Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Messenger bag started

I started the messenger bag on Monday night and am making decent progress. I bought some super yummy colors of wool over the weekend and was really looking forward to starting on it, but when I read the instructions closely they weren't making sense. So I emailed the creator of the pattern, Julie Holetz, who got right back to me with clarifications. So nice of her!!

I'm sort of winging it on the color blocks. I currently have three balls of yarn hanging off the thing. Seems to be working but I have no idea if that's what's supposed to happen. Julie did say that carrying the yarn behind the stitches would result in felt that's too thick.

And I could use some advice from any felting experts out there. I live in a condo and the washing machines in the basement are front loading and lock when you start them up, so there will be no stopping the cycle and checking the progress for me. Can this be done by hand?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you know anyone with a top-loading washer? I have heard that front loaders do not agitate in a felting-conducive manner.

As an apartment dweller myself who is too cheap to pay $2.00 each time I want to felt something, I have done a lot of felting by hand. I would not recommend it on something so large as a messenger bag. I have felted small items in my kitchen sink and the result is a lovely little item, but very sore arms and hands. It takes a lot of scrubbing and work. I can't imagine doing a large piece that way.

Good luck.

Michelle said...

I was afraid of that. I'll have to put out a plea to people I know who live in real houses!

Laurie - Autobiography of Craft said...

I too am an apartment dweller, and we actually have a top loading, perfectly felt friendly looking washer in the basement, but the first time I tried to felt something in it I realized- it's NOT hooked up to the hot water line! All the settings use only cold water, ha! Good thing I own no whites and always wash my laundry on cold, or I'd have been wasting my time on the hot setting. So I've done several bags, a set of throw pillows, and a pair of slippers hand felting in the sink or bathtub, but it's not for the feint of heart. Wear rubber gloves and be prepared for sore arms. I also use really hot water (1/2 boiling and 1/2 hot tap) and really cold water (with ice cubes in it) to try to speed things up a bit, but it still really needs a lot of agitation.

Anonymous said...

pattern?