Those of you who have been following me for a while now will know that I sew and quilt and do a lot of other crafts. Crochet is one of them! And in particular, I love crocheting items for the home and then felting them in the washing machine. It is easy and so fulfilling!

Now I know that there are pundits of the ‘old ways’ of doing everything and to be honest, normally I am one of them but with this project, what made it so appealing and interesting for me was the thought of NOT spending ages felting by hand. I threw the bowl into the washing machine with a bath towel and sat with a coffee and a book until it was finished.

Okay, certainly there are some drawbacks to this. You do have less control over what it happening and you cannot just decide that you are finished and take the item out of the machine. You are in it for the long haul and it is a bit of a nail biter the first time.

But as you can see from the photos, the results are nice, okay BRILLIANT! I could not be happier with a make and it is such fun to come up with new colour combinations. These bowls are perfect for keys, I use one for pins at my sewing machine ( pin stuck into the thick sides and then clips in the bowl). My Mala beads in my yoga studio have their own bowl too.

But the crochet process doesn’t run smoothly sometimes. Daisy is interfering…um… getting in the way and making work pretty impossible helping here and I would like to say that it made the process easier but….

Any way…what do we need to make this and how might we go about it?

You will need:

• a few 50g balls of yarn suitable to felt in your favourite colours. I say a few because this actually refers to the colours and not the amounts. I am using Eskimo by Drops Design which is beautiful and chunky and works up in no time.
• a suitable crochet hook for your yarn. mine is a #8 (L) Amour by Clover
• a large needle for weaving in the ends
• some natural jute twine
• two natural sticks about the thickness of your thumb and 5-6″ long
• your usual crochet needs – scissors, row counters, you know the stuff.
• oh and a washing machine

Choose your colours to suit your mood. I was thinking Autumn thoughts when I wrote this post originally and I thought about those colours but you could do anything at all.

Terms
This is a simple crochet pattern and suitable for confident beginners. 
ch- chain
ss- slip stitch
sc-single crochet (UK double crochet)

So far so good! So let’s get on and make!

Take your first colour and start with a ch 4

SS to form a ring

Row 1: ch 1 (counts as the first stitch) and then sc 9 more stitches into the ring. ss to close (10 stitches)

Row 2: 2x sc into each stitch and ss to close (20 stitches)

Row 3: ch 1, sc into each stitch and  ss to close (20 stitches)

Row 4: ch 1, *sc into first stitch and then 2x sc into second stitch*. Repeat to end of the row, ss to close (30 stitches)

TIP: as you can see from the image below, a stitch marker will help you to keep track of your starting position. This lets you know which row you are on.

Row 5: ch 1 and sc into each stitch then ss to close (30 stitches)

Row 6: ch 1, *sc into first two stitches and then 2x sc into third stitch* and ss to close (40 stitches)

Row 7: ch 1 and sc into each stitch then ss to close (40 stitches)

Row 8: change colour and ch 1.Then *sc into first three stitches, 2x sc into the fourth stitch*, ss to close (50 stitches)

Row 9: ch 1 and sc into each stitch (50 stitches)

Row 10: ch 1 and *sc into the first four stitches, 2x sc into the fifth* then ss to close (60 stitches)

Row 11: change colour and ch 1 then sc into each stitch (60 stitches)

At this point, you will have a big floppy circle with no real structure or resemblance to the finished article. Have faith!

Rows 12- 15 sc into each stitch in a spiral (no need to fasten off each round. This is only done to make nice clean colour changes).

The sides will naturally curl upwards a bit since we are not making any increases now.

Fasten off and weave in the ends. You will be able to tighten up the beginning circle when you weave in too.

Righto! Now you have this big floppy thing and it needs to be felted. Normally, this felting process is wet and time consuming. Not for us!

Put the finished article into the washing machine at 50°Celsius and add a couple of towels or a pair of jeans. Add soap as you would for a normal wash. This helps the felting process.
When it comes out, it still looks a bit sad but here comes the fun bit – p-u-u-u–l-l-l (and none too gently) and mold the felt to a bowl shape. Curl the edges up and ensure that it has a nice flat base.

TIP: I like to find something like a bowl or any suitable shape and use that to give the bowl a shape.

Now leave it somewhere for about three days to dry thoroughly (a bit of patience is required but the warmer weather makes it quicker) and it will stay in this shape.

Finally, sew the handles on. I have used a couple of found sticks because I love the idea of that lovely textural wool and natural wood together.

And here we have the most rustic looking artisan bowl ever! 

I love making these! They are pretty good crochet-and-Netflix projects once you get going and know what you are doing. I have others planned so watch this space!

Happy crafting!

Debbie xx