Well another name for felt is boiled wool, so sure, you can boil and stir it, but the agitation is what really does it. I have felted in a 5 gallon bucket of very hot water (add boiling water from a kettle off the stove) and used a BRAND NEW toilet plunger. Worked kind of OK. I did this because I had just traded in my top loader for an HE front loader and had read that you couldn't felt in it. That's baloney. I have a cycle called "Sanitize" which uses very hot water, select the highest soil level you have available and NO SPIN. The difference between the top loader and front loader is that you can better monitor your felting in the top loader. With the front loader, you have to let it go the whole cycle. You want to select no spin because any creases that are made during the spin cycle will be permanent. I make a lot of hand knit felted bags.which I decorate with shapes cut from thrift store felted sweaters and blazers. If I think that it's not felted enough, I run it thru another cycle. I went to the Salvation Army and bought 2 pair of white denim jeans which I throw in with whatever it is that I'm felting to increase the agitation. Remember to felt like color items together because they will run like crazy during the felting process. I also have a septic field, so I put the item in a pillow protector with a zipper, not a lingerie bag with holes. It keeps any fuzz contained.