I want to share a story with you regarding felting. Peggy, one of my employees, was becoming a grandmother for the first time. She knitted an adorable sweater with a hood for her new granddaughter. The yarn was 99% wool and 1% nylon. Knowing that the sweater was made of wool, her daughter thought 'I'll wash it in cold water so it won't shrink.' Well, I guess we all would think that. But guess what? It shrunk....and got real small---small enough to fit one of our bears!
Try this little exercise: take a strand of 100% wool and moisten it. Now rub it between your fingers for about 10 minutes or so. It soon will felt. It's not so much the hot water that turns your BIG project into the size it should be...it's the agitation of the washing machine that felts it. That's what happened to the sweater!
It probably is better to felt in hot water, since we're instructed to do so. Rule of thumb: do what your instructions tell you to do. Don't be afraid to felt. It really isn't hard to do. I always start out washing it for 10 minutes, then I check EVERY 5 MINUTES, and then restart the machine to it's longest cycle. Just remember that when you stop seeing your stitches, then your project is felted enough. The only thing that I don't care for is that your project smells like wet dog in a rain storm!! Never put it through a rinse and spin cycle. Rinse out the project in your sink and gently squeeze until you get most of the water out. Then air dry---which will take several days.
So, felting should be done in hot water...but remember you can felt in cold water as well!!
Happy Stitching!!!! (or should I say Happy Felting!!)
Try this little exercise: take a strand of 100% wool and moisten it. Now rub it between your fingers for about 10 minutes or so. It soon will felt. It's not so much the hot water that turns your BIG project into the size it should be...it's the agitation of the washing machine that felts it. That's what happened to the sweater!
It probably is better to felt in hot water, since we're instructed to do so. Rule of thumb: do what your instructions tell you to do. Don't be afraid to felt. It really isn't hard to do. I always start out washing it for 10 minutes, then I check EVERY 5 MINUTES, and then restart the machine to it's longest cycle. Just remember that when you stop seeing your stitches, then your project is felted enough. The only thing that I don't care for is that your project smells like wet dog in a rain storm!! Never put it through a rinse and spin cycle. Rinse out the project in your sink and gently squeeze until you get most of the water out. Then air dry---which will take several days.
So, felting should be done in hot water...but remember you can felt in cold water as well!!
Happy Stitching!!!! (or should I say Happy Felting!!)
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