How I Felt

Feelings.  Nothing more than feelings.....

Just kidding.  We're not talking about feelings "felt" we're talking about felt felt.  You see, felt can originate in a knit or crochet form.  Some people hate it.  They don't like spending time knitting something ugly and misshapen.  Others, myself included, enjoy it.  I like knitting a big fat mess, then doing the unthinkable to it and having it turn into something.  And chances are, you already know how to felt and may have done it (unintentionally, of course) more than once.  You know that sweater you had?  You washed it and dried it and suddenly it's too small and really thick and totally ruined?  Yeah, you've felted.

So what felts?  Woolen fibers.  Acrylic yarn is totally safe to wash and dry.  (From a felt standpoint anyway).  It won't felt because it's a man-made fiber.  Cotton won't felt either.  Wool is the most common feltable fiber that I've come across.  Regular ol' wool.  But beware the superwash.  Superwash yarns have been specially dealt with to avoid felting.  So be sure not to pick that for next pair of slippers!

Feltable Wool Yarn.  This is what the slippers pictured are made from.

My Rosey Toes slippers are felted.  Here's a pic of something similar.  They're huge!  There's a lot of space between the stitches (big ol' gauge there).  To get them to felt, I put them in the wash with hot water and just a tiny bit of soap.  The agitation of the machine is what causes the felting.  As it goes along, I check it every now and again and use my foot to shape the slippers into...well, the shape of a foot!  When it's gotten as small as I want it, I take it out.  Wring the water out, reshape and allow to dry.

French Press Felted Slippers:  Before

Huge!!  This thing fits my husband's size 13 foot perfectly.

All Done!  

Felting is drastic.  It could potentially ruin all the work you've put into creating the object.  But it's very simple.  And the satisfaction of having your 'ruined' work come out all wet and gross and turn into something beautiful is so cool!!