Felting Fun

I mentioned previously that while I was in Canada I picked up a bunch of used wool sweaters. I felted them up and got mixed results. The chunkier sweaters did not really want to felt much. After two hot washes they shrunk less than 10%. There was one handmade sweater and it felted diferently for each section done in a different color. It seemed to me that the brand of yarn changed from section to section thus the variances in shrinkability. A couple of the sweaters felted beautifully and one I decided to play with and dye to give it a deeper, richer hue.

Not only did I want to change the color of the sweater but I have been working on a scarf for the Red Scarf Project (http://nownormaknits2.typepad.com/red_scarf_project_2007/) and since I didn't have any red yarn available when I started I decided to knit the scarf first then dye it red. This dying experiment of the sweater was a test for dying the scarf when it is complete.

One final complication was that I wanted to experiment with dying with Kool Aid, a process I had heard about at an ASG heighborhood group. With Strawberry Kool Aid in hand, instructions that I got through Google and a felted grey sweater that I had cut up into four pieces I filled a cheap four gallon stainless steel pot with water and vinegar and proceeded to cook the sweater as directed.

From this

I got this.

The dying came out a little unevenly - a lesson learned about stirring more frequently. From the results I attempted to make a box, an idea had seen on Martha Stewart's web site. Martha's box was round and made out of a beautiful white Aran knit sweater. Mine is sort of square and I inter-lined it with some Timtex so that it would stand up better. I lined it with fabric from a top I made a couple of years ago for a contest. The top turned out not to fit at all so I have no tears about cutting it up for this experiment. Here's how it all turned out:

I don't know what I will use it for but as it is about nine inches tall and the bottom is approximately seven inches square it is a usable size. The wonky flower was created to use up some of the scraps so I wouldn't have to think of something else to do with them.

On a final note, while I was trying to photograph this project, Alex and the girls arranged themselves at my feet protecting me from the vicious leaves blowing through the yard. Good Dogs!