All the colors of the RAINBOW!!!!! (and you can't see all of the colors:0) I have so many ideas for cute little girl's purses that I can't keep up!!! LOL!!

These 2 are reserved for a very special Flower purse. I took a picture of a very unique plant/flower at the zoo a couple of years ago.

Here are some more skeins. The bunch in the left bottom corner are being reserved. They will be made into a special purse for ME:) The comp doesn't do justice to any of the colors. The one color is a gorgeous teal green color!

 Did I mention, I love my Mommy? :*) Thanks Mom!!


The drawback to the Persian yarn is separating it. The full skeins have to be separated a foot or 2 at a time, unwound (untangled? untwisted?) and wound into balls or it tangles dreadfully!! VERY time consuming and you get very sore arms and shoulders!

The other skeins come pre-cut in 3' (I think) lengths, which has it's own problems. Much easier to separate, but far too short to crochet with! Therefore it has to be separated then joined and rolled into balls. I tried tying them together, but it was not very secure and I'd have TONS of ends to trim after felting. I was also worried that the ends might come undone before it felts, leaving a large hole in the purse! Yikes!

I tried crossing the ends a tiny bit, then turning them back the way they came and pre-felting them a bit with a felting needle. I held the very fine strands over my left index finger, then VERY carefully used the needle to try to "felt" the yarn together without poking myself! (I kind of poked it into the yarn from the side, then kind of "sawed" at the yarn) It worked, kind of, but again was very time consuming and not always the most secure:(

A friend of mine on fb, Brenda Bourg, reminded me of the "Russian Join" method. Thanks Brenda! :0) I had thought of it earlier, but decided against it as the strands are so thin I didn't think it would work. When she mentioned it I decided to give it a try (anything had to be faster than the needle felting method!) So far, this has turned out to be the fastest method. I leaves bigger loops than I like, but it seems secure and I don't use too much precious yarn (some colors only have a skein or 2, not really enough for a purse, so has to be worked into the design very carefully).

Here are photos of my Russian joining.

The ends are first crossed over each other and the needle is at the very end of one end. Because it is 2 very thin strands held together I can't just go straight up the yarn. I have to weave the needle back and forth through both strands very carefully.

Here's a better photo of the needle going through the strands of yarn.

And this is the finished "Russian Joined" yarn strands! I'm not fussy about the loops it leaves, but I can work with it and it should felt so you don't even see it.

Voila! The finished, joined yarn wound into a working ball of yarn! :0) I already have a Flower purse design in mind for this nice bright salmony pink color:0) (it's a lot brighter in person:)

These little girl's Flower purses were my 4th order. The customer also requested 2 little girl's matching berets to go with them. They were for a 3 and 5 yr old.

When the polar fleece liner is tucked into the purse, it not only keeps things from falling out, but I think it looks like a rose bud:0)

The hat was lined as well so the wool wouldn't be scratchy.

I always try to add a little Lady Bug button or something else whimsical for decoration to all my purses. After all, Lady Bugs eat nasty aphids:0)

Here's the lighter pink one. I couldn't have made the pattern match any better if I had actually tried to do it! lol What a happy coincidence:0)

Close up of the liner. The wavy part turns up. I just wanted to show that it can be folded down for easier access. This one looks crooked. It looked much better when it was blocked:0)

 Here are the matching berets. The little tiny one was my first attempt...a bit too tiny I think! It would fit a doll!! lol. Maybe I could sell matching dolly hats and purses? :*)

This is a tulip that was growing in my garden a couple of years ago. This was the inspiration for the coloring style used for the purses.

5th Little girl's crocheted felted Flower purse

I have now had orders for 5 little girl's crocheted felted Flower purses!! This is the 5th little girl's crocheted felted flower purse I designed. I did the petals a little differently to change things up. I always try to make each one different so no 2 are exactly alike. This one was worked in Cascade 220 for the pink and green and the purple is Kertzer Rejuvenation.

This is the pre-felted stage.

The petals on this one are a bit farther apart. When it is properly blocked it is nice and round and the petals stand out a bit. It is very cute. Unfortunately I forgot to take pics before mailing it to the customer:(

 

 

The final version had a bright pink polar fleece liner.

Brown felted purse

Here is the first purse, lined and ready to go!

2 more felted purse designs

This is a purse I designed in Mainland yarn (80% baby alpaca, 20% silk). My local Yarn shop offered to display them in her window to try to sell them. It's crocheted and felted. It doesn't show up very well in the photo, but there are 5 dots above the dark brown botton and 3 at the top. They are actually raised bumps. The handle goes from light brown at he bottom and into dark brown as it goes up.

This one is made from Cascade 220 yarn (100% wool). My idea for this one came from a paint idea card from Canadian Tire!

Here's the sketch and said paint chip! I think I interpreted it fairly well. I love the design idea paint chips, they are a wealth of creative ideas and inspiration!

Notice the 3 handles? I made them using a twisted cord method. Very tricky to figure out, but adds a nice touch I think. I'll try to post pics when they are completely finished. The brown one is just drying, then I'll line it, then off to the yarn shop I go! Wish me luck:)