To felt or not to felt
Written by Elisabeth on August 7, 2008 – 10:57 -When I first started knitting I, like everyone else, started out with scarves. But true to form I soon wanted to try something more difficult and tried to knit arm warmers (the kind where you have an opening for your thumb). Considering the fact that I’m one of these people who are permanently cold this was the next logical step.
So - I bought a book with “easy knitting recipes“, found my arm warmers, discovered that I did not have the right yarn or the right size knitting pins - but I decided to give it a go nonetheless.
To go from knitting scarves and hats to using the required 5 small knitting pins you need to use for arm warmers was a huge shock. The pins fell out, I lost my thread, I had to start over again — but after a while I sort of got the hang of it and the blue arm warmers were done!
Just one problem, though - they were far too big! And had no shape (well, they had some shape, but not really the right one).
They look nice here, but that's just because I tucked them under for the picture!
This is what they really looked like: Limp, shapeless and fit for a gigant!
I liked them anyways. A combination of the sheer accomplishment and the colour made me want to felt them - to see if that would make them shrink to Elisabeth-size. I had of course never feltet anything in my life, and again I turned to a book for help (I had also ordered “Easy Felting” [or something along those lines]) and did exactly what the author said and threw in a red towel to boot the process.
The wait while the armwarmers were in the washing machine was a long one and I felt like a child at Christmas. When I tugged open the door I was still a child at Christmas just a very, very disappointed one… You see, no felting had taken place. The armwarmers were bigger! And seemed thinner. The reason for the latter became evident when I looked into the washing machine and discovered that it was full of blue thread. Not just a bit - but a lot. It seemed like about half the armwarmer had decided to shed during the felting process. While I plucked blue thread out of the machine I felt quite confused because this was definitely not what was supposed to happen.
The next day I got my explanation when I described over lunch my miserable knitting weekend and a woman asked what yarn I had used. I told her the name, and she laughed. It turned out that I had used prewashed and treated wool that’s made not to felt or shrink at all… That was one slight detail my book had forgot to mention when it said “all 100% wool can be used for felting”.
Did I try my hand at felting again? Yes I did, but that’s a post for another day!
Tags: arm warmers, felting, Knitting
Posted in Clothing, Knitting |
By Lilan on Aug 7, 2008 | Reply
These look so fun!
I used to knit when I was 12 or 13 with my grandmother - she taught me how to make a lot of baby booties and hats, along with adult beanies. Sadly, I’ve forgotten how to make them but still remember the basic fundamentals to knitting.
Maybe you can teach me with a fun pattern!
By Elisabeth on Aug 8, 2008 | Reply
(Welcome to my blog, Lilian *s*)
They were fun, and I love that pearl knit because it’s quite simple, but looks so good.
I refused to learn how to knit when I as a kid, and ended up teaching myself how in my late 20s. I just did not have the patience when I was small I guess.
I could teach you how to knit the Norwegian way! Seriously - we don’t knit like the Americans or the English. I have no idea why, but I’m not able to buy any foreign knitting magazines because of it (well, I could buy them.. but… you know… there’s many pretty pictures on the internet as well. For free!)