Success with Felting/Fulling

Normally I am not afraid to try something new, but I have to admit that felting/fulling has me a bit gun shy as of late. In the Fall, I made my sister a beautiful knitted and fulled bag, complete with a handmade button. It was so easy to knit, it felted wonderfully, and gave me enough confidence to make one for myself. The knitting was easy, and it used up some good-sized scraps of Patons merino wool. I thought that I was set...or so it seemed.



I ran the bag through the washing machine twice (both times in a garment bag), and the result was not pretty. The straps did not shrink evenly, and so I was left with a bag that still needs to be made into something else.

So, needless to say, I have been less than thrilled about trying felting again. And yet, the optimist in me remains strong. I have been making several hats for Christmas 2008, and each has left me with scraps of yarn. The hats are made from Patons merino wool, so I decided to give felting another try. I used a pattern for a felted bowl from The Year-Long-Gift-A-Long, and it was a joy to knit. It knit very quickly, and looked like this when I was done.




I knit the sides to 3", rather than the 1 1/2" listed on the pattern. I then decided that I would agitate the bowl by hand, instead of trusting the washing machine to do the work for me. Using hot water and Dawn dishwashing liquid, I set to work.

Once the dish pan was full, I immersed the bowl and started the shrinking process. The water was really hot, and Dawn is super concentrated, so I think that I ended up with as many suds on myself as I had for the bowl! It took a few minutes to see or feel any progress, but once the wool began to shrink, it was amazing how quickly it began to take shape.


After a few more minutes in the hot and soapy bath, I had what resembled a felted bowl. I could hardly believe my eyes.


Of course, there was still some adjusting to be done, but I was so close to achieving my goal. I took the almost-done bowl down to the dryer, placed it in a garment bag, and waited in anticipation. With a hot dryer, a few other towels, and a short amount of time and shaping, the end result was...
The bowl looks great, and will soon be a gift for me or my brother, still not sure who gets the prize yet. I am planning on starting another one today. I think that I will double the yarn on my next venture, and knit a smaller base and taller sides. I guess that it is good to keep trying because eventually I will have more felting successes than failures.