Lion Brand Landscapes

#1

So, I am trying to make my sister a diaper bag, and the pattern calls for Lion Brand Landscapes, but none of the stores near here carries that… poo.

I could get it online, but this is something that I am sort of wanting to see and touch before I get it and make it into a bag for her. Basically, as far as I can tell, the pattern calls for it because it is 50% wool and 50% acrylic which means it will felt to a point, but can be washed off if a baby spits up on it. Oh, and it is a super chunky/roving weight yarn. Does any one know a substitute that I could get to meet those specs? I need a total of 825 yards - which is 15 balls of the landscape at 7 bucks a piece online… ouch…

Any help would be wonderful!

#2

YIKES! That’s an expensive bag for baby stuff!

#3

I bought two balls of it to make a scarf that I never ended up actually making (I have a block against finishing scarves). The colors are nice, but the yarn itself isn’t anything special. Other people have used it and said that it doesn’t felt so much as it looks really beat-up. I might find another bulky weight yarn that’s more washable and cheaper if I were making a bag out of it.

#4

i understand your pain, i spent $7.99/ball for 6 balls for a diaper bag. thank god i love my girl friend.

#5

I got my balls of Landscapes at Joann Fabrics and ACMoore has it too. I knitted a scarf with it and I used big needles and a lot of yo’s and it came out beautiful. IT is soft. :XX: :XX:

But on Joann Fabrics’ website they had a felted bag using Landscapes. I tried it and after felting it three times it still did not look good…so I eneded up throwing it out! So for felting I did not care for it. But for knititng a scarf I loved it. I would buy it again but not felt it.

Hope that helps you!

#6

celine dear…we would like to see a pic please! :heart:

#7

Meg, I’ll have to “learn” how to put pictures on here. My dh is the one that knows computers…I just know how to use them for “talking”. lol.

I could not show you a picture of that bag because I really did throw it away! But the scarf I did keep and I really love it.

But now I am half way done with an Entrelac bag that I am using Noro wool on. This will be felted. I’m taking classes and learned how to knit it. :XX: :XX:

#8

Landscapes was one of the first things I knitted on. It was on sale and, well, my friend and I were poor. We each got two balls and made kerchiefs with long tails that hung down our backs. We knit them on size 17 needles in garter stitch, so they didn’t take very long. I still wear mine; it has muted purples, yellows and blues, so it goes with a lot of stuff.

As far as knitting with it now, I think it’s really plastic-y and not too fun. I just knitted up a swatch and tried to felt it. It looks like I felted wool and spent about a year walking on it. It’s pilly and doesn’t look very ‘felted’, as the stitches are still very visable. It could be because I have had this particular yarn in the stash for over a year, but that has never made a difference before.

So, basically, still pretty yarn but, to me, not great to work with.

#9

Thanks all, this has helped me a ton…

So… If I want to felt a bag for a diaper bag… and make it so that my sister can wash it if need be… would going full wool be a viable option? Just tell her to use cold water when trying to get the spit up out? I am at a loss… maybe I’ll make her something to wear after the baby is born. She’s been making a quilted bag for her diaper bags.

#10

I guess I would not make a diaper bag out of felted wool. I think felted wool is great for purses but not for diaper bags. You really can’t wash a felted bag.

I knit up a cellphone/ipod cozy last night from Landscapes and then felted it. It did felt and easily too. It does have a nubby sort of texture. I think that’s because the wool felts and the acrylic sort of pops out of the wool. Not sure how to explain it. But it doesn’t felt in the same way that something like Paton’s Merino or Cascade would felt. It’s felts up in a funky textured way. It looks cool, I think.

But no way would I make a diaper bag out of it. It’s expensive. I did use a 40 percent off coupon for my skein of Landscapes. I think I’d certainly felt up a bag made out of it and use it as a purse.

#11

Just my opinion but I would skip the diaper bag and knit her something nice to wear. Somthing that has nothing to do with her sweet little bundle. Baby stuff is really nice - but somewhere after you begin to show your pregnancy people forget that you were once an individual. Its nice to be reminded :smiley:

#12

why can’t you wash a felted bag? :??

#13

Well, the 100 percent wool is feltable which is what makes it shrink. So you can’t just toss it into the laundry machine which is something that you might want to do if you’re using it as a diaper bag. A good diaper bag is easily washable. I guess you could surface wash the felted bag if you wanted but it’s not easy care machine washable. :slight_smile: If you put your felted bag into the washing machine, it will felt again.

#14

Doesn’t it reach a point where it can’t felt any more, though?

#15

that’s what I mean… I was assuming it would be felted ALLLLLLL the way. And, since it might potentially have poo-poo on it, being felted it could take a good scrubbing… which would make it GOOD for a diaper bag, right?? :?? I don’t have kids though…

#16

I think the problem is this. We are used to felting, so we can handle washing the bag, re-shaping it if necessary, and making it pretty again.

The average non-knitting person (aka “gift recipient”) would NOT know how to do that. They would put it in the wash, look at it afterwards, and throw it in the trash.

#17

Now that is a true possibility… A sweater or an article of clothing people understand has to be reshaped, but a purse… people don’t really think of that needed to be reblocked.

I think I decided to do something else for my sister… maybe some slippers or something just for her… a spring poncho maybe since she’s due at the end of April. Eventually I’ll do a purse for her, but with her expecting young’uns, I am not sure I’ll break out the noro just yet…

#18

ahhhh… didn’t think about that… :shock:

[size=2]you could just include directions, right? [/size]