Okay, so this isn't a Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival update, but it is a fun update. I tried a spinning experiment and loved the results so much that I did it twice. I spun a thick singles yarn at about 12 wpi, just about the same wpi as Noro Kureyon that is used in
Boogaj's free "Booga Bag" pattern. You'll have to look to the left of her website to find the free pattern link, but it's there. Her bag is great. I modified the pattern a bit as you will see in a few minutes and wish I had done this on my own bag. Oh well, live and learn!
Now, back to spinning a singles yarn that stripes like Noro Kureyon does, or close. On my bag, I used a Romney/Mohair mix dyed by
Ozark Carding Mill. I love their fibers. Not all the fiber was this mix though. I had purchased some raspberry colored Targhee from Ozark as well for this project and had gotten some mauve polypay at a fiber swap with my guild, Twisted Threads Fiber Arts Guild.
I spun the fiber woolen with very little tension. I figured out that I needed to have color lengths at least 4 yards long, give or take a few inches. I was just estimating. So, I spun about 4 yards or so of one color, then switched to a different color and spun that new color right onto the end of the previous color. I chose the next color randomly and didn't worry about making each skein exactly the same. After all, I wanted stripes and didn't really want a pattern repeating, so check out how my first bag came out before felting it in the washing machine per the pattern instructions (left image). The picture on the right is what my bag looked like after felting. I finished the bag by sewing a button on my closure tab and sewing some velcro below for a "fake button" closing. It works well, but not as good as the finished closure tab I made for my mom (see below).
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Not only was I happy with the way the bag came out, but my mom liked it as well, so I told her I would dye some Finn roving for her and spin some yarn and make her one as I was out of the blue, green, and light lavender color in my bag. So that is what I did. Only, the solid colors were too Easter egg like so I blended the colors together. All the blended colors had a lavender in them, including the green. I had leftover raspberry and mauve from the previous project so I incorporated these colors in with my pale green, dark green, pale blue, dark blue, and lavender blended rolags. I spun the yarn the same way as I did for my bag. Finn is great to felt with and spins up beautifully. It is my favorite spinning fiber, just ask Robin!
I knitted my mom's bag slightly larger than mine because my mom wanted a bag a bit larger (see left picture below). I also did a different type of closure tab, as I mentioned earlier. Instead of the fake button closure, I knitted 6 sts in stockinette for about an inch and a half or so, then knitted an I-cord with 3 of the stitches and grafted these stitches to the remaining 3 stitches, creating a loop. This worked great for the toggle button my mom wanted. I also was able to give her 2 different closure tightnesses because the loop was rather large, something to take into consideration when making this bag. The bag on the left is before felting, the bag on the right shows the size of the bag after felting.
This image shows a closer look at the closure on my mom's bag. If you are looking for a fun project, try this one out.
