Attempting...

[MommaChelle]

Alright, seeing Marlo's beautiful new striped bag, I knew I had to give this a try. I received 2 small skeins of 100% wool (top of the lamb) from Natalie in the yarn swap, plus this fuzzy hairy mohair I have (that no one seems to want) and I want to full/felt myself a bag. I am going to do a basic bag shape with the wool, then line the top with mohair - do you think that will look ok?

 

When I am ready to throw it in the wash, I want to put the water level at mini? small? and the temp setting at hot/cold, warm/cold, or warm/warm? and the wash setting at permanent press? I am going to throw my stepsons jeans in with it since they have this huge hole in the knee that we're going to cut to make shorts anyways - just in case this pink wool messes with the color in his jeans.

 

Thanks for any advice to get me started! The wool is sport weight and I am using a K hook with sc stitches.

[MommaChelle]

Here's the bag so far, this is with one skein of the lambs wool - I have one skein left and Im thinking I will need another 2 skeins to finish the bag! This is 16 3/4" wide.

 

[JPorter718]

Oh Chelle, I think your bag will be beautiful!

I want to make another felted bag too... SOON!

 

And I do love the pink combo you're using :thumbsup

[natalie058]

Wow, Chelle, it looks great, sorry I didn't send enough yarn...

[MommaChelle]

Natalie, I inboxed you - did you get it?

[natalie058]

unfortunately I'm unable to access my ezInbox...for the last couple weeks, I just can't get to it and they haven't fixed it yet... :grrrr

 

You can email me at nmnenado@yahoo.com though.

[noricum]

Oooo! Beautiful! ) I love how the colours lined up in the mohair stripe.

[MarvieN]

Oh that's pretty!

 

I don't see that anyone's answered your ?'s so I'll take a stab at it =) You want to use the Hot/cold wash, smallest setting, as for perm. press or whatever, to be honest I hadn't paid attention to that, I think what I did was use the setting that had the longest wash cycle so it could agitate longer (on ours it's like 15 mins before the spin/rinse cycle) I let it spin but stop it before the rinse, check it and send it through again till I like the look, then let the cycle finish. Don't forget the pillowcase so the fuzz doesn't clog your washer (also keeps lint from other stuff off your project)

 

This last time I felted I also threw in some of the kiddo's plastic dinosaurs along with his jeans. Figured the bumps and stuff on the dino's would help. I'll post a pic here in a bit.

[HollyM]

Lookin good Chelle! <img border=0 src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/cheer.gif" />

 

I've been kind of scarce because I've been ill. Bronchitis and an ear infection. Been doing a lot of <img border=0 src="http://img28.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/sleeping.gif" />

 

Anyway, if you want to comb some back posts, I know Sampler Lady made several good posts about how felting happens. Short version, the individual fibers tangle up and lock together. You need to shock the wool from very hot water to very cold water. The hot water opens up the scales on the wool fibers (which is why you need real wool) the cold water closes them, locking them together. The more friction/agitation, the faster the individual fibers tangle up. You can do it by hand, but the washing machine is a lot easier on your arms <img border=0 src="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v84/crochetville/hyper.gif" />

 

Having something like real soap and/or vinegar (just a splash) does something to the ph that helps it along as well.

 

A top loader is easier to control/check progress, but it wil work in a front loading machine too.

 

Can't wait to see it finished!

Holly

[RebeccaVelasquez]

lookin really fun so far!!!

[MommaChelle]

:woohoo I received another 2 skeins of the pink wool, same dye lot, in the mail yesterday! Hopefully this will be enough to finish the bag! Thanks Natalie!