Knitted Cell Phone Holder/Purse

Materials:

ball of 4-ply 100% wool black yarn
ball of 100% polyester red FIZZ yarn
1 pr. size #11 needles
stitch holder
1 yard commercial cording for handle or make your own from black yarn

Notes: The basic shape is simply a rectangle folded in half and stitched up the sides. This can be knit on two needles. Or knit a tube using four needles, and you will need to stitch only across the bottom. Or...knit a tube using the following directions, and you will not need to sew anything. In any case, when you will be felting an item, it is important to remember that felting is not an exact science; it is recommended to knit up a swatch of the wool yarn to make certain that it will shrink and felt properly to give you a good solid basis. The fuzzy yarn will not shrink, so it will be all that will be visible to the eye. If you elect to use the directions for tube knitting as given below, it is also suggested to knit up a sample piece so you are familiar with the stitch before knitting it along with the fuzzy yarn. Remember, when knitting an item that you will be felting, it is recommended that you use needles at least one or two sizes larger than those recommended on the yarn package

Steps:

1. Cast on 20 sts. on size #11 needles.

2. Knit first stitch. Bring yarn to the front as you would if you were going to purl the next stitch, insert needle as if you were going to purl, but do NOT purl it. Simply slip it to the right needle. Knit the next stitch. Continue in this manner across the row, knitting every other st. and slipping every other st. You should end this and every row with a slipped P st. and start every row with a k stitch.

3. Knit to desired length. The case demonstrated was knit 8 inches long.

To cast off:

1. K 1st st.

2. Sl next st onto stitch holder.

3. K the next st and sl the first st over it to bind off.

4. Sl next st onto holder.

5. Continue in this manner across the row. You will now have bound off all of the stitches on the front edge. The in-between sts (back edge) are on the stitch holder. Slip these sts onto a needle and bind off in the same way.

6. Measure item. Put into a pillowcase and tie case closed with a piece of string or ribbon. Put into washing machine with a small amount of detergent and a towel or two as agitators. Wash full cycle on cotton (hot) setting. Dry in dryer. If item has not felted enough to please you, repeat the process.

7. Add a length of cording for an over-the-shoulder strap, crochet several lengths of yarn together, make cording by twisting six or more strands on an electric mixer (see below), or braid a number of strands together.

This was made as an afterthought and turned out to be really cute. I cast on 26 sts. on #11 needles using black 100% wool 4 ply yarn and black FIZZ and knit to about 10" in length. The handle was made using several strands of the wool yarn and one strand of the FIZZ cut three times as long as I desired the completed strand to be. Hold all the strands together and tie to one beater in an electric hand mixer and insert in beater. DO NOT insert the second beater. Tie the other end of the yarns to a door handle and step back far enough so the yarn is taut. Turn on the mixer and run until the yarn is almost ready to twist back onto itself. Holding the entire strand taut untie the other end and bring it up to the beater. The yarn will twist itself into a solid strand and will stay that way. Untie the other end. Knot to hold. Cut off any excess and sew the ends to the inside of the purse.