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February 17, 2005
Felting... on purpose!
Turns out, this there's cool thing called "felting" that I've actually been doing for years. Of course, my felting was entirely unintentional and was generally referred to as "fucking up." My felting (fucking up)occurred mostly with wool sweaters, though I do remember a lone mitten that was felted after my trip to Norway, and a wool hat that snuck in to the laundry between some towels and was felted into a cotton ball impersonator. Don't know what the towels were doing mingling with the outerwear, but I suspect he had something to do with it:
Anywho, felting is the intentional shrinking and matting of knitted wool products, and it creates a lovely felt fabric that is smooth and sturdy and it can be shaped when wet (into purses and such.)
You already know this, you knitter savants, but I am a new knitter and this felting thing was a fascinating discovery. Had I known that felting (fucking up) wool would be such a popular craft, I would have made something out of that matted fisherman's sweater in the 11th grade. I also fondly recall a wool sweater vest (don't ask) that was ugly and loose... slutty me decided to wash n' shrink it, for a Catholic-schoolgirl-gone-bad vibe, but having never worked my slutty high school magic on wool, I was not prepared for the tiny vestglob that emerged from the washer and dryer. Turns out, one must not dry the felted wool in the tumbler. You shape it and let it air dry.
Good things to know.
Now that I have discovered felting (fucking up) is an actual desired result, I'm very anxious to try it.
I am going to make the Kitty Pi:
http://wendyknits.net/knit/kittybed.htm
Posted by laurie at February 17, 2005 09:07 AM
