I love the look of all the beautiful felted purses and hats I've seen and wanted to try to do some felting myself. I usually research a topic to death before starting, so I looked around on the internet and in books on how to felt. All of these sources made it look very easy - just throw a wool item in the washer with a pair of old jeans. Research done. On with the experiment!

I'd made a wool scarf on the Knifty Knitter and it became my trial piece. The yarn was a beautiful variegated blue of 100% wool with sections that were thick and thin. I'd knit it on the small long loom with a twisted double-knit (my favorite). I liked the scarf well enough, but there was one detail about it that bugged me. Since the thick and thin sections were evenly spaced along the yarn, the thin sections kept ending up in the same location along the knitting and produced these long thin areas down the length of the scarf. I'd tried doing extra wraps in the thin sections to make the next thin area start in a different location, but that only helped a little. I knew that this detail would always bother me about the scarf. Felting draws the fibers closer together - maybe it would close up these long, thin areas!

The books suggest putting the knit piece in a lingerie bag to protect the washer from loose fibers. I don't have a lingerie bag, so I put the scarf down the legs of an old pair of pantyhose. Then it went into the washer with an old pair of jeans for a run through a full hot cycle with gentle wash soap. When it came out, it was thicker and shorter. It was no longer something you'd want to wrap around your neck. It had also faded so that it now looked older and the long, thin areas were still there. Bummer.

Overall, I guess the experiment was a failure, but I think now I see why felting is so great for purses. The resulting piece is sturdy, a little stiff, and will hold it's shape. Hmmmm.... I've got an idea of what I want to try next. Check back later for more adventures in felting.