Thursday, October 23, 2008

Felting Fun

I've just discovered felting! I've seen felted purses and just didn't get it. So I read about it and found it fascinating. So, I had to try it.

This called for a simple project since I am not an accomplished knitter. I found a great book (photo below) in the library that explained the process well and had several simple projects. So, off to Wal-Mart I went for yarn. For felting to work, wool yarn must be used. Well, Wal-Mart was almost completely sold out of wool yarn! This was almost my only choice. Thankfully I like it!

So, I began knitting. I experienced several droppped stitches and had to start over twice. And then, the flap didn't turn out right. I'm still not sure what the directions meant there. But I'm thinking of that mistake as an interesting design element. : )

Felting happens when you wash the knit item in hot water and allow it to agitate. The fibers begin to tangle together. Then you rinse it in ice cold water and the fibers shrink and become very dense. The result is a thicker fuzzy fabric that is intriguing.

Matt usually finds my endeavors interesting. His reaction to my excitement over the felting process was, "Huh." Oh, well, I think it's cool. Have any of you done felting?

3 comments:

Pyrose said...

I haven't done felting, but I will go on record and state that it's your fault I'm now knitting. ;-) That is rather interesting how all the colors came together. You did a great job with the before/after photos to convey what the process does.

Anonymous said...

Hi Janine! Nice blog - you have some fun stuff going on. I love felting too. It's the perfect way to get confident with knitting skills - it's SOOOO forgiving. Regarding the picture of the hat - You're right I should have posted one. Maybe I still can. That girl was so slippery this week and I was forgetful. She looked so cute each morning (and had so much fun for spirit week) but I only took pics one morning. Thanks for visiting my blog. Check back later for more (potential) pics. ;-)

Anonymous said...

felting is something I want to try so its good tolook at others endeavours