Mop in hand. Rubber gloves on. I have finished hand felting my knit mini bag. These are the tools of the intrepid by hand felter: bucket, mop, rubber gloves, soap and kettle.
I used the hottest water possible boiled in my electric kettle. It's steamy!
After 30 minutes of smashing and mashing my knitting with the mop when the water was too cold, and rubbing my knitting between my rubber gloves when the water reached a bearable temperature, here is the result.
There was still too much stitch definition for my liking. More hot water in the bucket and another 30 minutes of an upper body work out made for a better felted piece of knitting. My result after one hour and then shocking my knitting in cold water (as if boiling water was not shocking enough!).
To shape my bag, a can of pineapple does the job.
On the rack to dry! I'll take the can out to let the inside dry, once the outside feels dry to the touch.
In the meantime, I'm going to choose a button for my bag and plan a needle felted design for the flap!
You can find the free pattern for this bag
here on my blog. See it on
Ravelry.
A note about using the mop. New mops will shed fiber into your felting. My mop was used (and clean) and did not shed into my felting. I've seen some hand felters use plungers instead. You should use a new one of those...
Happy felting!
