Felting 101

For one of my Christmas gifts this year, I decided to try my hand at felting. It was a very exciting adventure. The anticipationg of seeing what comes out of the washing machine was very exhileratin, but sadly, it did not turn out quite how I imagined it might.


A quick explanation of felting: knitted woolen garments which shrink in a hot washing machine, condensing the fibres to form a tight felted fabric.


The actual process seemed simple enough: knit a certain width and length using wool, wash in hot water in washing machine to achieve finished desired width and length. The latter is where something went wrong. My starting project, a stripped bag, which was knit according to directions, and looked like this, with measurements of 28"x13":

I did think it seemed a little out of proportion after knitting it, but thought that the actual shrinking of it would even it out. (NOTE: actual intended felting differs from unintended felting, such as shrinking your favourite wool sweater in the washing machine... sure, THAT works!) It did shrink in length to 6", but not so much in width, only to 23".


However, all is not lost... there will be a finished Christmas project (or two!) out of it yet. This includes some additional sewing, so stay tuned for an update on that!


I do believe more felting projects will take place, now that I know what I must modify for the next one. Hopefully they will have better outcomes...