Oma63

Does anyone have a good way of" felting" knitted item. I use pure wool, follow the instruction, do the items over and still not a good result. Is there anything one can add to the hot water in the washer that would better the results. Thanks Ladies .

bearisgray

Agitation - the more that the fibers rub together, the more apt they are to felt/mat/shrink.

redkimba

from http://www.lionbrand.com/faq/254.html=

Basically, here are the steps:

1. Wash in warm water with soap.
Why soap? It actually speeds up the felting process!
Felting can often be improved by adding baking soda or washing soda to the water!
What about the rest of the laundry? Throw it in! Though it may not be recommended in the directions for all felting projects, washing felted things with other laundry can speed up the process! Why? Agitation is another important element for the felting, and the rest of your laundry does just that (be sure to check out the TIPS below)!

2. Rinse in cool water
Rinsing in cool water "locks" the fibers in place. Most people have a warm wash/cool rinse setting on their machines (easy, huh?)

3. Air dry
If you are making a piece that needs to conform to a particular shape (say, a rectangle piece for a bag), it will likely be lopsided when it comes out of the dryer. Adjust it to the right shape BEFORE you let it dry (remember: once felted, felted for life) or pin it into shape on a blocking board and let it dry there – yup, blocking is important in felting, too

redkimba

PS - youtube video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoW8XYI9rIQ

ckcowl

i heat my water in a tea kettle- and add it to the washer===it needs to be HOT HOT HOT---lots of agitation- i keep an eye on it and reset the agitation before it has a chance to drain- sometimes 3-4 times (up to an hour of agitation- adding hot water as it cools down- with small amount of detergent- you need to check the item once in a while- when it is felted to the point you want it then drain- spin out- rinse in COLD water- then dry in hot dryer-

i was so excited to take 2 first place ribbons this year of 2 felted items- i love working with wool!
the key is hot hot water- detergent- lots of agitation
rinse in cold- dry in hot....and regardless of how expensive the wool yarn is---if it is white- it might not felt well- for some reason white is the most difficult to felt...i've been doing it for almost 10 years now- and no one has given me a good reason for this- i tend to just avoid white yarns....it may have something to do with the bleaching process.

mollymct

I love felted wool items!! I agree with the hot water, lots of agitation (I put on gloves and check my items frequently). I usually squirt a bit of shampoo in the wash water. When my items are fulled to my satisfaction, I've always rinsed them in cool water, kind of pressed excess water out with towels and air dryed. I haven't used the dryer!! I'm going to try that. I want to make another set of felted wool slippers this year!