AuburnChick's Adventures

I’ve had some great questions since posting my felting tutorial yesterday.

Kelly wanted to know what the difference is between eyelets and grommets?

Glad you asked, since I just found out myself!

Eyelets have two pieces: a washer with a barrel attached (much like a grommet), and a washer with teeth…

One eyelet set

Grommets, on the other hand, have sets containing washer/barrel combos and domed washers with no teeth…

One grommet set

From what I can surmise, eyelets are useful for “grabbing” and adhering to material.  Grommet parts get “smooshed” onto the items they are being attached to and adhere by being crimped together.

Kelly also asked why one of the bags required more yarn than the other.

Hmmm…I wondered that myself.  I think that one reason was that the strap of one bag was shorter than the other bag.

Maybe.

I did weigh the bags before they were felted, so I know my numbers are correct.

It could be that the difference in the yardage/weight was due to the varying thickness of the yarn.  Noro Kureyon is notorious for having thick and thin sections.  It can take a little getting used to, but when things are felted, it really doesn’t matter a whole lot as far as appearance goes.

Another reason could be tension.

I might have had a tighter tension for the second bag (I was subbing when I knit half of it).  When you knit tighter, you use less yarn…especially when you’re making multiple projects using the same pattern and are going by round count instead of measured “done-ness.”  By that, I mean that I didn’t knit the bag (unfelted) to certain dimensions.

Three skeins will give you ample yarn for your project.  I suggest knitting the straps a full six feet in length.  It’s a pain to do i-cord for that long, but it ensures you get one suitable to hang over your shoulder.

Another reader commented that it was too bad I couldn’t sell these bags.

Yep…it is too bad, but I’m going to honor the designer’s requirements.  She freely offers this pattern — at no cost to the knitter.  One of the main requirements is that the project is not made for resale.

If you are looking for a place to purchase the yarn, I suggest Hook ‘n Needle.  I purchased the pink Noro during one of my soccer trips to South Carolina.

The owner does not have a website, but she gladly takes phone or email orders.  She is a lovely lady…does business the old way.  She said she gladly ships without taking payment first.  She uses the honor system and asks the buyer to add on the cost of shipping when sending payment (she includes an invoice in the package without factoring in the shipping).

Talk about trust!

Here’s the contact info for the shop:

Hook ‘n Needle
28 Diamond Lane
Intersection Center
Columbia, SC 29210
803-772 1335

One last piece of advice.

Before you begin this project, I suggest you wind all three skeins of yarn into one big yarn cake.  These were the first two bags I did this for, and I found it much easier to match up the striping, tie the yarn ends together, and go from there.  I stuck the yarn cake in a large, plastic storage bag and knit from there to keep dog hair off of my project.

Good luck to you and let me know if you have any questions!

Filed under: Knitting | Tagged: black sheep booga bag, eyelets, grommets, Hook N Needle, Knitting, noro kureyon |