Spirit Bowls

Spirit Bowls by Kiki Geiger

Project Overview

Spirit Bowls are beginner-friendly knitted containers designed by Kiki Geiger. This downloadable PDF pattern provides instructions for creating decorative bowls in two sizes—a larger bowl suitable for storing knitting supplies and a smaller bowl perfect for gifting or holding small treats like chocolates. The project combines basic knitting techniques with wet felting to create finished vessels with a soft, textured appearance.

What You'll Make

The Spirit Bowls pattern includes directions for both a large and small bowl size, allowing crafters to choose their preferred finished container dimensions. These bowls are functional yet decorative, making them suitable for home organization, gift-giving, or personal use. The felting process creates a durable, finished fabric that softens the appearance of the knitted stitches.

Knitting Techniques and Stitches

This project introduces knitters to double pointed needles, a fundamental tool for circular knitting that may be new to beginners. The pattern uses basic knitting increases to shape the bowl structure. One of the key advantages of this project is that felting forgives mistakes—minor imperfections such as missed increases or uneven knitting are minimized or hidden during the felting process, making this an ideal pattern for developing knitting skills without pressure.

Customization and Embellishment Options

The Spirit Bowls pattern encourages creative personalization. Knitters can:

• Leave the bowls in their simple, solid-color form
• Add a stripe of novelty yarn during knitting for decorative "bling" and visual interest
• Embellish the bowls after the felting process is complete with additional details

This flexibility allows crafters to customize their bowls to match personal style preferences or intended uses.

Yarn and Materials

The pattern demonstrates results using specific yarn selections, though crafters may substitute based on availability and preference. The pink bowls shown in the pattern use Nashua "Natural Focus" Ecologie Wool, a 100% naturally dyed wool yarn in Color Robia (NFW0077), with yardage of 80 meters per 50-gram ball. The purple bowls feature Sensations Bellezza Collection "Cosetta", a wool-nylon blend (68% wool, 32% nylon) in Color Purple 1644, offering 117 meters per 50-gram ball.

For optional novelty yarn striping, the pattern references Muench Yarns "Fabu", a viscose-polyester blend (90% viscose, 10% polyester) in Color 4305M, providing 72 meters per 50-gram ball. Double pointed needles are required to work the circular construction of the bowls.

Felting Process

The wet felting step is essential to completing the Spirit Bowls. Felting transforms the knitted fabric into a denser, more structured material suitable for holding its bowl shape. This process also blends yarn fibers together, creating a cohesive finished appearance that conceals minor knitting inconsistencies and adds durability to the final container.