Let's talk felting. Taking a knit item and throwing it in the wash so that it shrinks and tightens. I'm not talking about when you have that really nice sweater that your mother-in-law bought you for Christmas the year before you became in-laws, and after the third wearing, you accidentally stick it in the washer and dryer in your college dorm laundry facilities and it comes back squat and too small. No, I mean the trendy thing to do when you knit something loose and HUGE with the intent of throwing it in the washer, beating it beyond belief, and ending up with this cute little... whatever it is.
I don't claim to be an expert on felting, by any means. I know the simple rules: temperature, agitation, wool. One can get more detailed in these rules, such as alternating very hot and very cold water, what is the best way to agitate the fabric (tennis balls, jeans, etc), and what percentage of wool in the yarn composition. Oh yeah, another basic would be no super-wash. That defeats the purpose.
The one thing about felting that I just don't get however, is that people are constantly claiming that you "can't felt in a front loader/HE machine". Who in the world started this rumor? I mean really. I had never heard of this rumor until after I had successfully felted 3 projects. ..in my front loading HE machine. The first project I felted I knew very little about felting. All I knew was that I needed heat (hello, whitest whites setting!) stuff it in a pillow case so that felty bits didn't get caught in my washer, add some detergent, a pair of jeans, and go! I let it go for one single run. When I pulled it out, I was expecting that it was going to be saggy and not the nice little crisp bag I was intending. I was actually prepared for having to run it multiple times before getting the size and thickness I wanted. Woah, was I wrong! It came out perfect that first time.
So why is it that I am still hearing all the time that you can't use these washers for felting? Why do people still question it? Why don't people trust that it will work? No, really?
This is where I talk about my crafty/creative side. It is predomminently filled with knitting and dancing, with the occasional cross stitching or painting.
About Me
Come check out my Etsy shop!!
www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from Kiwi Dancer tagged with knitting. Make your own badge here.
1 comment:
I heard this rumor too and when we bought our new washer and dryer this summer I nearly purchased a top-loader just so I could continue to felt. :) I'm addicted. I then decided that the HE won out over my need to felt and if worse came to worse I would stick my stuff in a vat of hot water and beat it with wooden spoons. I have had some projects come out spot on the first go, and others, like my slippers, took 5 cycles to felt down. I had done the same slippers in the same yarn in a top loader and it took 2 cycles.
I think people have given them a bad rap for a couple reasons:
1)the old front loaders locked and didn't unlock until end of cycle--the new ones have a cancel button so you can stop the cycle ANY TIME
2)front loaders aren't as hard on your clothes--no big thing sticking up in the center for things to beat against--hence the reason for using jeans or tennis balls
3)my washer doesn't have a water level setting (HE, you get the picture) on my old top loader I set the water to low and usually got results in 1 or 2 cycles. My HE, I need an extra cycle.
Post a Comment