party hats

[porenn]

Hey all!

My daughter is turning 4 in a few months, and I'm trying to avoid paper party products, and I'm thinking that I'll make party hats out of felted wool.

At first I was thinking that I'd make them out of old sweaters, but couldn't figure out how to make the seam lie flat, and I thought about felting knitted hats.

I have a pattern for a pointy knit hat, and was thinking about making a bunch and felting them down.

However, I have never felted anything on purpose, and was wondering what type of yarn works best, and what size I should make the hats- should I knit the adult size and then wash, or knit the child size.

I would suppose it depends on the yarn, but I don't know much about what to expect from it- i usually work with cotton....

Thanks ladies!!

-p

[SweetSilver]

This advice is from someone who needle-felted once!

Cascade 220 was a nice yarn to use (doubled up).  It is inexpensive, comes in lots of colors, and you can find it at every yarn store.  I also like that I can always mix the colors together for a hat when I'm left with a pile of leftover yarn.

I never managed to make a felting project that actually fit, so I have no other advice for you on that issue.  

If you want a flat seam for the sweaters, simply overlap the seams.  The edges are felted now and won't fray.  I would use this route instead.  Knitting and then felting means that you are knitting something huge, then shrinking it.  Much easier to sew with "sweater felt".  That way you get just the size you need.  Then if you want to experiment with knitted felt, you can do so without a deadline or any other expectations.

[DeerMother]

Do you happen to be on ravelry? Try searching wizard or witch hat - I think? Gnome, maybe.

I made my kids knitted, felted crowns for their first birthday. I sewed fabric around an elastic band, with the crown sewn onto the felted fabric. . . dd's was a knitted and felted crown. Ds's, now that I think about it a minute, was acrylic felt (use your sweaters) with cardboard inside for stability.

[zech13_9_goforgold]

If you're going to knit the hats, I would start with the largest hat size your pattern references- adult-male-large- if you have it.  There are several good books on felting or you could probably get tips from the internet.  Going slow on the felting is the key.

Good luck.  Sounds interesting.