HI everyone,
So I just finished my first purse by knitting!!!
It looks awesome. I wanted to felt it so I put it in the washer for a full cycle (that was what the direstions said)… but nothing happened to it… it just got really wet.
If someone could please help me out that would be great!
Also, My washer doesnt just have a hot choice it only has a hot\cold …
Thanks for all the help in advance!
Robyn
The first question in any felting problem is–what was it made from?
It needs to be wool, not super-wash, just plain ol’ wool, not white.
If it is wool, and is not white, then. . .
Wash it in hot water in a bag of some sort, with some jeans thrown in for agitation. It may take a while, just keep checking it.
HEY!!! Another Illinoisian!! WELCOME!
I ditto what Ingrid said…what yarn did you use?
I used a black wool- I knew to get wool… can I try just putting it in a bath tub of hot water- or does it only work in the washer?
thanks for the help guys!
It needs agitation, as well as hot water. The cold part of your cycle should actually HELP the felting process by “shocking” the wool. Try it again with a couple pairs of jeans, or something heavy/scratchy like denim that will give it some good FRICTION.
[size=2]Are you sure its 100% wool??[/size]
It’s the combination of the hot water and the agitation that gets it to felt.
Here’s something to try. When I run my washer on hot the first time through, the water isn’t as hot as it could be because of the water sitting in the pipes. When I did my one and so far, only, felting, I had to fill it and then drain it to get the water really hot.
Don’t fill it too much, and make sure there’s something in there, like some jeans, to beat it up. 
Okay, Ill try again tomorrow- thanks and wish me luck!
do you have a front load washer? i have one and i have to sometimes put mine through 2-3 times before it really looks like it has felted. …usually i try to stop it before it gets to the “cold” part of the cycle and start the hot all over again…
when I felted my 2 bags, I had to keep resetting the wash cycle to keep up the agitation longer. It took about 20-25 minutes before it was felted enough, and my longest wash cycle is 20 minutes. I just kept rechecking the bag, and setting the wash cycle back to the beginning. Good luck!!
It all depends on the wool you use.
Cascade 220 seems to take forever to felt (it took 4 cycles to felt a bag). Wool Pak 14-ply (I think thats what I used) same pattern didn’t even take one cycle.
Has anyone else had trouble with the Cascade 220 felting?
Why does this keep happening to me!?! I swear I’m doing a preview then submitting. :??