Well... whether or not you want it done is a matter of opinion. Felting is when wool is 'shocked' by dramatic change in temp (taking it out of hot water and putting it directly into cold water) and agitation.
If something is to be felted on purpose it would need to be made much bigger than the desired size as wool shrinks when felted. So, if you're wanting a small felted soaker, you'd knit a Large or even an XL and throw it in the washing machine with hot water and a little detergent. Then a few min later you'd end up with a MUCH smaller soaker.
One draw back to felted wool is that it is not very stretchy. So, you need to be careful not to felt something too much because if it is too small you'll never be able to stretch it out again.
I've heard some knitters will felt just the crotch area of a soaker by rubbing it between thier hands in a sink full of hot water, only rubbing the area where they want the felting to occur. Thus, they are left with a soaker that is still stretchy, but thicker and more waterproof crotch area...
I'm not sure if any of this is making sense... There is a lot that can be said about felting and I don't know if this is the info you were looking for... You could do a search for felting in the 'Crafts' forum as I'm sure there have been many discussions about it there!
HTH!
![]()
If something is to be felted on purpose it would need to be made much bigger than the desired size as wool shrinks when felted. So, if you're wanting a small felted soaker, you'd knit a Large or even an XL and throw it in the washing machine with hot water and a little detergent. Then a few min later you'd end up with a MUCH smaller soaker.
One draw back to felted wool is that it is not very stretchy. So, you need to be careful not to felt something too much because if it is too small you'll never be able to stretch it out again.
I've heard some knitters will felt just the crotch area of a soaker by rubbing it between thier hands in a sink full of hot water, only rubbing the area where they want the felting to occur. Thus, they are left with a soaker that is still stretchy, but thicker and more waterproof crotch area...
I'm not sure if any of this is making sense... There is a lot that can be said about felting and I don't know if this is the info you were looking for... You could do a search for felting in the 'Crafts' forum as I'm sure there have been many discussions about it there!
HTH!
