Booga Bag Pattern by Julie Anderson: The Ultimate Guide to Knitting and Felting Your Own Bag

There are certain knitting projects that earn a permanent place in the hearts of crafters everywhere, and the Booga Bag by Julie Anderson is absolutely one of them. This beloved felted bag pattern has been a staple in the knitting community for years, capturing the attention of beginners and experienced knitters alike with its satisfying construction, vibrant personality, and surprisingly straightforward technique. Whether you stumbled across it on Ravelry, spotted someone carrying one at a farmer’s market, or inherited the pattern from a knitting friend, you’re in exactly the right place to learn everything you need to know about making your own.

This guide walks you through the history of the Booga Bag, what makes it so special, the materials and tools you’ll need, a thorough overview of the knitting and felting process, customization ideas, and tips for getting the best possible results. By the time you finish reading, you’ll feel completely ready to cast on.

What Is the Booga Bag?

The Booga Bag is a knitted and felted tote-style bag, originally designed by Julie Anderson and published through Knitty, the beloved free online knitting magazine. It became one of the most popular free patterns in knitting history, racking up thousands of projects on Ravelry and inspiring countless variations and spin-offs. The pattern is beloved because it sits at a perfect intersection of accessibility and reward: it’s simple enough for someone who has mastered basic knitting skills, yet the finished product looks like something you might find in a boutique shop.

The bag is worked in the round on circular needles using a single skein of Noro Kureyon yarn (or a similar bulky, feltable wool yarn), which gives it that iconic striped, color-pooling look. Once knitted, the bag goes into the washing machine and comes out felted — shrunken, dense, sturdy, and absolutely gorgeous. The transformation from a floppy knitted tube into a structured, professional-looking bag is one of those magical crafting moments that makes people fall in love with the process all over again.

Why Knitters Love the Booga Bag

Ask anyone who has made a Booga Bag why they love it, and you’ll get a list of reasons that sounds almost too good to be true. First, it knits up quickly. Working with bulky yarn on large needles means you can go from cast-on to finished knitting in a weekend, sometimes even faster. For knitters who are used to spending months on a sweater or shawl, this kind of quick payoff is genuinely exciting.

Second, the felting process is both forgiving and transformative. Felting hides a multitude of sins — uneven tension, slightly wonky stitches, minor gauge inconsistencies. The washing machine does the work of agitating and shrinking the fibers together, and the result is a smooth, uniform fabric that looks intentional and polished. For newer knitters especially, this is enormously encouraging.

Third, the finished bag is genuinely functional. It’s the right size for everyday use — big enough to hold a wallet, keys, phone, a book, and a few other essentials, but not so massive that it becomes unwieldy. The i-cord handles are sturdy and comfortable to carry, and the felted fabric is remarkably durable. Many knitters have Booga Bags that are still going strong after years of regular use.

Finally, the Noro Kureyon yarn — or any hand-dyed, self-striping wool you might substitute — makes the bag look complex without requiring any complicated color work. The yarn does all the artistic heavy lifting, shifting from one color family to another as you knit, creating a one-of-a-kind striped pattern that you couldn’t replicate exactly even if you tried. Every Booga Bag is genuinely unique.

Materials You’ll Need

Before you cast on, you’ll want to gather your supplies. Here’s what you’ll need to make a classic Booga Bag following Julie Anderson’s original pattern.

Yarn: The traditional choice is one skein of Noro Kureyon in a colorway you love. Kureyon is a 100% wool yarn that felts beautifully and comes in stunning, nature-inspired colorways. Each skein is approximately 100 grams and 220 yards, which is just enough for the bag. If you want to substitute, you need a 100% animal fiber yarn (not superwash, which is treated to resist felting) in a similar weight. Avoid any yarn blended with synthetic fibers, as these won’t felt properly. Popular alternatives include Cascade 220, Malabrigo Worsted, or other feltable wools.

Needles: You’ll need a US size 10.5 (6.5 mm) circular needle, 24 inches long, for the body of the bag, and two double-pointed needles in the same size for knitting the i-cord handles. Some knitters prefer to work the i-cord on slightly smaller needles for a tighter handle — this is a matter of preference.

Other supplies: A tapestry needle for weaving in ends, a marker or two to mark the beginning of your round and any increases, scissors, and access to a washing machine. You may also want a mesh laundry bag to protect your washing machine from excess lint during felting, and a towel or two to help with agitation.

Understanding Gauge and Felting Shrinkage

One of the most important things to understand about felted bag patterns is that pre-felting gauge matters less than it does for a fitted garment. The finished dimensions of your bag depend on how much your specific yarn felts in your specific washing machine at your specific water temperature. That said, you still want to be in a reasonable range of the recommended gauge before felting so that your bag ends up close to the intended finished size.

Julie Anderson’s original pattern calls for a pre-felting gauge of approximately 3.5 stitches per inch in stockinette. The bag knits up larger than the finished dimensions you want, then shrinks down significantly in the wash. The original pattern produces a finished bag that is roughly 13 inches wide and 11 inches tall after felting, though your results may vary.

It’s a great idea to do a small gauge swatch and felt it before knitting the whole bag, especially if you’re using a yarn other than Kureyon. This lets you see how dramatically your yarn felts and helps you predict what your finished bag will look like. Felt your swatch in a small lingerie bag in the washing machine, dry it flat, and measure it before and after to understand the shrinkage ratio.

Overview of the Knitting Process

The Booga Bag is worked entirely in stockinette stitch in the round, which means you knit every round — no purling required. This makes it a wonderfully meditative project. Here’s a general overview of how the construction works.

You begin by casting on stitches and joining to work in the round, being careful not to twist. The base of the bag is shaped using a series of increases worked at regular intervals, creating a slightly rounded, oval-like bottom. As you work the increases, you’ll notice the fabric naturally curving and taking on a three-dimensional shape.

Once the increases are complete, you knit straight (no increases or decreases) for the body of the bag. This section grows quickly because the stitches are large and the yarn is bulky. Many knitters find this portion especially satisfying because you can watch the colorways of the Kureyon yarn changing as you work through the skein.

Near the top of the bag, you’ll bind off, leaving a hole for the i-cord handles. The handles are worked as a two-stitch or three-stitch i-cord using your double-pointed needles. I-cord is a simple technique where you knit a tiny tube of stitches — you work the stitches onto one needle, slide them to the other end of the needle without turning, pull the working yarn across the back, and knit them again. After several inches of this, you develop a tidy little rope of knitting that becomes the handle.

The handles are sewn or integrated into the top edge of the bag, and then the whole project — bag and handles — goes into the washing machine for felting.

How to Felt the Booga Bag

Felting is where the magic happens, and it’s also where some knitters feel the most nervous. Here’s how to approach it with confidence.

Set your washing machine to the hot wash cycle with the lowest water level setting. Add a small amount of liquid laundry detergent — this helps lubricate the fibers and encourages them to felt together. Place your knitted bag inside a zippered pillowcase or a mesh laundry bag. This keeps the bag from shedding directly into your machine’s pump and also gives you the ability to easily check on progress without stopping the cycle entirely.

Add a few other items to the load — old jeans, towels, or tennis balls work well — to increase the agitation. More agitation means faster, more even felting.

Start the machine and check on your bag every five to ten minutes. Every washing machine is different, and felting times vary. You’re looking for the individual stitches to become indistinguishable — the fabric should look dense and smooth rather than loopy and open. The bag will also be significantly smaller than when you started.

If the cycle finishes before the bag is fully felted, simply run it through again. Don’t let the machine go into the rinse and spin cycle until you’re happy with the felting; the cold rinse water can shock the fibers in a way that’s difficult to reverse, and the spin can create permanent creases.

Once you’re satisfied with the felting, let the machine rinse and spin normally. Then remove the bag and shape it while it’s still wet. This is your opportunity to make it look exactly the way you want — stretch the opening, smooth the sides, adjust the proportions. Stuff the inside with plastic bags or a towel to help it hold its shape as it dries. Dry it flat or hang it over a dowel, and allow at least 24 hours for it to dry completely. Resist the urge to speed things up with a dryer, as the heat can over-felt the bag or cause uneven shrinkage.

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Even with a pattern as forgiving as the Booga Bag, a few common issues come up for knitters.

If your bag is too large after felting, run it through another hot cycle with plenty of agitation. Felting is a one-directional process — you can always felt more, but you can’t undo felting — so it’s better to check frequently and err on the side of under-felting on your first pass.

If the bottom of your bag feels uneven or lumpy, this is usually a shaping issue that can be smoothed out while the bag is wet. Work it with your hands, massage the fabric, and stuff it into the shape you want before it dries.

If the handles feel stiff or too thin, consider knitting replacement handles using slightly more stitches or a thicker i-cord. Some knitters also cut long lengths of leather cord to use as handles instead, which gives the bag a different but beautiful look.

If you notice that your felted fabric has thin spots, this can happen when the yarn didn’t have enough agitation in those areas. Rubbing the thin areas by hand in warm, soapy water for a few minutes can help.

Customization and Variations

One of the reasons the Booga Bag has remained popular for so long is how easily it can be customized. Here are some ideas for making the pattern your own.

You can change the colorway dramatically by choosing a different Noro colorway or by using a hand-dyed yarn from a small indie dyer. Each skein will produce a different striping pattern, so even if you make multiple Booga Bags with the same colorway number, they’ll each look distinct.

Consider knitting the bag in two coordinating colors by alternating skeins every few rounds or holding two yarns together. Holding two strands of fingering weight or sport weight feltable yarn together instead of using a single bulky skein can create beautiful heathered effects.

You can add a lining to the finished bag using a half yard of fabric sewn into a simple rectangular pocket. A lining adds structure, protects the interior, and gives the bag a more polished finished look. Many knitters add a magnetic snap closure at the center of the bag’s opening when they line it.

Some knitters embellish their finished Booga Bags with needle felting — adding designs, flowers, or words to the surface using a barbed needle to tangle colored wool roving into the felted fabric. This technique adds another dimension of creativity and personalization.

You can also experiment with the proportions. A taller bag with fewer increases at the base gives you a more structured bucket-bag silhouette. A shorter, wider bag makes a great market tote. Once you understand how the increases and straight knitting interact with felting, you have a lot of freedom to modify.

Where to Find the Pattern

The original Booga Bag pattern by Julie Anderson is available for free on Knitty.com, which is where it was first published. You can also find it through a simple web search, and you’ll find it listed on Ravelry under Julie Anderson’s designer page with thousands of project photos from knitters all over the world. Those project photos are a treasure trove of inspiration — you can scroll through and see the full range of colors, yarns, and customizations that other knitters have used, which is endlessly helpful for deciding on your own approach.

Ravelry also has a notes section on each project where knitters share what worked for them, what they’d do differently, and any modifications they made. Reading through these notes before you start is one of the best ways to set yourself up for success.

Final Thoughts

The Booga Bag by Julie Anderson is one of those rare patterns that deserves every bit of the praise it receives. It’s quick, it’s accessible, it produces a functional and beautiful finished object, and it introduces knitters to the genuinely delightful world of felting. Whether you’re making it for yourself, as a gift, or simply because you spotted a skein of Noro yarn in a colorway you couldn’t resist, the process is going to be deeply satisfying from start to finish.

There’s something wonderful about sitting down with a single skein of yarn, a pair of circular needles, and a pattern that asks very little of you technically but rewards you enormously in the end. The Booga Bag is proof that knitting doesn’t need to be complicated to be meaningful, and that sometimes the simplest projects are the ones we return to again and again.

So pick your colorway, wind your skein, and cast on. Your future favorite bag is waiting.