It's Been Awhile

Well I did finally file my taxes, Sunday 4/15 the deadline was 4/17 this year.
I used Turbo Tax and efiled my Federal and State returns. Got my Federal accepted status within a day but it took the state a bit longer. Surprise!

Knitting Update
I gave up on finding something solid to use to shape the Market Squares Bag after felting. I figured I could always use a plastic bag filled with something. Then I was planning on using one of the top loading washing machines to felt it but things conspired against me and I wasn't really able to get down to the laundry room when it was unlikely to be packed. Since the top loaders are a little cheaper they are often in use. So I bit the bullet and figured I would try hand felting and I could always continue to felt in a machine if necessary.

So I took an extra large ziploc bag put the Market Squares bag in and filled it with hot water and some gentle soap. I tried zipping it shut with most of the air out and aggitating the knitting. However on occaision the bag would open in mid aggitation spewing soapy water out of the sink onto the bathroom floor. Fun!
I then tried just doing it by hand. The colors ran a bit but I did succeed in felting it. Then I felted the handles.

Here is the result:


And a close up of the felting:


And here is how the bottom turned out:


I am not sure if this felted enough the bag is pretty floppy. I don't know if I want to redo the felting. As for the handles/straps, I am not sure if they are strong enough but I will try them out for awhile and see. I need to get stronger thread and some buttons to use on the inside to reinforce the attachment point of the straps.

Hopefully I will be able to attach the straps sometime this weekend.

I brought it into my office and of course there were requests from some of my coworkers for me to make them bags. I might try to make something smaller for them but still using some entrelac. Time will tell.