Kay's Korner - A Knitters Notes

May 10, 2008

Even though I recently turned 52, I consider myself a work in progress and continue to try new activities, especially ones associated with the fiber arts. Sure I have crocheted and knit for 40 years, but only in the last decade have I committed to becoming a true fiber artist. My appetite for learning all things fiber has taken me down many interesting paths. As in all endeavors, if you do something long enough , somewhere, somehow, you are going to goof up. The trick is to learn as much, if not more, from our mistakes as we do from our successes.

Several years ago, felting became the latest craze, whether needle felting designs onto knit fabric, felting knit projects in the washing machine, or felting items by hand. My first felted project was happenstance, when as a teen I tossed one of my nicest wool pullovers in the washer and dryer, where it came out a ¾ inch thick toddler sized calamity. I quickly hid it under empty soap boxes in Mum's laundry room trash, never to be seen or mentioned again. Many years later, I saw a pattern for a jaunty felted hat at my local yarn shop, knitted in Wool Pak 14 ply New Zealand wool. My hat turned out so well that I made two for myself and several women commissioned me to make them one for themselves.

For those of you unfamiliar with the felting process, any animal fiber when exposed to agitation and heated water with a dash of detergent, will felt. This means the item will shrink and the fibers fuse together, leaving a sturdy fabric that will not pick and can be cut to size without raveling. Felted fibers are especially useful for hats, handbags, and placemats, but do not limit yourself! I may be showing my age, but do you remember the "boiled wool" jackets so popular in the 70's and 80's? They were felted. It is tiny scales on the fibers, invisible to the naked eye, which allow animal fibers to felt. They lock together when agitated with heated water and detergent enhances the process. Wool seems to be the animal fiber that gives the most consistent result, but as long as you swatch, felt, then evaluate the swatch, any animal fiber can be used. Very desirable outcomes are found when mixing animal fibers with novelty yarns. When the wool or other animal fiber felts, the synthetic novelty yarns become more prominent and take front stage.

I invite you to experiment. A word of caution: superwash wool and very white wool do not felt as they are processed with chemicals that negate the scales. They will no longer felt. Also, once fibers have felted, there is no going back. You cannot unfelt, so be sure to check the felting progress often to assure your desired result. I strongly recommend the use of latex gloves, in the weight used to wash dishes such as Playtex gloves, when fishing your felting out of the hot, soapy water. They will allow easy manipulation of the item, without scalding your hands in the process. It helps to have a measuring tape handy, as well.

As this article is titled that knitting never felt worse, let me advise you of other pitfalls. My mother's lovely off white felted hat was returned to me for resizing. She felt the brim was fine, but the band area needed to be tighter. I naively put the hat back in my washer, trying to shrink only the band area. Despite my tugging and checking the hat every minute, the result was an overall shrinkage and as I mentioned, felting cannot be undone My suggestion is to find a reliable pattern, to measure the recipients head circumference, and to block on a head mannequin or suitably sized bowl. Felting shrinks evenly and any tweaks for a large or small head should be addressed while knitting.

Which brings us to my most recent felting endeavor. My family has a simple home theater that has four remote controls. My Japanese rosewood table is where everyone tosses the four remote controls my guys swear are required to enjoy the movie. After seeing multiple mars on the table surface, I set out to knit and felt a tray with an approximately 2 ½ - 3 inch edge. I was confident that with my experience this 10" x 14" x 2 1/2" tray would be a piece of cake. I began by knitting a rectangle from 2 strands of Cascade 220, held together, one a handpaint with the other a coordinating solid. Cascade 220 is widely regarded as the most popular yarn for felting and it comes in more colors than Oprah has long lost cousins. I knew that I should expect 30-35% shrinkage in the felting process and to expect greater shrinkage per row than per stitch. In my haste to complete the tray, I did not aptly compensate for this difference. Although the piece looked perfect in every detail before being felted, my heart sank when I pulled my work from the washer tub. My nipped in corners retained their shaping and the top and bottom edges were slightly concave, just as I had planned, but the sides of the tray where the work was counted in rows were floppy and gaping. Every attempt to reshape was futile and the end result was a bitter disappointment. I could not delude myself into believing that anyone may mistake my hourglass sides for a design element. With a little glue and clipping away some of the excess, the tray will be usable, but the pattern will become part of my "good yarn gone bad" file.

On Kay's Needles
This has been a busy couple of weeks! I had to rip back my sleeves on "Happy" so that the stripes would match properly with the body of the garment. This pattern had a new twist - the sleeves are knit first! I am already contemplating which Lavold pattern I will start next, as I have so enjoyed working with Hempathy, one of the fabulous yarns from her designer line. I am finishing the crew neck on a Mother's Day shell, knit in Jaeger Celeste, a viscose, polyamide, linen blend ribbon yarn. It will complete a set, when paired with a poncho knit in 2007. My openwork stole worked in Linie 12 "Clip", the perennially popular 100% Egyptian cotton yarn from On Line, has become a warm weather staple for me, the perfect accent to casual wear. Worked double strand on large needles, the effect reminds me of broomstick lace.

Happy Knitting!

Copyright 2008 Karen Mather