Maisie's Toy Bag

Some of you may remember, many months ago, (well 9 to be precise), I posted about a felted hanging storage bag that I made for Maisie's room.  I had a bit of interest in the pattern, and I also fancied making another one for Maisie's room.  So, over the last year, I've been sporadically working on the pattern, trying to get it to the point that I would be happy to show it to somebody else.

I felt that the original one needed a little more shape to it, so I spun up some more yarn and set about tweaking my pattern a little.  I added a few more increases and then some decreases close to the top. The top is the same size as the original, but there's just a bit more fullness to it in the middle.

If I was going to post it to Ravelry I needed to specify a yarn that it can be made with.  As my yarn is bordering on super chunky I chose Rowan Big Wool in White Hot as I know that this yarn felts and shrinks beautifully.

This was actually a really interesting experiment for me, as I knew that the Rowan Big Wool was going to knit up much bigger than my yarn, but I had no idea just how much bigger!

As you can see, the Rowan bag was HUGE next to my hand spun bag, but it was also much limper and so I knew that it would need more felting than the hand spun one.

Here are my bags next to each other after they've both been through a single 40 degree cycle.  The green hand spun one is about the size I want it and it's holding its shape very well, but the Rowan bag really needs another felting cycle.

Finally, here are both of my bags sitting side by side after the Rowan bag has been through a second felting cycle.  I just love the solid, structural nature of the cream bag after it's been felted more.

I added a few of my shrink plastic beads to the flowers.  They are perfect for this project as they have the same hand made feel and I doubt that the bag's going to go through many more washes.

So, after picking this project up and putting it down, many times over the last year, it is finally finished. Hurrah!

The pattern is finished too and here it is on Ravelry.

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