felt with a hole

this was the bag knitted from Kilkarra tweed leftovers, after felting. it looks quite nice I think - dense enough to go without lining - though the colours seem to be a bit "christmassy"? it's large enough for bits and pieces - though not large enough for longer trips, where I have to take knitting projects, water, food etc.:)) and in contrast to most of the natural dyes the colours didn't change at all during felting, with a normal wash load, i.e. with added detergent!

I started to pull the bag into shape, the way I always treat knit-felted stuff. the first side was fine, the handle/middle was ok, too - but when I started the second side, I heard a funny sound - and this hole appeared:((

rats - I hadn't planned on a bag with venting hole! I thought I might just wind yarn around a small washer to put in the middle - but this would look different, because it's not felted.. I then begann to mend the hole - but I didn't want to do the felting all over again, so I thought of a different solution:

I crocheted a flower in all of the colours, felted this (in another wash load:)) and fixed it on top of the mended spot. as I mentioned before, crocheted things always felt differently compared to knitted ones... here the colours stayed clearer, less fuzz - but never mind that. the hole is closed - and I'll use the bag - even though I'd have preferred it without the "ruffles":))

today I am going to finish the "tree of life" socks - and tomorrow I'll do more socks, because I am doing two sock knitting demonstrations at the museum of country life in castlebar.... or so I hope, because snow and icy roads are forecasted - and if that turns out to be the case - I am not going to risk the trip.