Slow felters

#1

I know there are a lot of experienced felters on the forum, so I’m tossing this out for all feedback. As I posted previously, I was unsure of the feltability of the wools I had purchased for the booger. Well I did up 3x3 swatches of them both, and after many cycles through the wash, they are “beginning” to felt. Now, here’s my thinking… since I had them in regular loads of laundry, they didn’t get agitated as much as they would have in a teeny tiny load. The water in the washer, while hot, could have been hotter by adding some boiling water to it. We have very soft water, so I know that hardness can’t be a factor. Since they are now beginning to felt, wouldn’t they continue to felt more until you can no longer see the stitches?

So here’s my question in a nutshell: based on what I’ve tried and done so far, do you think that my results with a finished bag would be better under the altered conditions I mentioned?

#2

Some items I have felted took SEVERAL agitation cycles. And, yes…the more you agitate them, the more they will felt until you can no longer see the sts.

About the boiling water, you dont want the water so hot that you cant reach into it to check your items. :shock: I run the water in the laundry room sink until it is hot, THEN I start the washer, so the water is hot right away. That should be sufficient.

Hope that helps!

#3

Thanks for the feedback KK! After the last wash cycle I ran the swatches through, both of them were beginning to felt. I had been quite worried about the Patons Classic after the fact, since it didn’t even kick in until I started going frantic about the Peer Gynt, that I had Winter White. That means it was bleached, and THAT would affect the felting as well. I did my swatches in garter just to get them done quickly, and all the corners of both felted up quite nicely. The bag will be done stockinette, and I’ve heard that felts better anyway. I don’t have a sink downstairs in the laundry room, but I can turn off the cold water to the washer while it is filling, so that will take care of any hot water issues… my tank is HOT!!!

#4

I have had mine too hot, where it was hard to check the progress of the project because it was too hot.