Sarah Knits and Weaves

Felting in the simplest sense is hairs sticking to each other. Almost all animal hairs felt, the exception being musk ox down. One thing that has freaked out my friends is dreadlocks are felted hair.

Felts are created in different ways. Just rubbing fibers or hairs together can felt, like a mat on your dog or checking to see if your yarn is an animal fiber. Felt like you'd buy at the craft or fabric store is usually now part wool and part acrylic and created using many tiny needles that push the fibers into each other to make it more stable and dense. Wet felting is also known as boiled wool, putting wool into hot water and agitating it so it shrinks and becomes more dense. What I actually do most of the time is not felting, but fulling because it uses yarn instead of loose fiber.

I knit a purse on larger needles than you would typically use for the yarn, for most of what I do, 6.5 milimeter or US 10.5 needles. It is one piece with the only seam being where I sew one end of the handle. I place it in a mesh bag in a hot washer with some sort of mild detergent. Usually I throw in a small old towel for agitation. Depending on the yarn I put the purse through one to five wash cycles before it is done. Then it is dryed on a table, sometimes with a box inside to help it hold shape.