Bag Hag

I've been neglecting this arm of the Safari of late. This was originally because I've not actually been doing any stitchin', then, more recently, because I've been doing too much to be bothered blogging.

I lost interest in the sticks for a bit, but recently I was visiting Oxfam to pick up some of my regular East Timorese caffeine supplement when I just happened to swing via Lincraft, which is, after all, right next door. I was browsing the yarns -- just passing the time, mind, not there to buy anything-- and happened upon a familiar product, albeit in a different form to any I'd seen before.

Being a keen gardener, I immediately recognised this material as weed mat, a sheet of water-permeable nylon put under mulch in order to keep weeds from poking through. It's wonderful in the garden and I've used it often, plagued as we were with nutgrass at our last house. It's also used as disposable fabric in hospitals, for gowns and pillow cases and the like. Intrigued, I picked up a ball of it to give it a go.

It doesn't slide over itself readily, so it's a workout and knitting project all in one, but on 10mm needles it does knit up very quickly, so I had a bag made up in just two evenings.

The verdict on the weed mat is that it's a good thing, so much so that I've got another bigger one on the way.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The felting project is still trundling along, too, partly pushed along by orders from friends enticed by the ever-changing parade of bags I drag along with me.



This one, completed some time ago, has triggered the most industry, with the latest being commissioned by not only the tallest man I know, but also the only piano tuner. He's asked for it sans fluff, though, inexplicably.

Felted wool is attractive! The fabric has a pleasant fuzziness and is robust enough to cope with the rigors of every day use. It's also very forgiving towards glitches by the distracted knitter, which is one of my favorite aspects of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Given that I'm hoping to return to study next year, I'm having thoughts of how to turn this burgeoning bag industry into dollars. To that end, I've been combing the op shops to see how viable using recycled materials would be -- handles and yarn don't come cheap, you know. A day out at Sunnybank trawling the bins at the Salvation Army warehouse seemed to be saying that it would be very viable indeed. For a dollar per piece I picked up several bags that I've shredded for handles, clasps, rings and a couple of balls of hemp yarn. Quite a bargain considering that cane handles retail for around $5 per piece.

It's looking to be a good source of glitzy fabric for the evening bag range I've recently started, too.

This hasn't photographed that well -- knitting never seems to -- but the shreds of fabric catch the light and give the fabric a shimmery look, which is quite attractive. I've got even higher hopes for non-stretch lamé, so you'll find me rummaging through the After 5 section of Lifeline, hunting for sparkling atrocities to demolish. I expect it to be very satisfying on many levels.