Why is it that things that seem so simple always turn out to be the most complicated? The whole concept of felting seemed easy enough to understand: throw some wool into a washing machine full of hot water and heavy items, let the bag agitate until desired level of felting has been reached, remove from machine and block. Simple enough, but had I known a few months ago what I know now, Booga Bag #102 would have been much better off.
Booga Bag #102 was the first Booga ever knitted by yours truly. Never having felted anything before, I took great pains to follow the felting instructions in the pattern. I wasn't too sure of what to expect, so I checked the bag at the end of each full cycle. I could see that something was happening, but it wasn't happening too quickly. Since the pattern indicates that 3 or 4 trips through the wash may be needed to achieve desired level of felting, I wasn't too worried -- I think I probably ran the bag through the wash about 5 times before blocking it. Since I didn't have a clear understanding as to how the finished felted bag was supposed to look, I felt that I had achieved the desired result. Hey, not only was it fuzzy, but it had even shrunk a little from its numerous trips through the wash! It even looked like the picture. So what if the dimensions were a little (okay, a lot) off -- I knit for gorillas! It was my bag and I couldn't wait to start using it.
It wasn't long, however, before I started noticing a couple of problems with my creation. It doesn't react well to heavy items like wallets and cell phones. In other words, the bottom sags and looks so weird that I have to take extra care not to put anything in the bag that would give it a "weighed down" look. The bag is also a little too deep and lacks any kind of structure. Still, I thought that this was normal and didn't think anything of it...until a few days ago.
Co-worker Carol is relatively new to knitting. I actually gave her the Booga Bag pattern a couple of months ago to help her transition away from scarves. Since then she has been knitting bags as gifts for her grand daughters, but has only just gotten around to felting them. The results blew me away. Her bags are cute and compact, perfectly shaped. They even stand up on their own! The felting is perfect -- the stitches are barely visible! I think it was at that point that I realized that something had gone horribly wrong with Booga Bag #102. Further discussion revealed the problem.
Even though my bag had gone through the wash 5 times, it had gone through 5 complete cycles (i.e. hot wash, cold rinse, spin). While the hot water got the felting process started, the cold water actually stopped it. Carol, on the other hand, stopped her washing machine after each wash cycle and then reset it to start the wash cycle all over again, thereby keeping her bags out of the cold rinse cycle until she had achieved the desired level of felting. Makes perfect sense, doesn't it?
I applied this method to Booga Bag #150 and have achieved perfect results thus far. I did have to reset the machine a couple of times and vary the length of the wash cycles to get the bag to where I wanted it to be. While I don't enjoy hanging out in the basement, it's a necessary part of this process.
Booga Bag #150 turned out so well that I got this crazy idea into my head that I should try to refelt Booga Bag #102. But could it be done? Since I figured that I'd already wrecked it, what did I have to lose? Here are some pictures of the bag prior to the second felting (4.5" D x 9" W x 11 H):

And after:

I did have to refelt the bag with the straps attached. Hopefully this won't make too much of a difference. It doesn't look like it's any the worse for going through the process a second time, but we'll see.

Here's what I learned from this experience:

• Things are never as simple as they seem: Had I done a little more research, I would have known how to do things right the first time.
• Be patient: The process does take time.
• Don't walk away!: Monitor all stages of the felting process -- this will involve camping out in the basement/laundry room.
• Get to know the washing machine: Key in determining the length of the cycles, whether you can stop/start the machine in mid cycle, etc.
• Dimensions and structure are important: Get as close to the finished dimensions as possible. The bag should be very fuzzy and have some structure to it -- keep felting if individual stitches are still visible.
• Refelting is possible: It's comforting to know that a project gone wrong can be salvaged under certain circumstances.