Cascade 220 Heathers and Solids: What They Look Like Felted.

Over the past month or so I've been testing slippers for my Hobbity Slipper pattern. The result has been an assortment of colour combinations in lovely felted fabric. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. Any ideas? They're too beautiful to throw away!

Cascade 220s in mostly Heathers and some Solids. Used two strands for felting. 

Factors to Consider When Felting In A Frontloader Washing Machine

Thought you couldn't felt in your front loading washer? Think again. It's absolutely possible. But there a few things you need to know:

 1. Always make a swatch or swatches. Measure before and after felting.

Here is an example of some slipper sole swatches. There is still a lot of stitch definition so I ended up felted a second time (not shown here). Without felting the swatches you make you won't have a proper gauge for your end product. Make a swatch using the yarn type and color you intend to use as some colors of the same yarn felt at different speeds. Really. It's true!

2: Water temperature: go for the sani-wash if you have the option. It is hot tap water which is additionally heated by the machine. If this is not an option, pick the hottest wash possible with a cold rinse. The cold rinse is important as it "shocks' the fibres and is responsible for a large part of the felting process.

3: Agitation: 

Add a dozen tennis balls and extra clothing, lots of smaller pieces of heavier fabric works best (so if you have kids clothes, throw them in). You can also use jeans, rags, smaller towels. All will all help.

If the pieces of clothing you adding are too big, they can envelop the item to be felted and actually stop it from being agitated by the tennis balls etc.

I do not recommend putting your item in a mesh bag with tennis balls. The space is too cramped, and in my attempts, the felting turned out uneven.

4. As yarns felt at different rates, pause your washer and check on item intermittently to make sure you don't take it further than you want.

5. You may have to do more than one cycle to get the felting where you want it to be. If after two cycles you want further felting, I suggest doing it by hand (it's not so bad if you do it in front of a good TV show).

6. Some felters recommend wetting your piece before putting it in the wash. Make sure other clothes are dry though (make sure you put the other items in the dryer if you are doing more than one cycle) or the machine will add too much water).

7. Work in all loose ends really well into work before felting. loosely close any potential holes with a yarn and needle.

8. Do not use the spin cycle if you are felting a large piece such as a bag, it may distort the shape. For something small like a slipper, the spin cycle is fine.

Please add to comments section if you have any tips to add. Happy felting everybody!

Felted Crochet Slipper: The Hobbit Slipper V.2

The Hobbit Slipper is Almost There. 

I'm thinking about recruiting a couple of volunteer pattern testers and technical editors. Anyone interested? 

The pattern is easy+ and requires someone who can crochet at that level (preferably intermediate). 

Also, experience with felting or slipper making will help a lot. Originally I was going to send the materials but I'm thinking it may be easier to send an Amazon gift card for the costs of the yarn so that you can buy your yarn locally. Contact me via comments or mosscrochet@gmail.com. You also get a copy of the completed pattern for free.

I'm taking Wednesday through Saturday to try to finalize the pattern and would be looking for folks who could work within that time frame. You would have consistent access to me if you get stuck, have questions etc.

How to get the Correct Size When Felting Crochet Slippers

A great question from +David Haylett 


Q: David Haylett

Hi +Lydia Hamilton I am not very good at this sort of thing but my partner is and I do like fashion, whether vintage or home made (my partner is currently heavily into sewing). My question is how do you get the fit and shape right, as I assume it must be difficult? Sorry for the long verbose question but I love your hobbit slippers.

A: Lydia Hamilton

Hi +David Haylett, Thanks for getting in touch.

It hasn't been easy, but I've been slowly creating a pattern based on a pair of slippers a made approximately a year ago (I'll never NOT write down a pattern again).

My pattern calls for a swatch to be made as per usual with hook size and yarn requirements. The pattern also calls for the  swatch to be felted. If the felted swatch matches the gauge requirements, then the pattern should come to the appropriate size.

In addition to this, one can felt the slipper in increments as to make sure it's the right size or even to modify the pattern's intended size.

My patterns are based on pretty heavily felted processing, so it would be hard to over-felt (but not impossible) to come out with a slightly smaller version than the pattern indicates.

Lastly, there's some stretch while the slipper is still wet and newly felted and it can be molded  with your hands from the insides to the shape, and to some degree the size, you desire.

I hope this helps!

All the best,
Lydia

#feltingcrochet, #feltedcrochet, #feltedslippers, #felting #crochetslippers

Felted Crochet: The Hobbit Slipper. First Trial With the Pattern In The Works

It's exciting to finally have a workable pattern for a prototype of the Hobbit Slipper. It needs a lot of tweaking but working from my own pattern rather than just winging it is really satisfying. It has been a lot of work and there's more work ahead to get it just right. I'll keep posting as I get closer to the finished design. Feedback is welcome!

First Prototype for the Hobbit Slipper

Felting Crochet: Important Information.

It's important to remember that when crochet is felted is shrinks more side-to-side than it does from top to bottom.

For example, here is a picture of a swatch made of two strands worsted weight (8mm hook) 10 stitches by 10 rows.. It measures 5'' across and 4" tall (fig. 1).

fig. 1

After felting, it measures 3"x3"; a perfect square. This means that it shrunk by 25% top to bottom and 40% side to side (fig. 2). (The second to last swatch in the picture below). 

fig. 2

The last three swatches on the right are all 10 stitch-by-10 row swatches that were orginally 5"x 4" in dimension. They consistently felted to 3"x3" squares using several types of worsted yarns (double stranded) on an 8mm hook. 

It's always good to do a swatch for any crochet pattern you use. It's doubly important when felting. One might assume crochet felt the same and as a knit product, but in fact knit tends to shrink more top to bottom, the reverse of crochet. Keep this in mind as you dream up your next felting project. I find when working in the round, I average the two measurements and expect around 30% shrinkage as a rule.

I hope you find this information helpful. I wished I'd made swatches in the past. It would have prevented a few felting disasters! Please add to the comment section if you have more helpful information about felting crochet. So much of the information available online about felting relates to knitting, leaving us hookers guessing.

+felting +crochet +felting crochet

The Digital Pillow

For some reason the colour combinations in this pillow look like a pixelated pattern to me. Not that I mind. I think it's partly the colour combination and using one consistent colour (red) with a second strand of changing colour (scraps). I'm sure glad I stocked up on good quality pillow inserts from Tuesday Morning. I've got one regular sized, and one giant goose down inserts left to go. I have an almost finished pillow made by wrapping crochet around a thicker yarn which I will post pictures of when it's finished. It's kind of a neat effect as well. 

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Merino Neck Warmer for Men

 This neck warmer is thick enough to keep out the wind while cycling in our damp Vancouver weather. Looks great too!