Our moms are very excited about their new "felted" projects. Technically, these should be called "fulled", because the wool isn't felted until after it has been crocheted into it's full form. (One of the many fun things our moms have learned from EtsyFAST-- the Etsy Fiber Arts Street Team!)We thought we'd show you how they did it! First, the take yarn that is 100% wool-- for this project, they used 100% merino wool from Patons, because it felts very evenly.
The bag was then crocheted (using half-double crochet, because it is a tighter stitch that isn't too small), but the size was much much larger than how they wanted the finished project! You can get a sense of how big it was here:
It's probably about 16-18 inches by 24-26 inches!
Then, they wash it, with hot hot water and some soap (woolite works, or a simple dishwashing soap like Ivory Liquid), with lots of agitation! Sometimes they do it by hand (rubbing the item in a big pot), or they will do it in the washing machine, but then they have to add some plain white non-terrycloth, non-shedding fabric to help with the agitation. After you scrub it in the hot, soapy water, you rinse it in cold cold water and watch it shrink! When it gets close to the size you want it to be, you shape it and "lay flat to dry". You watch it over a few days, and you can strectch it where you think it needs to be stretched, and rewet it if you want to change the shape a bit, and when it is dry, you have your fulled project!
The final dimensions on this bag were 11 inches x 15 inches. It's currently for sale as a custom order (Warm-colored Woodstock) in our moms' Etsy shop. There is a similar bag in cool colors (the Woodstock) also for sale there.
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