Once you have knitted your desired clothing, place it inside a zippered mesh bag with very small openings or a sealed pillowcase to prevent loose fibers from plugging up your washing machine's pump and to prevent your project from being damaged by the agitator.
Smaller items can even be sucked into the drainage hose and cause considerable damage to your washing machine. You may want to check on your machine part way through the cycle and remove any loose fibers floating in the tub. If felting a small item like baby clothing or mittens, you should place another larger item, not a towel, in the bag as well to prevent losing your project with the draining water.
Set your machine's option to wash in hot water and rinse with cold. You will need to add a tablespoon of gentle detergent that is suitable for wool items and a fabric softener if you desire. Once the wash cycle is finished, check to see if your project is sufficiently felted. You may need to repeat the wash part of the cycle several times to reach your desired level of felting.
Once you are satisfied with the felting, remove the item and lay it flat to dry. Hand Felting. There are two methods of felting yarn by hand, a wet method and a dry method. The wet method begins by layering a batt or roving of wool by very gently pulling the fibers apart and placing them on a large flat surface like a cookie sheet with the fibers all facing the same direction and alternating the direction of the layers.
One layer runs horizontally, the next vertically, then horizontally until you have at least four layers. The more layers you lay down, the thicker your project will be. The next step is to add very hot water mixed with a small amount of hand soap or dish detergent.
Slowly wet your wool and apply pressure to wet areas with your hand, using firm pressure. Fold over any frayed fibers into the edges and press them back into the project to create a more even edge. As your soapy water cools, you will need to drain it from your tray and add more hot water while applying pressure. This can become a little messy so plan accordingly. Continue applying firm pressure and keep the hot water flowing until you feel the wool becoming more solid.
Next, you will need an uneven surface like a washing board or bubble wrap. By rubbing your project against the uneven surface, you help speed the felting of the yarn by agitating the fibers, similar to what happens in the washing machine. While agitating your wool, you can begin to shape and size your project as the felting process continues.
Once your project appears to be fully felted, you can gently rinse it with cold water for several minutes. Featured Yarn Families Aloft. Alpaca Cloud. City Tweed. High Desert. Mighty Stitch. Wool of the Andes. Acrylic Alpaca Cashmere 5. Cotton Linen 5. Merino Mohair 3.
Natural Nylon Silk Wool Lace Fingering Sport DK Worsted Bulky Super Bulky 4. Blue-Greens Also: The way in which a particular fiber is processed and dyed affects felting. Did you know that a white yarn may felt differently than a colored yarn of the same type and brand? This is because the dyes can smooth down, or raise up, the little scales on the colored yarns. White yarns may be bleached, which affects the yarn differently. Naturally colored yarns may not be dyed or bleached at all.
Some yarns are specially treated with a substance that smooths down the scales. However, over time, with wear and a lot of machine agitation, the special fiber treatment may rub off, and your socks may start felting.
So: No scales, no felt. Alpaca will felt. Llama will felt. Silk comes from silkworms, and I would argue that worms are not animals, they are worms, thus: bugs. Silk is not worm hair. Silk is extruded from the worm; silk starts out as a liquid. Hardened Bug Extrusion. Very pretty and wonderful hardened bug extrusion, it is, too. Leave a comment and help the rest of us learn from your experiences. And to learn more about felting your knits, check out the book Felted Knits and the magazine Felted.
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