I am almost certain that there is a thread posted, but when I did a search…I said “Screw it, I am just going to ask” smiles
Is there a rule of thumb for knits to felts? Say I wanted to design a felted item, should I make it 4x the size? 2x the size, I guess it must matter on how much you want to felt something, right?
I’ve only felted a couple of things, but I want to point out that they do not shrink the same amount in both directions. In other words, a 4X4 square in stockinette may shrink down to 3 1/2 wide by 3 high. Most people seem to use either garter or stockinette to felt; I think that they would experience different degrees of shrink in each direction for each particular stitch.
some yarn types shrink more than the other’s. Garter stitch doesn’t do a complete felt. I have no idea why, but you can still see the stitches.
I haven’t noticed that with garter stitch. :think:
Anyway, yarns can felt differently by brand, fiber, etc. Needle size affects how much it felts somewhat… a tightly knit item will felt less than a loosely knit item it seems. I’m not sure if there is a ‘rule of thumb’ or not since there are so many variables.
so the best thing to do is to knit it on needles 2 or 3 times bigger then you would for a normal item then?