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Two Felted Bowls

Materials:

  • Worsted Weight Wool yarn, approximately 50 grams for each bowl (cannot be Superwash wool). I used Aran Marl from Crystal Palace Yarns. Other good choices would be Plymouth Galway, Lamb’s Pride, or Nature Spun.
  • Double Pointed Needles, size 10 ½
  • Stitch Markers

Finished Sizes (finished size can vary depending on how long you felt it)
Bowl #1, a nice round plump bowl: Base approx. 4 ½” diameter, height approx. 3”.
Bowl #2, a sort of oddly shaped football-ish bowl: Base approx. 7” long x 4” wide, height approx. 3”
For larger bowls, you could use thicker yarn, or use two strands of worsted

Note: the numbers in parentheses at the end of the rounds indicate how many stitches you should have total.

Instructions for Bowl #1, a nice round plump bowl

Cast on 6 stitches.
Row 1: Knit
Row 2: KFB all stitches (12)
Distribute the stitches evenly on three DPN’s. Join to knit in the round. Place Marker.
Round 3: *K1, KFB* repeat around (18)
Round 4: *k2, KFB* repeat around (24)
Round 5: *k3, KFB* repeat around (30)
Round 6: *k4, KFB* repeat around (36)
Round 7: *k5, KFB* repeat around (43)
Round 8: *k6, KFB* repeat around (48)
Round 9: *k7, KFB* repeat around (54)
Round 10: *k8, KFB* repeat around (60)
Rounds 11 – 12: Knit two rounds
Round 13: *k9, KFB* repeat around (66)
Rounds 14 - 18: Knit 5 rounds
Round 19: *k10, KFB* repeat around (72)
Rounds 20 – 24: Knit 5 rounds
Round 25: *k10, K2tog* repeat around (66)
Rounds 26 – 28: Knit 3 rounds
Round 29: *k9, K2tog* repeat around (60)
Rounds 30 – 39: Knit 10 rounds
Round 40: *k8, K2tog* repeat around (54)
Round 41: *k7, K2tog* repeat around (48)
Rounds 42 – 46: Purl 5 rounds.
Bind off in Purl.

Instructions for Bowl #2, an oddly shaped football-ish bowl

Follow the instructions for bowl #1 through round 10 (60).
Round 11: Knit 30, place a 2nd marker, knit to end of round. You’ll want to differentiate this marker from your Beginning of Round (BOR) marker, either by using a different color or a different style of marker.
Round 12: KFB, knit to 1 stitch before marker, KFB, slip marker, KFB, knit to 1 stitch before BOR marker, KFB. (64)
Round 13: Repeat round 12 (68)
Round 14: Repeat Round 12 (72)
Round 15: Repeat Round 12 (76)
Rounds 16 – 17: Knit 2 rounds
Round 18: Repeat Round 12 (80)
Rounds 19 – 20: Knit 2 rounds
Round 21: Repeat Round 12 (84)
Rounds 22 – 28: Knit 7 rounds
Round 29: K2tog, knit to 2 stitches before marker, k2tog, slip marker, k2tog, knit to 2 stitches before BOR marker, k2tog. (80)
Rounds 30 – 31: Knit 2 rounds
Round 32: Repeat round 29 (76)
Rounds 33 – 34: Knit 2 rounds
Round 35: Repeat round 29 (72)
Round 36: Knit 1 round
Round 37: Repeat round 29 (68)
Round 38: Repeat round 29 (64)
Round 39: Repeat round 29 (60)
Round 40: Repeat round 29 (56)
Round 41: Repeat round 29 (52)
Rounds 42 – 46: Purl 5 rounds.
Bind off in purl.

Felting instructions

  • Place bowls in a mesh bag or zippered pillow case in your washing machine. If felting bowls of different colors in one load, I strongly suggest putting them in separate pillow cases, not mesh bags
  • Set washer to hottest setting with highest agitation possible. Add just a few drops of laundry detergent or wool wash.
  • Let bowls agitate in machine, checking them every 5 minutes or so. The will seem to get bigger before they start shrinking & felting. Your final felted fabric should be fairly stiff, and you shouldn’t be able to see any individual stitches. Do not let them go through the rinse or spin cycle, as this can cause permanent creases in the fabric. 
  • When felted the desired amount, remove from the washer and rinse by hand in cold water.
  • Wrap in a towel and squeeze out as much water as possible. Shape bowl, and let it dry.

Abbreviations

KFB: knit in the front & the back of the stitch (increase)
K2tog: knit two stitches together as one (decrease)
BOR: Beginning of round