The Land of the KnitaSaur

Felted Camera Case

Shortly after I learned to knit, I discovered knitting was much more fun if you shared what you were doing with other knitters. With a lack of other knitters around, I turned to the internet. But, of course, to share knitting over the internet, you need pictures. So, off I went to buy myself a camera. I bought the camera, and carried it around in my purse for a little while, but you know purses. They tend to be full of stuff that may just be dangerous to have near a loose camera. I checked a few stores, and didn’t see any that were purse-sized and at least somewhat
attractive. I decided I may as well use my newfound skill of knitting to make one suited to my needs. I felted it to give it a bit of strength and added an inner liner and a button to keep it closed. Voila! A purse-sized pouch that keeps my camera safe from purse contents and is even in colors that I like!

Difficulty Level
Easy
Gauge
Before Felting
20 sts=5.5 inches
20 rows= 4.75 inches
After Felting
20sts=4.25 inches
20 rows=3 inches
Techniques Used
Knit
Purl
Seam
Felt
Size
Small (3×1x2)
Medium (3.5×1x2.25)
Large (4×1x2.5)
Note: Instructions on how to custom fit your own camera are included.
Materials
Noro Kuyeron (100% Wool, 50g, 100m)
Size 11 US straight needles
Tapestry needle
Button
Optional: A small amount of lint-free cotton
Sewing needle
Matching thread

Pattern Notes
Gauge: I didn’t do a conventional gauge swatch for this pattern, as it is difficult to measure stitches after felting. Instead, I did a swatch of 20 stitches by 20 rows, and measured that before and after felting.
Felting: Felting is an unpredictable process. For the swatch, I felted it through a hot wash, cold rinse cycle on my washing machine
three times with a couple of pairs of jeans to add agitation. For the camera bag itself, one and a half cycles gave the same measurements. Also, the fabric will not felt evenly lengthwise and widthwise. This means that the knitted fabric before felting will appear to be the wrong dimensions.
Seaming: Due to the fact that it will felt unpredictably, you may wish to do the seaming after felting and blocking the piece. This will mean that you need to sew the fabric after felting, which is a bit more difficult. I chose to seam loosely (so the seam wouldn’t pull on the fabric) before felting, Do what you want, and good luck!

Pattern
Small:
CO 26 sts
p all sts
k to last st, m1, k1 (27 sts)
p all sts
k to last st, m1, k1 (28 sts
p1 st, m1, kp to end (29 sts)
k to last st, m1, k1 (30 sts)
p to last 3 sts, p2tog, p1 (29 sts)
k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1 (28 sts)
pto last 3 sts, p2tog, p1 (27 sts)
k all sts
p to last 3 sts, p2tog, p1 (26 sts)
k all sts
p all sts
BO 12 sts, k14 , CO 9 sts

Medium:
CO 28 sts
p all sts
k to last st, m1, k1 (29 sts)
p all sts
k to last st, m1, k1 (30 sts)
p all sts
k to last st, m1, k1 (31 sts)
p to last st, m1, p1 (32 sts)
k all sts
p to last 3 sts, p2tog, p1 (31 sts)
k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1 (30 sts)
p all sts
k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1 (29 sts)
p all sts
k to last 3 sts, k2tog, k1 (28 sts)
p all sts
BO 12 sts, k16, CO 11 sts

Large
CO 31 sts
p all sts
k all sts
p to last st, m1, p1 (32 sts)
k all sts
p to last st, m1, p1 (33 sts)
k all sts
p to last st, m1, p1 (34 sts)
k1, m1, k to end (35 sts)
p to last st, m1, p1 (36 sts)
k1, k2tog, k to end (35 sts)
p to last 3 sts, p2tog, p1 (34 sts)
k1, k2tog, k to end (33 sts)
p all sts
k1, k2tog, k to end (32 sts)
p all sts
k1 k2tog, k to end (31 sts)
p all sts
BO 12 sts, k19, CO 12 sts

All
Work st st for 7 rows
BO 9 (10, 12) sts, p to end
Work st st for 20 (22, 24) rows.
BO all sts.

Finishing
At this point, I seamed the edges together very loosely with close together stitches, leaving the longer, curved flap unsewn. (Match the colors of the diagram
together) The edges to do not line up perfectly, as they will felt down at different
rates to match up. I then used a cardboard cutout the dimensions of my camera to block the felted peice to the right size.
Alternatively, you can felt it without
seaming, block the edges to to the right dimensions, and then sew it together,
matching the colored edgers together.
I also added an inner liner of lintless cotton to protect the camera from the wool. To do this, cut out a piece of cotton (sleeve from an old t-shirt works great):
Small – 4 inches by 3 inches
Medium – 4.5 inches by 3.5 inches
Large – 5 inches by 4 inches
Fold it in half lengthwise, seam along the long edge and the bottom, making a little pouch. Sew this into the felted bag.
Sew a button to the front of the bag (the larger side with no flap) around the middle of where the flap will fall. Cut a buttonhole through the flap.

Random Chart. Click here for a big version.

The Math
Using the felted swatch divide
the size of the swatch by the number of stitches (ex: 4.25 inches/20 sts=0.2125). Let’s call it Y.
and rows (ex: 3 inches/20 rows=0.15) This on is Z.
You will first cast on along the longest edge. Take the length of your camera, add the width and at least one inch, divide that number by Y to get the number of stitches to cast on. (ex: 4+1+1=6/0.2125=~28 sts). To figure out how long to work those stitches, take the width of your camera and divide it by Z. (ex:2.5/0.15=~17 rows). You can make the flap curve by increase for the first half of the rows and decreasing an equal number of stitches for the second half.
To finish the flap and begin the bottom, cast off all but L/Y stitches (ex: 4/.2125 = approx. 19 sts), work those stitches across then CO W/Y stitches (ex: 2.5/.2125 = ~12 sts) for the bottom.
Work these stitches for H/Z rows (ex: 1/.15=~7 rows). CO the number of stitches you cast on, leaving only L/Y.
Work L/Y sts for the rest of the bag. You need to do enough rows to cover the width and height of the bag, so H + W / Z = # of rows to work. (ex: 2.5+1=3.5/.15=~23 rows).
BO all sts.