Has it worked?

I haven't done all that much felting (at least, not intentionally). I've read plenty about it - Just START, Kate - and to tell the truth I am always a mite apprehensive. So it was with some trepidation that I threw the pre-felted buttonhole bag into the washing machine, gaily whirled the temperature gauge up to MAX and pressed the button.

Here she is before:



She is huge: 44cm/18in at the widest point, 28cm/11in high, base is 35cm/14in long and 12cm/5in wide. She weighs a ton - actually, that's a slight over-exaggeration, she weighs just less than 400g but that seems to me to be quite a lot in the context of a bag.

Here she is after:



Seen here drying on the Rayburn. What would I do without the Rayburn? I'm sure this bag would have taken about three weeks to dry if it weren't for the Rayburn.

When I opened the washer at the end of the cycle I thought I'd made a bag fit for Barbie (size-wise, not colour- wise). It looked fearfully small. I pulled, I tugged, I swung it round my head a bit and I got it to look like this:



She is 30cm/12in at widest, 18cm/7in high. Base is 24cm/9.5in long by 10cm/4in wide. She is a bag fit for my sister-in-law (who by no stretch of the imagination could be described as a Barbie). The fabric is (what shall we call it?) sturdy. Capable of stopping a speeding bullet, I think There could be a marketing opportunity here - I wonder if the knitting police would like a few bullet-proof vests for when they are called to hostage situations?

I have started another shawl. It is not the "get my teeth into it" project, it is the "I need something to knit and I need it now" project. It is also the "if I don't use up some of this stash I won't be able to find the kids" project and I'm off to knit on it right now. Pictures of progress, if any, tomorrow.