Felted Fortune Cookies

In honor of the Chinese New Year which was celebrated on January 29th, I whipped up some fortune cookies. No not the edible kind, the knitted kind.



* More pictures below...

I can't begin to tell you how fun these were to make. My gift to you is the "recipe" that you'll find below. Whip up a few and throw them in a chinese food box (you can find them at most craft stores). You can use them as party favors for weddings and baby showers. Write up some naughty fortunes and give them to your significant other for Valentines Day. Keep some on hand to give as gifts. Its a fun way to not only practice short rows but to use up your wool scraps (as you can see, several of my "cookies" are unusually colored). Please, send me pictures of your fortune cookies so I can see how yours turn out.

Keep your eyes open for Felted Fortune Cookie Kits in my Etsy shop in the coming week!


IndigoMuse's Felted Fortune Cookies



Yarn: Cascade 220 (color #8010 is off white) or other 100% wool yarn
Supplies:
Size 10.5 knitting needles ( I used Clover Bamboos)
Darning needle
Sewing needle and monofilament (clear) thread
1/2 inch wide or wide (I used 7/8") Satin ribbon

Gauge: not necessary

Stitches:
Tip - I slip the first stitch of each outside edge row for a neater circle.
K = Knit
Sl = Slip stitch without knitting
W&T = Wrap and turn; knit to the point where the pattern says to turn. Bring your yarn to the front of the work, slip the next stitch from the left hand needle, take your yarn to the back of the work, Slip the stitch back to the left hand needle. Turn your work and place the yarn at the back of your work before knitting to the beginning of the row.

Large Cookie:
Pre-Felted diameter - 8"
Post – Felted diameter - 6"

CO 15 stitches (leave a 12 - 15" long tail that will be used to stitch up the center when finished knitting the unfelted cookie)

1. K3, w&t, k3
2. K6, w&t, k6
3. K9, w&t, k9
4. K12, w&t, k12
5. K15, turn, sl1, k14

Repeat steps 1 - 5 until you have enough wedges to make a complete circle (approximately 14 - 15 wedges). You are not binding off the stitches at the end of each wedge but are knitting wedges together to form a circle.

Stitch the two sides of the circle together with the tail and your darning needle. Stitch center circle closed and weave in ends.

Small Cookie:
Pre-Felted diameter - 6"
Post- Felted diameter - 4.25"

CO 10 stitches (leave a 12 - 15" long tail that will be used to stitch up the center when finished knitting the unfelted cookie)

1. K2, w&t, k2
2. K4, w&t, k4
3. K6, w&t, k6
4. K8, w&t, k8
5. K10, turn, sl1, k9

Repeat steps 1 - 5 until you have enough wedges to make a complete circle (approximately 11 - 12 wedges). You are not binding off the stitches at the end of each wedge but are knitting wedges together to form a circle.

Stitch the two sides of the circle together with the tail and your darning needle. Stitch center circle closed and weave in ends.

Felting:
Put fortune cookies in a zippered pillowcase. Prepare washer by setting it to the lowest water setting, the hot/cold wash cycle and the heavy duty wash setting, if you have one. Add your detergent of choice and some towels or jeans so that the cookies get plenty of friction while washing. Check progress after each wash cycle (you may need to put them through more than one cycle to get them to felt with little or no stitch definition). Block felted cookies until dry.

Finishing:
Using satin ribbon, fabric or paper, write some witty fortunes for your cookies. If you need help, there are some websites below. Insert the fortune in the middle of the cookie. Fold cookie in half. With sewing needle, lightly tack the middle of the cookie closed. There's no need to stitch the entire edge closed unless you want to. Fold in half again, fortune cookie style and tack the inside where the two pieces meet. Voila! Your fortune cookie is finished! Enjoy!

Fortune websites:
http://www.weirdfortunecookies.com/
http://fortunecookie.rleeden.no-ip.com/
http://www.backgroundsarchive.com/fortune.php
http://www.chinaunique.com/cookie/fortune.htm