Felting something knitted

[duchesse]

Has anybody felted something knitted in stocking stitch? Is it possible? Or is garter stitch better? And most crucially, by how much will it shrink? and Does it shrink in all directions?

I'm going to try my hand at making a nappy soaker for the summer using a Debbie Bliss knitted shorts pattern and wondered which size to go for. The baby is 6mo but still tiny (size of an average 3 mo) but she wears shaped washable nappies (ie quite a big rear despite her small size).

yes you can felt anykiind of stitch. i have even felted crochet. you might be best finding a patter which will detail wool. dimensions and shrinkage. otherwise it is an unknow quantity

Shrinkage will depend on all kinds of things - what yarn you use, what cycle you use etc, etc. Best thing to do is make a few swatches and run them through different cycles and see what happens.

Swatches! Doh! I always forget about swatches. That is an excellent tip, thank you.

One last thing: is the thing about felting that you use needles that are quite big for the yarn? The yarn I've earmarked is definitely 100% wool and it's a 4-ply weight. I was imagining knitting it on 5mm or 5.5 mm needles. What think you, felting gurus?

i would just knit normal sized needles to get a nice tight felt

Normal sized or slightly bigger. I don't think I'd go as big as 5.5mm for 4-ply to be honest.

As others have said, you can felt any stitch - Nicky Epstein's book on felting shows lots of different effects you can get from felting cables, bobbles, moss stitch, etc, and tis very cool - but I've only ever felted stocking stitch and it generally works fine. Nice even fabric.

I'd definitely second Obama (!) and knit your 4-ply using the needles recommended, or you might end up with a rather uneven felted fabric as a result. Swatches on different-length cycles are a good thing, because you might find your longer cycles over-felt your knitting and you end up with rather stiff fabric. Don't forget to stick it in a knotted pillowcase if you think it might shed fibres into your machine!

Good luck - I love felting, as you never quite know what you're going to end up with.

The only thing I'm concerned about is ending up with a pair of shorts that is so thick and stiff that she can't move in them!

Duchesse - I understand your worries about ending up with something unusable after all that work! Do these soakers have to be felted? I know some soakers are, but I also know I've seen knitted soakers (that have been lanolised) that are just knitted and eventually felt on their own, through friction and, I suppose, moisture!

I have done a lot of felting -- mostly bags, flowers, and stuff like that but not garments.

Actually, if I can be pedantic here what you are actually doing is fulling -- felting is using roving, wet or dry. If you look up 'fulling' you can find more information.

Knitted fabric that is fulled is not at all stretchy, and not very flexible -- its more cardboard-y, IYSWIM. I am not sure I would want to wear anything that was not pretty structured e.g. like what we called boiled wool jackets.

Otherwise I agree with everyone else. I find that going up about .5/1mm from the recommended needle size is a good idea, as it felts better. The sts need room to rub together to felt effectively. How tight a piece felts has a lot more to do with the original thickness of the yarn (I double up worsted weight yarn for bags) and how long you agitate it. If I want a tighter felt (a smaller bag, and denser fabric) I just turn the dial back on the washer and let it go. (PS If you are fulling a lot, you should zip the knittted items up into a pillow protector so you don't clog up the washer with wet linty furry stuff).

Garter stitch does felt differently -- kinda ridgier, but not exactly thicker, though the difference fades the longer you leave it to felt.

As Goblin says, felting, or fulling, occurs through friction and is much more effective when there is water, and even more so, when it's hot and soapy.

Basically when you card wool to make roving, you are smoothing and straightening the fibres out and lining them up the same way, so then they can be twisted and spun together into a strand. When the fibres get wet, and warm they are lubricated and can rub together and get curled and tangled up again like wire wool.

Basically, things do shrink up more than in, partly for the same reason that you need more sts than rows to make an inch. The longer you agitate, I find, the 'shorter' they get relative to width.

Also beware that some pure wool will not felt if it has been bleached. White wools will often not felt because bleaching stops the fibres curling up, kind of like when you chemically treat curly hair to straighten it.

Felting something, like a garment, really needs to fit, is risky because you never know what is going to happen -- you have to watch, and experiment and make mistakes.

And I see MG you mention the knotted pillowcase -- mine always can unknotted so I got a zip-up one!!!

I close the pillowcase using a hair tie. Gives more room for the item to move around inside it.

Can I butt in and ask a question? If I felt/full something would I then be able to cut it up without the edges unravelling or should I cut out the shape I want first??

Depends how felted/fulled it was. If it was very thick and matted you should have no probs at all. I've made nice brooches, cutting up well-felted fabric, with no hemming. And if you cut after you felt, you can control the final size and shape.

Thanks! Will give it a go...

Thanks ladies! Is the pillowcase to protect the item or to provide friction?

The pillowcase stops the clumps of wet wool that always come off from clogging up the gubbins in your washing machine. V important if you don't want to have to get someone out.

Yeah -- once a knitted piece is felted it's just like any other felt. Cut it, sew it, whatever. Sometimes I knit flower shapes and then felt, a la Nicky Epstein and sometimes I cut out felt, as Mama does!

Martha Stewart has some nice projects (needle felting as well as fulling here.