felting question

[marnie]

i use coin-op machines so it costs me $3 per wash cycle. i don't have a whole lot of room for felting testing so i need input from you experts.

i want to make myself a bag, and felt it. i want it to have pockets. if i knit the pockets on the bag will they felt closed?

[mhurst]

I don't think so, I mean slippers don't felt closed. (I know the wool for pockets and the body of the purse are closer together than the slippers but...):ily

[clothusingmama]

I did a bag with a pocket on it and it didn't felt shut. It kinda stuck a smidge but I just ran a knitting needle through the layers and it came apart very easily. It was a big pocket though, a smaller pocket might stick more than a larger one.

[MosaicMoonMama]

You can also felt things in a sink with alternating hot and cold water and soap--that's how I do it :)

[marnie]

Morwenna, i was hoping to make a big bag - i might go insane hand felting it. how long does it take?

[MosaicMoonMama]

Oh, I don't know....maybe 15 minutes or so? I thought it was fun!

[marnie]

really? that's all? well then!! thanks for the tip, i thought it would take forEVer!

[IrishBaby]

Hand felting is pretty easy! I would try it at home. If you give up, you can always take it to the coin-op.

And I don't think the pockets would felt closed.

[pmcgary]

I agee with the 'at home' suggestions....In fact I might try that myself with the next felted project I do. It takes over 30 minutes (two 18 cycles minimum) to felt...and I have to go to the basement.....

[The MadPatter]

You can also felt in the shower. Put down the rubber mat, stick on the felt project with lots of soap, twist and shout. Stomp and bop. Etc. Let your feet have some fun for a change.

If you are worried about the pocket felting stuck, put a piece of plastic in the pocket, and tack shut with a stitch or two to keep it in. That will keep it from felting together.

Even when I'm doing a bunch of sweaters at once, I still end up hauling them out of the washer and over to the sink to give them some extra shocks of hot to cold and vice versa. I like the speed of the ice water bath alternated with simmering on the stove. I'm soooooo type A, hehehe. Also, I'm much to cheap to go through a whole bunch of wash cycles. AND, Arthur would throw a tizzy fit if I were "wasting that much energy on something so frivolous!!!" Living with an environmental guru is cool, especially in the winter, hehehe. We STILL haven't used the heater yet this winter. But, it does keep the guilt to a minimum. But, I may go to hell behind smugness...

Patti

[ravingcutie]

Patti, please tell me how you live without heat. Now mind you, if it's around 30 F I could see how you could do it.....but no heat all winter? Sounds frigid!

I like hand felting....it's really a great thinking activity. You could always start with the hand felting and when you feel like it might drive you over the edge, pop your bag in the wash with your jeans. Do haute couture NY people wear jeans?

[marnie]

Do haute couture NY people wear jeans?

oh my, yes. denim is the new black.

[ravingcutie]

oh my, yes. denim is the new black.

I live across the street from a corn field - literally. Now you understand why I'm unsure about the latest fashions..........

[The MadPatter]

Well, I can do it, because I am in Sacramento, CALIFORNIA, not Sacramento IOWA, lol! I did crack the other night, and used the heater, but it only got up to 61 or something, so that was a pretty wimpy attempt. How do we do it> Well, right now I am wearing my Red Lobster server uniform, minus the apron: long sleeve oxford shirt, pantyhose, black poly slacks (gross but easy to clean in case I'm in the proximity when a cocktail sauce grenade goes off...) black socks and non slip shoes. Because I was too lazy to change when I got home. I sem to hate changing my clothes. Not sure why, but I have always been a one outfit a day woman. If I have to do something after work, then I just look dorky. But, hey! I can't see me! so, from in here, its all good. On top of this I have: wool Swiss Army pants from REI via a thrift store. I love them enough to marry them. Yep. On top, my other current true love, a Pendleton Woolk shirt, in tan. It is so soft and warm, its almost hard to believe it is wool. I got it brand new at the thrift store. It is some kind of knit material that really doesn't stretch. Mybe I'll be a bigamist. Also wearing my hood/scarf, acrylic from before I discovered wool. It is a regular scarf I customized. I got tired of my scarf sliding off my head, so about a third of the way down the scarf, I folded it width-wise, and tacked it together for about 6". That's the hood. Then I flip the short end over the opposite shoulder, and wrap the long end all the way around one and a half times, so the end is in back. Totally toasty. I have my coat hanging over my shoulders while I type, because I noticed the cold sinking in. I also added a pair of wool socks over my work socks, so my feet wouldn't turn into blocks of ice. (It's 58 0r 60 in here, depending on which thermometer you believe.)

And, its not like I'm NEVER in a heated place. Its toasty at work, and if I'm cold, I can always go across the street to leukemia girl's hot house. She keeps it so hot in there, I have to dress specially for the visit, so I don't burst into flame, hehehe. She does have to make sure she doesn't get sick, because she had a bone marrow transplant. (When she fianlly went to the Doctor, after feeling "pretty crappy" for "a while" they said, "Holy crap! No wonder you feel "kind of crappy"! You have about as few blood cells as you can, and still be alive!" She literally had one of the lowest counts they had ever seen, and would probably have died within a few days, because she wouldn't have had enough to carry enough oxygen to keep a human going. Like, umm, this is REALLY taking procrastination to a whole new level, honey... She actually tried to get them to let her wait until the next day, and they were starting to threaten things like calling the ambulance and locking her inside...) So, there's always the princess's toasty town.

Katie: completely on another track: We have some Greene and Greene bungalows in Sacramento. Ohh, ahh! One has the most gorgeous spring displays of azaleas. Mmmmmm.

Patti

[ravingcutie]

Patti- you're one well dressed woman!

I would die to live in a Greene and Greene. I have several coffee table books full of beautiful bungalow pictures. Our new house is a freaking ugly 70 split, but our first house was a cozy bungalow with original woodwork, woodfloors and tiny hex tile in the bath. Bungalows are bliss....

[The MadPatter]

I live across the street from a corn field - literally. Now you understand why I'm unsure about the latest fashions..........

A few years ago we drove from Sacramento to Maine, via Yellowstone. It takes at least 5 days each way. We finally got to Arthur's parent's farm at 3:00 am (EDT, hehehe) and got out to stretch.

Me: "Well, we have seen America."
Arthur: "And it was corn..."

[The MadPatter]

Hex tile. Love hex tile...

[Michele]

A few years ago we drove from Sacramento to Maine, via Yellowstone. It takes at least 5 days each way. We finally got to Arthur's parent's farm at 3:00 am (EDT, hehehe) and got out to stretch.

Me: "Well, we have seen America."
Arthur: "And it was corn..."

:LOL So true!

[KaliD]

Even when I'm doing a bunch of sweaters at once, I still end up hauling them out of the washer and over to the sink to give them some extra shocks of hot to cold and vice versa. I like the speed of the ice water bath alternated with simmering on the stove.
Patti


Oooh Patti....

Are you being literal about the simmering water on the stove and the ice water bath?

Is this in combination with soapy aggitation in the machine? Or a separate totally hand felting operation?

I'm trying to wrap my brain around this whole "super duper fast" felting method.

[The MadPatter]

Oooh Patti....

Are you being literal about the simmering water on the stove and the ice water bath?

Is this in combination with soapy aggitation in the machine? Or a separate totally hand felting operation?

I'm trying to wrap my brain around this whole "super duper fast" felting method.

OK, I can see where this could be confusing. I think I had a flash back to another thread, or something. I refer to things no one else has heard of, once in a while. Sorry, there.

OK, when sweater felting in the machine, I fish them out of the hot water in the machine, add some soap, scrub a bunch, and plunge into a sink full of cold water. Wring or squish out as much water as possible, and put back in the washer for another heat up.

When felting something small, like a purse, or a swatch, or a piece of some color I need for an applique, or whatever, I will often use the stove and ice water method, because its fast. Remember that you have to handle this with your HANDS, so make sure you keep it low enough that you don't burn yourself. Even with rubber gloves, its toasty... My electric stove goes up to 9, then hi, and I usually use about 3, definitely no higher than 5, which is the grilled cheese setting, FYI so you can compare to your stove.


hahaha, that can be one of our directions sometime: Heat to cheese sandwich grilling temperature, and...

I rather like that, lol.

Whatcha felting, Christmas slippers?

Patti

[KaliD]

Thank you for the clarification! Your description is what I ass*umed you meant, but you know....most of the time when I ass*ume something, well...*ahem*


I decided at the last moment to knit my father (the family chef/short order cook) a hot mitt and pad set. Of course I chose by color not by type of yarn so I'm using the wool in my stash that felts the slowest.

I need to snap a picture of it. DS aka the most wonderful grandchild in the world helped picked the colors and the colorwork (gasp, my first!) so even if it flops I have the good old fall back of "but YOUR grandson helped sooo much!" *cough, cough* No I don't know how to work Dad at all!

I wish I had thought of this AND started it a month ago. This is the first project DS wanted to knit...sigh...because it was for Grandpa aka the person who causes the sun rise and fall.