Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Pink Lady Is Done!

Well...almost. I finished knitting it, including figuring out how to do the Kitchener Stitch to finish the handles. (No, I've never learned it before and it's a pretty cool way to join two pieces of knitting that are still on needles or holders.)

I've felted it and it's drying on the radiator now. As soon as it's dry, in a day or two, I'm going to my LYS to pick a really special button for the tab closure.

I made one slight change to the pattern. I know you can cut into felted knitting to create buttonholes. Really, I know it in my head. But my heart shrinks from it and doesn't believe it won't unravel if I cut. :-) So, I made the tab closure a little wider and knit a buttonhole into it. Hey, it'll work fine and my nerves were spared!

Speaking of felting, how do you do it? I always start out with the hot wash cycle, smallest load size, a teaspoon of dishwashing liquid, throw the bag in the washer with something heavy, and then check every five minutes. I've found it usually takes about fifteen minutes, and the addition of a teakettle of boiling water midway through, to achieve the effect I want. I like it to be fully felted, thick and sturdy, and no stitches showing. I've felted with several different yarns and they all seem to work well with that treatment.

But one thing that bothers me is, I can't find a way to felt without fuzz from whatever I put into the washer with the bag coming off on the bag. I've tried dark and light, fuzzy and non-fuzzy towels. I've tried jeans, and a denim jacket, but they all leave fuzz behind to some degree. I don't think a mesh zippered delicates bag would help as it has holes in it. I might have to try a zippered pillowcase cover, but not sure if it will felt as well if shut up in a pillowcase.

Do any of you have tips for felting? I'd love to hear them!

3 comments:

It's just Raven said...

I ABSOLUTELY love this pink bag! I followed your link here from the bag-o-holic list and had to join blogger just so I could drop in with a comment! LOL!!!
As for your felting questions, I have found that my items felt just as well in a zippered case, though I was nervous about trying that at first. In the washer I place a bunch of tennis balls. I get the ones in the dollar store that are in packs of three, in the dog toy section. If you wash them first along with a few loads of regular hot water laundry, they don't seem to shed any fibers onto the felted items. They do pick up fibers from what you are felting though when you don't use the pillow slip so that could certainly have an effect on future projects of different colors.

Elizabeth Delisi said...

Thanks so much! Especially for joining blogger in order to post. ;-) It is free, but not everyone's willing to join.

Thanks for the tennis balls idea. I'll definitely give it a try. If I decide not to use them, our dog Max will take them and say "thank you very much" so nothing lost there.

Elizabeth Delisi said...

Hi Liz! From one Liz to another. ;-) Knitting is a great pasttime...very soothing. I think it keeps me sane!

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