felting - with kool-aid

A couple weeks ago I found this great "unspun" yarn that is meant for felting. I've always had a hankering to try this craft, so I decided to give it a whirl. I was thinking I could make something simple with it, perhaps a small bag? At any rate, the first picture shows a "before" and the second is an "after" -- looking at the dark purple. I started by knitting the unspun yarn (the variegated blue). I then dyed it using kool-aid (grape in this case - my house now smells very fruity).

Once it was dyed, I needed to "felt" it. I did this in the washing machine. In an attempt to avoid over-felting, or making it too blocky and stiff, I wrapped it up in a towel and tied it with twine. I meant to place that in a laundry bag -- theoretically, this would keep it from being too vigorously agitated -- but I forgot that part. It came loose at some point and instead of achieving the soft drape I wanted, it came out pretty clunky. Its still drying, so it might loosen up a bit. The second photo shows how much it shrunk. "Oh Honey, I shrunk the stitches!" (yuk yuk yuk)

I have a couple more pieces I am knitting so there is more to experiment with. In order to get a softer drape, I think I'll need to use a finer yarn. Stay tuned... I'll post more on this project as I learn new tricks.