Before Joe & Lyn went West, they stopped by the group. We looked at Carol's felted tote (a work in progress) and talked about making handles. Then Joe gave me a tote he had knitted and "allowed' me to felt it. When talking about felting, there's always the discussion about how much will it shrink and the standard answer is 1/3.
Since I was felting I thought I would measure. The bag was 21" across and the handles looked a fine length. With a front loader, I wasn't sure how things would go. I used a super hot setting and checked at a 1/2 hour (Dawn detergent & old jeans for agitation), but it didn't look like much was happening. I checked in another 1/2 hour and was it felted! I put it through a cold rinse & spin(high). I think 45 minutes would have done it. The bag was now 14" wide.
It was spun out enough that it wasn't dripping so I let it air dry. The handles were more felted than I liked so I hung the bag on the door with wine bottles inside to stretch them, and stretched the opening a little. (I've had the suggestion to use rocks instead and drink the wine. I say to each his own). It probably took a day and a half to dry ; I turned it inside out at one point, too.
Rebecca told me later that she thought some of the yarn might have been cotton. If it was evenly dispersed, it must have evenly felted anyway.
Joe followed instructions for the size, but he had to make up the color pattern for the yarn he was given. Everyone thought the result was a great tote (hanging on the door). You can find it at the Yarn Sales: Dec. 2- 10.
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