machine felting dilemma

For my test knitting felted bag project, I used several different all wool yarn “leftovers” from my stash. I wove all the ends in while I was riding the bus home from work yesterday. Last night I put the bag in the washer to start the felting process…

The different yarns are felting at very different rates: the Taos and the Lanaloft are really quick, already looking quite solid, but the Noro is barely felted; the checkerboard sections are much more felted than the garter stitch rows. I didn’t think to do a set of preliminary swatches to see if they would all felt the same, since they were all 100% non-superwash wool. I’m going to run it through the washer again today after work, and hopefully that will help. If it doesn't, I can always either line the bag, or add on some kind of felty decoration over the unfelted areas.

The bag already has a great shape, and I will certainly knit a second one (probably using all the same brand of yarn, rather than stash scraps) The technique of knitting in a welt before knitting the bottom of the bag really helps define the shape.