Knitted and felted hot water bottle cover

Step four
If needed, add a larger object to increase the agitation. Agitation is necessary for felting to occur, and one or two small items in a washer by themselves will only bob around gently. Unless you are felting a large project, adding something heavy like an old pair of jeans will greatly increase the agitation and speed up the felting process. Other safe items to add include tennis balls, rubber flip-flop thongs, or any fairly heavy piece of old clothing that will not shed. It's important not to add something that will shed lint into the water, because it will become part of your felt. Many felting projects have been decorated with flecks of terrycloth from old bath towels. (Even old towels can lose a fair amount of lint in each wash.) Adding a load of the family laundry to your felting bath is not a good idea, either. The amount of agitation needed to felt something is usually far more than what is needed to clean your clothing and will only subject the garments to extra wear.

Step five
Start your washer and set your timer. Check the progress of your item every five to 10 minutes at the beginning, and more frequently as your project nears the desired size. Keep resetting your washer to continue agitating as long as necessary. Do not let it drain and spin!

This agitation period is the "controlled" part of the felting method. You have to regularly fish your project out of the washer, squeeze the water out, and see how it's doing. Depending on your wool, your water, your machine, the phase of the moon, and any number of other factors, it may take anywhere from a few minutes to an hour to get the results you want. By checking frequently you can stop the process at just the right time. If you are felting more than one item at a time, be sure to check all of them. Each item needs to be taken out of its bag, examined, shaped and admired, then returned for more agitation as needed.

When your project appears to be the perfect size, remove it from the washer. Do not leave it in to spin and rinse. The spin cycle may set permanent creases
in your felt and machine rinsing will cause further shrinkage. Remember, there is no magic predetermined stopping point for felting, so you have to stop the process when you have what you want.

Step six: Rinsing
You can skip this step if you use a rinse-free wool wash such as Woolmix or Eucalan. If you need to rinse, do it by hand in cool to warm water. Holding a felted object under very cold, running water will sometimes help firm up the felt -- if that's what you desire. Otherwise, rinse the object in lukewarm water. Either way, be sure to rinse until all traces of soap are removed.

There are many ways to felt. If you get results that you are happy with by using methods other than this one, by all means use them. On the other hand, if your pattern recommends a method that sounds risky to you, such as putting your project through the washer and dryer with a load of laundry, don't hesitate to substitute a more controlled method.

Let your washer do the work while you stay in control!

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Excerpted from Felted Knits by Beverly Galeskas. Copyright 2003 by Beverly Galeskas and Interweave Press, LLC. Excerpted by permission of Interweave Press, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced except with permission in writing from the publisher.