1 post tagged “mum's bag”
I mentioned the other day that I had a dyeing-and-felting project on the go, but I didn't want to talk about it until I had given it to the intended recipient, not that I think she reads this blog, but just in case. I finished it this morning, and then gave it away this afternoon, so now I'm free to write about it :-)
This is what I started with - undyed cream wool that I bought in Northern Ireland last year on holiday. I don't really like cream as a colour (and certainly not for something to wear), so I was always semi-intending to dye it, and when my mum asked for a bag for her birthday (although she didn't ask with the intention of me knitting her one), it seemed like the yarn's time had come.
I followed the instructions for food colouring dyeing on Knitty, using the cold pour method: soaked the yarn for about five hours in a pan of water and vinegar, and then spread it out on the table on top of greaseproof paper. I diluted one bottle each of blue and green food colouring with half a pint of water each, and started pouring and smushind the colours to get variegated sea-green colours. Then I wrapped it up in the paper, put it in a baking tray, and into the oven for two hours at about 110C. When it came out the liquid left in the tray was all clear, so the dye had exhausted, and when I washed it (after letting it cool down!), no dye came out. It took about three days to dry, so I was desparately impatient by the time I was finally able to wind it into balls :-)
I was happy with how it looked in the skein,
hanging up in the bathroom to dry, but I was even happier with how it
looked in the ball - all the colour-changes that looked sharp in the
skein mellowed in the ball and it was absolutely gorgeous :-) Still is,
in fact, because I've still got one ball to use!
Then it was into the washing machine in a tied-up pillowcase, with a load of jeans. One cycle on 'fast wash' at 60C to see how quickly it was going to felt, then three cycles on 'heavy soil' at 60C. It still wasn't quite as felted as I'd hoped (not felted enough to cut and trust it wouldn't unravel), but the feltedness didn't change much between the last two goes, so I don't think it would have done much more.
Drying the finished item was much, much quicker - just a couple of hours. I steam-ironed it into oblivion, and then poked a hole for the end of the strap, using increasing sizes of needle, and tied the strap into the hole with a simple knot. I considered various sorts of fastenings for the flap, but didn't come up with any I liked enough, so I left it for Mum to pick her own fastening (we agreed on a wooden toggle, which we'll buy next time we see each other and I'll attach then; in the meantime if she needs to fasten it, she'll use a safety pin). She seemed pleased with it, and amazed at the contrast with the scraps of original cream that I used to tie the parcel.
