Big Bad Bag Lives Up To Its Name!

It's felted, but in the process the Big Bad Bag lived up to it's name by somehow escaping from the pillow case I thought it was firmly rubber-banded into and scattering wads of black wool all though my washing machine. Fortunately, the machine appears to still be working! I put it through the same routine as I did the last two Lopi bags in green and purple. The bag and the intarsia sweater I didn't think would come apart were put in separate queen sized pillow cases and went into the washer with an old towel and a couple t-shirts. I started out with the low water level and worked up to the high level resetting the timer with each addition of water. When I checked the bag after about a total of 35 minutes of agitation, I discovered the errant bits of wool and that the bag wasn't felted enough. Back into the pillow case it went with two rubber bands guarding against another escape and I repeated the cycle at which point I decided to quit and see what I had. I tossed it into the dryer where it managed to pick up little bits of teal green lint from that old towel. As you can see from the photo, it has shrunk considerably, but it is still not as felted as the Lopi bags were in half the time. One disappointment is that the straps did not felt into solid ropes the way the Lopi bag's did. They are as thick around, but the outer edges didn't lock onto each other so they are open tubes. Still, I think that the bag is quite successful. I like the color combination and it's big around without being too deep so it should be semi-easy to find things. With the strap over my shoulder, the top rides at waist level and the bottom about half way down my thigh. It measures 24" across by 9.5" from the rim to the base, the base is 20" x 10" and the handles shortened to approximately 30".