An experiment in dying a ‘blank’… Blank is double stranded Gael Spun from Scrap Exchange… I think 8 balls… about 400 yards. Yarn is pretty scratchy, so not suitable for clothing.
Have attempted dying blanks before, with some success. This has Wilton Food dyes with usual unpredictable results. Purple shifted to purply-pink, blue became teal, and orange is nearly yellow… but it all looks pretty good when unravelled…
The bag pattern calls for about twice the yarn I dyed… I paired it with the black with pretty dramatic contrast. Also added in some odds and ends of specialty yarn (i.e. fun fur) that I’ve collected over the years.
Measurement of bag, before felting: 39” L x 23” W.
Post Felting Angst: UGH UGH UGH… What a LUMP MONSTER;
the black Patons Wool has shrunk SIGNIFICANTLY more than the Gael Spun… Even after Three cycles in my ‘front loader’ - the black is totally felted and the Gael Spun is still about halfway there… I’ve read the front loaders don’t work as well but usually, I can make it work… I don’t know if I need to visit a laundrymat and use a top loader or if the Gael Spun just isn’t going to cooperate.
I’ve got a couple of options if it doesn’t felt any further: 1) cut away the excess Gael Spun to ‘even out’ the zipper opening or 2) add more to the seam area of the black/Gael spun sections and re-felt and hope the zipper opening is somewhat straighter.
I can’t really fix the lumpiness… I guess I’m gonna have to embrace it: viola - Shibori! Sigh.
06-03-2016
Cut the insides of the really tight areas (i.e. the squares) and steamed it like crazy and it wasn’t so lumpy. The felting seems to be holding it together in spite of the cut bits…
The directions for attaching the strap indicate to attach to the ‘non-decreased’ side of the bag (i.e. without the zipper)… After completion, it always felt like stuff was going to fall out (I have narrow shoulders and have to really sling the bag back to keep it on.) I snipped the stitches at the base of the bag and reattached it (with several more rows of un-felted black) and reattached it below the bottom of the zipper… MUCH better weight distribution. Get soooo many compliments on this bag. I still haven’t lined it - usually not a problem unless I’ve got some knitting in it (the pointy ends sticking out make me downright dangerous in crowds!) I Love This Bag.
ChaoticK notebook 
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