Felt Like a Canadian

So I heard about people taking old sweaters and felting them - so of course, I had to get in on that! Then again, I didn't really know how to felt - but how hard could it be? So I had a grey sweater from my mother-in-law that had a red maple leaf on it that I thought was wool. It said that it was 100% wool - which I thought was feltable (Is that a word? It is now!). So I pulled out some of the top of the sweater and some from the bottom (I unraveled it little at a time) and picked up the stitches on either end. I then had bought some red wool that matched the red in the maple leaf. The top I knit a red border and made a handle by knitting an I-cord. The bottom I knit a border about the same size as the top and then made a square bottom and sewed it into place. Look how big it looked - based on George's body (poor George the knitting model).


George the Knitting model - hard at work.

So it's not always work for the model as George showed us how much he likes natural fibers. He went nuts for the wool! We couldn't keep him out of it. He would go into my knitting bag and take the balls of wool and hug and sniff it!! Look what I mean:



He looks a little guilty in the last picture.

So after knitting the bag, I set off to felt it. I had gotten some hints on the internet and found that it was quite easy to felt. All you need is a zippered pillow case, some Wool Mix (a soap that you don't have to rinse out - I got it at Three Kittens in the Twin Cities - but I'm told you can find it at most knitting shops. But don't look at the chain stores because I couldn't find any there. You want this because wool kind of smells like wet dog. Which is why Geoge likes it I suppose.), a washer machine, an old towel to throw in with the bag to cause some friction, and hot water. I put it on medium size, hot water, and let it go for 5 minutes. Then I checked it and put it back in. I think in total, it took about 15 minutes to felt. The only problem is that the old sweater part (lets call the meat of the bag) did not felt. The maple leaf slightly felted but the gray part didn't. The top and bottom felted like a charm and seemed to hold the whole thing together. After I removed the bag, I took made a square bottom out of cardboard wrapped in plastic wrap and put in the bottom of the bag and forced the bag into that shape. Then I took newspaper and filled the bag to give that form. Then I hung it from a door knob to dry. I checked it about every hour or so to see how it was drying (this part was not really necessary and only added to my impatience).

I think it turned out quite nice. See for yourself:



Of course, George had to get into the picture since he was there from the beginning!

I sent the bag to my mother-in-law for a present. She took it to Portugal - which I was quite proud of. She said she carried it everywhere and that it held up quite nicely. Not too bad for a sweater and some tweaking! Now after thinking about it, I'm not sure that is how people are using old wool sweaters to felt with. If anyone knows how people are doing this, I'd love to hear about it!