Small Felted Bag

I made a felted bag for my dear friend Jody's (no blog) birthday...

I used 2 balls of Patons Classic Wool in color #225, Dark Grey Mix. Size 15 needles, 2 strands held throughout. I found a pattern, and then did my own thing (which for some reason seems to be the case when I felt. This really isn't the norm for me, I am a direction follower.) If you want to know the original pattern and my changes, just leave a comment and I'll post them :)

Here is the before pic (after knitting, before felting.)

And here is the after (after felting, ie washing.)

In case you aren't familiar; felting (or fulling) is purposely washing a knitted wool object in hot water with lots of agitation. Have you ever accidentally washed a sweater, only to have it shrink up to fit a 2yr old? That's felting. It doesn't have to be just wool, it can be almost any animal fiber (alpaca, llama, mohair, etc.) The degree of felting will vary though. Felting is always an experiment!!! Here's a terrific site to check out with lots of patterns and tips :)