How to Choose Yarn to Felt

If you've never tried felting, you may discover that it's one of your favorite ways to finish your knitted items. Felting creates a soft, fuzzy, and thick garment that is warm and quite appealing. You can't felt with just any knitting yarn, though. You need to choose the right yarn before you knit your item, or it won't felt correctly, and you'll be left with a garment that doesn't fit correctly and isn't as warm and fuzzy as you hoped.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Yarn for felting

1. Choose a yarn that is 100 percent wool, or nearly all wool for your item to felt correctly. Wool is the only yarn that will felt successfully.

2. You can use a yarn that contains other elements besides wool, but realize that it will not felt as densely as a yarn that is 100 percent wool.

3. Every yarn felts differently, so don't be afraid to experiment with yarns and combinations of yarns when you choose yarns for felting.

4. When you felt a garment or item, it will shrink, so choose a pattern that allows for this shrinkage. If not, you'll need to knit your item larger, to allow for shrinkage.

Tips & Warnings

• Don't use acrylic yarns to felt, they won't shrink and felt correctly.

[margreto]

on 3/31/2008 just what I wanted to know! Thank you!