Gosh, I’m finally finished with this, for the second time!  The first time around I used yarn that was very soft, it was my first felting project, and I learned the hard way about timing because I left it in the wash way too long.  The instructions said to “wash twice” but I wasn’t using the same yarn called for in the pattern and didn’t think it through carefully, so my bad completely.  The pattern color used here in the photo all came from the same dye lot but each one had a very different color intensity to it.  The top and bottom were brighter and the middle was more muted…I love the brighter but the softer middle probably helps balance out the whole thing much better.  (The color of the yarn fades considerably during felting, so the “brighter the better”). I still can’t figure out what they call those art projects that little kids make where you color like crazy with your crayons and then paint over with black ink and then you scratch off the ink to reveal the colors below, but whatever it is that they call that, I was reminded of it the entire time I was working on this.  I’m scared to death to toss it in the wash but that is exactly where its going because it is filled with lots of weird unknown things…chemicals and bits of straw and I don’t exactly know what.  Wish me luck!

Tossed in wash, finished, done, fini….and the verdict is….well, I’ll leave it up to you, the reader to decide, because the jury is out on this end.  I think I liked it better in it’s unfelted state.  I don’t think I’ll try another felted knitted project again.  Its so gosh darned unpredictable.  It was hard to see all my hard work tossing about violently in the washing machine and globs of the yarn falling off in clumps into the water.  The fuzz sitting on the surface had to be fleeced with a shaver and then in the end I noticed the bottom half felted much more than the top half, and the darn thing didn’t shrink in length as much as it did in width, the exact opposite of what was supposed to happen!

For anyone giving this a try, here are a few recommendations:

1.) DO NOT insert the plastic mesh into the bottom or the cording into the top before felting (I don’t know why the pattern says to do this.)  Doing so prevents the bottom and top from being able to shrink with the rest of the bag.

2.) The length of the i-cord was way too long based on the pattern instructions.  (I have alot hidden inside the bag to shorten it up.)  I also thought the height of the bag was way too tall, so I wouldn’t do as many rows as the pattern calls for.

3.) Be prepared to shave after felting, there was a very large halo of sheep fur on top that really needed lots of shaving.

4.) I didn’t think the ‘grommets’ were an effective way to attach the handles.  I was worried the ‘holes’ might unravel the yarn even if the fabric is firmly felted, there were still strings on the private side that did not felt completely.  Also, it was difficult to completely mush the grommet hardware rings because you can’t clamp down on them from both sides, so the unsecured sections could scratch or even cut someone.  I’ve seen other patterns where the handle was just inserted through the knitting, and that is what I would do for a next time.