Crocheting with unspun fibers - a two batt bag by Linda Diak

The Two Batt Bag

The Finished Bag

Ever since Janet Rehfeldt taught crocheting and knitting with unspun fibers at a CGOA conference, I have been entranced by the idea. I had never done much with it other than make small samples when demonstrating in our booth. The most frequently asked question is "how far does a batt go?" Well, it depends on whether you are knitting or crochet, and also on how thick or thin you draft out the fiber, but I felt some projects were in order to better illustrate what one could achieve with a batt - or two - of unspun fiber.

My first project was a simple hat. Crocheted in the round and then felted, this hat took one half of a batt:

Felted hat and close-up of fabric

I cheated just a wee bit by grabbing a little bit of red fiber for a stripe. What I love most about working with the batts unspun is how the colors blend in a watercolor fashion - an effect you can't get by using yarn. Emboldened by the success of the hat, I decided to take on a larger project. I have been wanting to make something fun out of the rainbow batts. I tossed around a few ideas and settled on a nice tote bag. One can never have too many totes!

I began by drafting out the fiber. Drafting is a spinning term - thinning out the fiber is referred to as drafting. You are making a thin rope - called a roving - of fiber to work with.

Drafting and crocheting with the fiber

From there, it was business as usual. Using a 7 mm hook, I chained 20 stitches and worked a half double crochet (US) in each stitch, and then worked back up the other side of the chain. I did a double increase at each corner of the following rounds until I had a total of 96 stitches, and the bag, when laid flat, measured 18 inches wide. From there, I just continued working in the round until I had used one full batt, and most of a second. I saved the purple and black portion of the second batt for the strap.

For the strap, I chained 12 and then worked 10 hdc in each row until the strap was long enough for the bag. I went back and edged the strap and the bag in the black that remained from the batt.

Crocheted but not yet felted. A close-up of the stitches

Justin felting away on the kitchen sink (with a few extra bubbles!), and the bag, hanging to dry

To felt the bag, I employed the sink and my youngest son, Justin. Rather than trust the bag to my front-loading washer, which won't let me control how long something is agitated, I chose to felt it at the sink. Using hot water and dish soap, and a lot of rubbing, the bag felted down to a respectable 12 by 12 inches with about 20 minutes of work. Felt shrinks in the direction it is rubbed. Knowing this, I was able to control the shape of the bag better than leaving it to the whims of my washing machine.

To dry it with some shape, I found a box the right size, slipped a plastic bag over the box, and tugged and pulled the tote bag onto it.