Felting question

#1

I’m so cheap about yarn and I don’t want to experiment with swatches unless I have to, so can someone tell me if I can felt with blended yarns? All the patterns for felting say to throw it in the wash and voila! felted piece, but I stumbled on a pattern that warned not to use anything but 100% anything since blended yarns don’t felt properly. Sigh. I have a HUGE stash of Joann’s Angel Hair yarn that’s itching (pardon the pun) to be a felted purse but I don’t want to listen to that itch until I can be sure…Thanks loads in advance!

[size=2]edit - [color=violet]mod squad was here[/color][/size]

#2

i hate to break it to you, but with a blend, I would do a swatch :frowning:

#3

If the yarn has any man-made fiber content, it wont felt. Well, let me take that back…if its wool but has nylon or polyester nubs or something running through it, the wool part will felt and the nubbies will stick out.

You are DEFINITELY going to want to swatch and make sure (1) that it felts; and (2) that you like the look of it felted.

#4

Alright, swatching it is. I’d rather have the guarantee of a good looking bag rather than go through the effort of knitting it then having it all go to waste if the felting process doesn’t take. Thanks for the info, guys! Will now be on the lookout for pure yarns that I can afford. Guess the Angel Hair will be scarf material if the swatch comes out wonky…

#5

I was looking at the reviews of this yarn on Joann’s website, and a couple people warned not to wash it because it “matted”. Sounds like felting to me!

Still, you’ll need to do a test to measure the amount of shrinking. It probably doesn’t shrink as tightly as 100% wool, so it’s best to get an idea before you knit the whole item. :slight_smile:

#6

Yup…swatching is so wise…because you’d hate to end up with the “I washed my bag by mistake” look, rather than the cool felted look. :wink: