How to Make a Felted Wool Cap
Nearly everyone has had a laundry accident where a favorite wool sweater has gone through the washer and dryer. The resulting garment is usually child-sized and stiff, the fibers having "locked" together during the laundering. When a knit garment is subjected to this process intentionally, it is called felting. Knitting a cap and felting it produces a winter hat that can block out even the coldest of chills. This project requires only a basic knowledge of knitting--casting on, binding off, decreasing and the basic knit stitch--making it ideal for beginning knitters who are looking to increase their skill set.
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Things You'll Need
- Yarn
- Knitting needles
- Measuring tape
- Tapestry needle
- Washing machine
- Laundry soap
- Mesh laundry bag
- Pair of jeans
- Towel
- Pins
Instructions
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Knitting the Cap
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1
Choose your yarn. For this project, you will need to use a yarn made out of animal fibers.
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2
Select a pair of knitting needles. Refer to the label on your skein of yarn for their recommended size.
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3
Knit a small square called a gauge swatch or tension swatch. The label on the skein of yarn will give a figure for the ideal number of stitches and rows per inch.
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4
Measure the circumference of your head. Take the measurement at the point you would like your cap to begin.
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5
Add two to three inches to the measurement of the circumference of your head. Using the number of stitches per inch as defined by your gauge swatch, cast on as many stitches as it will take to meet this measurement.
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6
Knit every row for approximately two to three inches.
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7
Begin decreasing the number of stitches on your knitting needles. Decrease at the beginning of every row until you have eight to 10 stitches left on your knitting needles.
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8
Bind off your hat. Cut the yarn, leaving a five-inch "tail." Thread this tail into a tapestry needle and sew the back seam of the knitted fabric to create a tubular cap shape.
Felting
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9
Adjust your washing machine's settings. Set the temperature for the hottest water available. A low water level and the maximum amount of agitation are recommended.
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10
Place your knit hat into a mesh laundry bag. Place the bag into the washing machine along with a pair of old jeans for extra agitation and a small amount of laundry detergent.
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11
Check on the progress of your hat every five minutes. The fibers should be locking together, giving the hat a fuzzy appearance. The hat will also be diminishing in size.
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12
Remove the hat when it measures the size you need. A hat that is slightly smaller than the size of your head can be stretched to fit. A hat that is too large will need to be felted more.
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13
Squeeze out the excess water and detergent. Rinse the hat under cool water. Place the hat on a towel to dry. Use your fingers to manipulate the hat to the size and shape you need. Pin the hat to the towel as it dries.
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1
Tips & Warnings
The agitation, hot water and laundry detergent make the fibers more malleable and more likely to "lock" together during the felting process.
If you have more stitches per inch than recommended when knitting your swatch, switch to larger needles. If you have fewer stitches per inch, switch to smaller needles.
Wool, alpaca, cashmere and mohair yarns all work excellently for this project.
Plant fibers, such as cotton and linen and synthetic fibers like acrylic or nylon, will not felt. Similarly, wools marked as having a "superwash" finish will not felt, as they are designed to go through the washing machine without felting.
Do not allow your washing machine to go through the drain and spin cycle. Reset your washer to the agitation phase during the process if necessary. It is hard to control the amount of felting and shrinking when the machine gets to these cycles.
