Felted Wool Satchels

This is what happens when you only work one hour a day and take one class two days a week. Some of you may be envying all my free time, but I'm getting quite bored. The upside is that I have time to make all kinds of crafts, one of which are these wool pouches I crocheted.

I made a rectangle, folded it in half and slip stitched the two edges. I top slip stitched the design in a contrasting wool yarn, then wet felted it. The last step was to hand sew in the zipper. I used wool yarn as only natural fibers will felt, and then some do so better than others. I bought the yarn for the front lime green one and the rear gray one at Piper's in Salt Lake, the teal one came from Michaels. The former is better and, of course, more expensive, but the fibers fuse together better, which in turn yields greater shrinkage.

I've made several of these...they're perfect for cameras, ipods, or catchalls. Try it!