Felting????

Libby · Felting????

I quite fancy having a go at this in the New Year!!!

So:-

is it expensive to do, how easy is it and is there anything I should know??

OOOPPPPPSSS I've put this in the wrong section, sorry!!!! (Must be at last getting tired!!!!)

Laughing

Kathy

It's fairly easy Libby but make sure you have fibre that felts easily or you'll be there for hours and end up with aching arms!
The white from craftynotions.com felts well but their coloured stuff is slow. Because the white is cheaper, people tend to do the bulk of the item with white and the final layer colour or splashes of colour on the white.
Have you got somewhere you can purchase fibre from, if not, Twistfibrecraft do mail order and their merino is great to work with.
I've a book you can borrow to get you started if you like, let me know and I'll get it posted of to you. Smile

Libby

Super Thank you. I will definately look into it in the New Year!!!

Leonie2

Libby I've just seen this thread. I've posted on my blog about a felting project I plan to try in the next couple of weeks. It's a tea cosy that I quite like the look of.

I have bought some pure alpaca yarn, Kathy do you think it will felt okay? I just assumed as it was pure wool it would....hope so because I've already ordered it now.

Kathy

All wool will felt, I assume you are knitting this then shrinking in the washing machine? If so I don't think the kind of wool you use matters so much, it will felt! The actual finished size depends on the type of wool being used so you might need to knit a test square and check the shrinkage.
Alpaca seems to be quite popular for felting, there's an article here with more info.
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter03/FEATfelthis.html

Leonie2

Thanks Kathy, it's actually one of the knitty patterns that I'll be making. And yes, it's pre-knitted and then shrunk in the washing machine. I'll have a read of that link later when I have more time.

Libby

This looks like fun! A nice simple project to have a go at felting with. I will see if I can get some wool and circular needles! Thanks Leonie!

mystictree

I haven't felted for years and having said that, I have never used Alpaca (have spun it) but on the wool front ... don't use fleece from a Jacob's sheep as it is very slow, if not almost impossible to felt in my experience!!!

Georgina

mogs

if anyone is interested i have 2 full alpaca fleeces i am willing to sell.......both untouched and need cleaning but a bargain at only £35 each plus p+p or you can collect.
one cream one chocolate.
i was going to put them on ebay, but i dont have time to photo them, and do the description etc

i have never got round to spinning them, just not enough hours in the day, and it seems a shame to have them in the attic...i also have quite a few sheep fleeces up there aswell.....lol....
i usually use the winter evenings for spinning etc, but this year we have ( and still are ) renovating the house so i have not had time in the evenings to get it going..plus the building dust would ruin them...and the days are filled with fencing, feeding, buying, selling, riding, etc etc

oh deep joy...... Laughing