Felting, oh Felting

Felting - a knitted or crocheted fabric of wool, fur, or hair, matted together by heat, moisture, and great pressure. The process sounds simple enough, just throw in your project with a load of laundry, hot/cold cycle and watch the magic happen.

Over the past few months I've tried 3 felting projects. None of them turned out exactly as I'd hoped.

Attempt #1:

Ipod case. I used Merino wool, which should felt up beautifully, but it barely felted! I ran this sucker through the washer 3 times, and I could still see the stitches.

Attempt #2:

Clutch purse. Better than the last, but you can still see the stitches.

Attempt #3:

With these 2 projects under my belt, I gave up and decided felting wouldn't work for me. Both projects barely shrunk up in size and barely matted up. This gave me a very distorted image of felting. Anywho, I made a swap hat over the weekend out of Patons Classic wool yarn. It was slightly big, so I thought - I'm going to felt it!! Since the other two felted items barely shrank, I assumed this one would do the same and fit perfectly after - WRONG! The result.... was a kids' hat!! (shrunk from 23-24" to 17-18")

This hat felted up completely!! There certainly are no stitches to be seen here. I was even able to cut the fabric without any running. I was shocked!! If you are about to embark in a felting project - I highly recommend this yarn! Since the original hat was intended for an adult, I had to make another hat - and I nixed the felting this time.

I'm excited to try another felt project now - slippers? purse? cloche?