I have been thinking a lot about hope as winter begins. For me, hope can be a small thing, but always with you. We tuck it away. Hold it tight in our hands or worry it with nervous fingers. Small hope gets us through. Hope is big. This tiny bag, is the little big bag that carries hope.

As any knitter knows, the knitted gift is always more than its physical self. It is hours of thought, a meditation often, of love. Of hope. This tiny purse is no different, even though it is quick to knit and easy to finish. This tiny purse is perfect for small treasures. It is a re-usable gift box for a lovely gift. Or it is the gift itself. It is a bodacious stash buster, too, requiring only 20 yards of feltable worsted weight yarn. You don't have 20 yards of one color? Stripes are fun. Maybe more fun. Make several for tiny precious surprises or as a happy container for your stitch markers and other small knitting notions. Attach a key chain and carry it with you.

See the Additional Details tab below for information about Pattern Difficulty, Dimensions, Gauge, Materials, and the Pictured Samples.

Pattern Difficulty 

Requires knowledge of casting on, knitting, purling, increasing, decreasing, knitting in the round on double-pointed needles, binding off, and some hand-sewing during the finishing process and to make the tiny bag linings (if desired).

Finished Dimensions

2 1/2" w x 2 1/2" h (6.25cm w x 6.25cm h)

Pre-Felted Gauge  

20 sts and 28 rounds = 4" (10cm) in stockinette stitch 

Materials

Yarn Requirements

20 yds (18.5m) 

Other Materials

US7 (4.5mm) set of 5 double-pointed needles 

Sewing needle for finishing work

Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

Locktite Super Glue “Extra Time Ccontrol”

1/16 yd (.05m) lining fabric if desired (optional)

2 locking stitch markers in different colors to mark sides

1 Noni A Little Bit of Hope Hardware Kit: 

• 1 Little Flirt purse frame
• 1 Noni seed beads and thread package of white thread with silver beads or your preferred color
• 1 A Noni Design label
  
  

Cover Samples

All of the pictured purses are made with worsted-weight, feltable wool. Pictured bags are made with Stonehedge Fiber Mill’s Shepherd’s Wool

These little purses enchant me. I love making them and I love finishing them, decorating them with beads, with beaded hearts, with little knitted flowers (beaded Cherry Blossoms, for example). They are perfect little gift boxes for the necklace you want to give to a family member, or the ring you saw in the Antique Store window that made your think of your best friend and you had to get it for her, or the "something blue" earrings you lent to a God Daughter so she could have something borrowed and something blue, and a beautiful little keepsake purse to remember everything by. 

These little purses are just the right size for special little gifts, and more than big enough for all the heart felt emotion and meaning associated with such gifts.

These tiny treasures are so sweet and so fast, you can have them ready for a dinner out this coming weekend or next week. Or for that Just Because date with someone dear to you.

Both of these Heart Felt purses fit in the palm of your hand. The smaller one (It's a flat, lozenge-shaped purse that takes only 20 minutes to knit and less than 20 minutes to put in the frame). The extra beading took me a very pleasant hour or two to complete.

The larger Heart Felt has more stitches, so there is more poof to it, and it a little bit taller. It took about 30 minutes to knit and the same amount of finishing time as the slightly smaller purse.

You will adore making these little treats, and your special knitters friends will as well. And anyone who receives one will love them, too.

See the Additional Details tab below for information about finished size, gauge, yarn and other required materials, and other essential information. 

Pattern Difficulty 

Requires knowledge of casting on, knitting, purling, increasing,decreasing, knitting in the round on double-pointed needles, binding off, and some hand-sewing to complete the finishing process and tomake the tiny bag linings (if desired).

Finished Dimensions

2 1/2" w x 2 1/2" h (6.25cm w x 6.25cm h)

Pre-Felted Gauge  

20 sts and 28 rounds = 4" (10cm) in stockinette stitch using a US8 (5mm) needle or needle size to obtain gauge. 

Materials

Yarn Requirements

Each purse is made with 15 yds (13.7m) of worsted-weight, feltablewool. Pictured purses are made with Stonehedge Fiber Mill’sShepherd’s Wool.

The smaller Heart Felt is made in Hot Pink with Bright Red Beads
The larger Heart Felt is made in Zinnia Pink with Bright Red Beads

Other Materials

What you need to make these purses:

US size 8 (5mm) set of 5 double-pointed needles
2 locking stitch markers in different colors to mark sides/round
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends

What you need to finish these purses:

Small gauge ewing needle for finishing work
Locktite Super Glue “Extra Time Control” or “Gel Control” for gluing the purse into the frame
1 Noni Little BIG Love! and More BIG Love! Hardware Kitincludes:

• 1 Heart Felt purse frame in Gunmetal or Antique Brass
• 1 purse chain in matching finish
• 1 Tiny ball of Shepherd’s Wool
• 1 Noni seed beads and thread package of color-matched nylon beading thread with silver-lined seed beads

Totally Optional, If Desired: A healthy scrap or 1/16 yd (.05m)light to medium-light weight fabric such as cotton, cottonblend, dupioni silk, or silk charmeuse lining fabric

Cover Samples

All of the pictured purses are made with worsted-weight, feltable wool. Pictured bags are made with Stonehedge Fiber Mill’s Shepherd’s Wool.

This hardware kit and pattern to make and finish Little and Big HeartFelt purses is available in Antique Brass and Gunmetal finishes. Choose the metal finish, then your yarn, seed beads, and thread combination color to create your custom kit. The pattern is my gift to you!

 The Noni Little HeartFelt and Big HeartFelt Felted Purses Hardware Kit includes the following:

• 1 HeartFelt felted purses pattern (pdf)  \The pattern is our GIFT to you!
• 1 HeartFelt frame in gunmetal or antique brass
• 1 Purse chain in the finish that matches your frame (15" 38cm) clip-on chain for Antique Brass frames and 10" (25.5cm) attached chain for Gunmetal frames)
• Tiny ball of Shepherd's Wool in select colors
• 1 Special triple the seed beads plus 1 color-matched bobbin of nylon beading thread

Would you like a longer chain for your purse?

For antique brass frames: Add a second or even third Renaissance Purse Chain.

For gunmetal frames: Purchase a Classic 27 inch (68.5cm) Purse Chain.

Using Shepherd's Wool yarn colors as the organizing principle, I have created color-matched packages that include a 1 gram package of no. 8 seed beads, and an 80yd (73m) bobbin of nylon beading thread. Each beads and thread combination is packaged in a re-useable, screw-top tin.

There are enough beads in this combination package to finish any tiny - medium-sized purse that requires a purse frame and still have some beads left over for embellishment.

I am delighted to let you know that Stonehedge Fiber Mill will continue to sell their gorgeous 100% USA-Made Merino to Noni! We began our businesses at almost the same time and became connected way back in 2008. Nonibags are best made with this yarn. I am excited about the ways that Stonehedge Fiber Mill is evolving and moving toward hand-dyeing. It's so exciting! More to come as they introduce new future colors and products!

Shepherd's Wool by Stonehedge Fiber Mill is a 3-ply worsted weight yarn made and milled in Michigan by a family-owned and run company. The yarn is fabulously soft, made from fine Merino top. There are 17 saturated solids from which the all the heathers and marls are created for a complete palette of delicious colors.

The yarn is perfect for felting, making it my first choice for felted bags and flowers. Because the colors are so vibrant and alive, Shepherd's Wool worsted and fingering was also my pick for many of the flowers in Noni Flowers - the Shepherd's Wool flowers always look at the peak of floral perfection, rather than garish and overly bright or too muted for flowers at their best.

But it is much more than a great felter: we feel this yarn rivals some top brand Cashmeres, making it wonderful to knit with and a pleasure to wear, even next to bare skin. Once you knit with this yarn, you will find an excuse to make mittens, sweaters, gauntlets, Ella Coats, and hats out of it. You'll find yourself saving even tiny bits so you can make crazy ski beanies out of it. You might not want to knit with anything else . . .

Each 4 oz skein contains 250 yds (228.5m) and knits at about 5 sts/inch on US size 6 - 8 needles.