It began so well

It's no2daughter's birthday today, we have a 'sponsored shopping trip' planned for Saturday but I wanted to add a present I had made myself  She has great taste and likes original, quirky stuff, like this felted bag from Gifted by Mags Kandis

An ideal project I thought to use up all the left overs from my rose mittens, easy and speedy to make in three different sized granny squares and learn a new skill (felting) at the same time

Not quite so quick, I had to work fast to get all 66 squares done in time, but crochet is such an easy thing to do on the train.  Then there is the added bonus of conversations that begin with 'What ARE you making?'  Everyone from people who refer to crochet as knitting and vis-a-versa to a lovely musician who chatted about knitting socks and finding yarn shops around the world as she travelled with her viola

So it was finished in time and the sewing up marathon began

How many times have I wished I had the foresight to sew in ends as I go?  So easy with crochet, but I am impatient and want to see the finished effect as soon as possible.  I even go to the lengths of tucking all the unfinished ends in under the work as I lay it out, just so I can stand back to admire.  After an evening of piecing together and half a day of sewing in the tails it is ready for felting.  

Just one more portrait.

Now - I am very experienced in accidental felting.  You may have read my cushion post where I made the best of a bad job. But I have never intentionally felted anything.  The book had plenty of handy hints but no real explanation of the basics.  After the usual sort of research I found instructions, to place the item in a laundry bag and wash at a higher temperature than recommended for wool, adding a pair of jeans to give it a good bashing. No specific temperature was mentioned but as the max temperature for wool is usually 40deg I began at 50deg and chose a pair of old very well faded jeans.

Well, instead of a sturdy chunk of felt in glowing colours the unidentifiable object that exited the washing machine looked like a pile of sheep's entrails.  I washed it hotter, then in the sink with a kettle of boiling water.

It had most definitely not felted, it had not even shrunk, it had stretched! And the colours had run so that the whole lot looked more like the old blanket that had trailed around this summer's festivals with no2son. Most of the yarn was Rowan pure wool DK, one or two tiny sections that were in Rowan cashsoft had felted up as tight as a tick but the rest - disaster!

I can't bring myself to throw it away yet, but what shall I do with it?  I am going on a knitting course in a few weeks and we are invited to bring projects to show and tell - the good and the bad they say, but this one is so embarrassing.

Does anyone else  have disasters like this? Feel like sharing?

xx

C