Make Your Own Felt:

Felt is in fashion.  Felt has been around for thousands of years, but recently it has been showing up in hats, mittens and bags.  For knitters, felted projects are quick and easy; here I give you tips to make your own felted items.

If you have ever put a woollen garment in the washing machine at a high temperature you will have found that by the end of the cycle it is only fit for a child and a very small one at that. 

Felting is a process whereby the fibers relax, open up and then lock together, making it a dense and water-resistant fabric.  Several things influence the felting process, but mainly heat and friction. 

Making felt is simple, but care in choosing your design and materials and care taken in the felting process are important to ensure a good result.

Wool is the best felting fibre as animal fibres such as Alpaca and mohair will result in a fuzzy felted item.  Blended yarns that are mixed with synthetic fibres will not felt.  Different wool will react differently to the felting process and can felt at different rates.  The best thing is to experiment! Swatches are the best way to find out how the fibre felts and the result of the item. 

Swatches:

Use needles that are a size or two larger than you normally would for your chosen yarn, knit a very large swatch, at least 8 - 10" square.  Measure the swatch dry and write down the measurements.  Follow the felting process, once the swatch is dry, measure it again.  From these two measurements, you will be able to calculate the amount of shrinkage to expect from that particular yarn or combination of yarns.   So Swatches are important - don't be lazy and bi-pass this process.

Felting Process:

The easiest way to felt is in a washing machine.  Most patterns you find will mention a top loading machine but in this day and age most washing machines are front loading.  Set your machine on small load, hot water, cold rinse and longest cycle, add ensure you add a small amount of soap.  I use one capsule per washing cycle.  The soaps holds to relax the fibers so that they will mat together.  Some would say add "old sneakers" or towel to increase the agitation but I have yet to do this and still end up with excellent results.

I tend to stop the cycle wash after 30 - 45 mins - even front loading machines can be stopped.  Select the cyle that drains, take out the item and check it for size and how much it has felted.  If not enough, place it back in the machine and change the cycle to cold economy wash.  I find changing from hot to cold helps to shrink the item just enough without making it too firm.  Of course, it depends on what your are felting. Bags need to be felted until they are quite firm.

Enjoy!!