Lessons Learned

After the horrible result of the green felted bag that had such potential, let me list some of the things I've learned:

• knitting for a felted bag is done on needles about 2 sizes larger than normal, more than that can leave holes in your final product
• before machine felting in hot water, you should probably run the item you want to machine felt through a cold delicate cycle first so that any unevenness or holes will be revealed and can be fixed before felting.
• use waxed dental floss to close the top of your purse, as a for instance, before felting so that the top edges will match up perfectly after felting.... it is easily removed after felting
• beaded yarn should not be used during knitting as some will inevitably end up on the inside no matter how carefully you position them before felting ... hand apply beads after felting.
• never dry a machine felted article in the dryer, always block with something that will mimic the final shape desired.
• make sure all the yarns ends are securely woven into the knitting or they will felt into the opposite side of the bag.
• machine felted knitting can be treated like ordinary felt - that is it can be cut into pieces that don't fray and used in other projects.
• linings should be applied to all machine felted handbags to help the bag keep its shape.

Too soon old, too late smart.