Archive of Thread: Felting - Have you tried it? Back

6 years ago
Who out there has experimented - or is doing it regularly and successfully - with felting? Please share your experiences and knowledge, and thanks!

6 years ago
Phyllis,
We talked a bit about the Yeoman Felting wool 
https://www.knititnow.com/store/product/607/felting-wool/ConeDetails

Yes, it's very fine.  My only exprience with felting is with worsted weight wool for a bag.  When you felt that heavy yarn, it gets really dense and heavy (perfect for bags and slippers)

I think that the very fine 1 ply wool would be fun to play with for scarves and garments ...

You mentioned knit weave, using the felting wool for the weaving yarn .... hmmmm...if the base  yarn wasn't wool, would the wool shrink up and "gather" the piece?  

Once upon a time I saw a machine knitting vest pattern that used felted pieces for the fronts and back. (They used a sewing pattern and cut the felted fabric) Then they used the same yarn for the underarm panels in ribbing. The combination of the ribbing and felted pieces was really nice.  Plus the ribbing gave the vest shape.

Thoughts anyone?



 

6 years ago
I've made well over 50 felted wool items (maybe over 75 by now?), but hand-knit, mostly in Lamb's Pride worsted weight and in their bulky 85% wool/15% mohair.  I've made dozens and dozens of pairs of slippers (baby booties, children, teens, men, women), high-top booted slippers, oven mitts, mittens, hats, purses.  It's fun to add different novelty yarns in as cuffs and trims.  I've perfected all my patterns (perfected for me, that is!), and I felt everything in bulk with my husband's old jeans thrown in in a top-load washer on "heavy load,"  hot water, and a small amount of Woolite.  I even let everything spin-dry (in cold water) and then lay-out on towels, turning once a day, for 2-3 days.  I know about when to start checking for sizing during the felting process, so it's all a routine for me now, without any guessing about sizing.  I have used other wool yarns, all successfully (except natural colors like whites, which don't felt).  Anyhow, I've tried my Lamb's Pride bulky yarn on my bulky machine but it's just too thick to knit easily.  The worsted works fine, though.  However, I don't have a machine knitting pattern for any of my felted patterns, so woe-is-me.  Since any item you intend to felt can be easily controlled as to sizing during the felting period while in the washer, no swatching would be necessary for this technique, in my humble opinion.  It would take a few tries if your knitted item wasn't big enough to begin with, but once you get the pre-felted size large enough, you can keep felting it down in the washer to get the size right.  

6 years ago
Just ran across a book by Janet Nabney (1992) Machine Knitted Fabrics - Felting Techniques

It's choc full of tons of examples and inspiration about felting.  You might want to look for a copy.