felt

The weather is so warm and perfect today- I decided to perch on my deck and use my clothes lines for drying yarn. While I was outside, I decided to try an experiment- felting a batt into a sheet of wool. I whipped up a thin once-carded batt, pulled out a bamboo place mat, and grabbed a jar of hot soapy water. I placed the batt on the mat, poured water on top, and rolled the batt up in the placemat. After rolling back and forth several dozen times, I re-arranged the batt and started rolling again. Finally, I took the peice of felt inside and rinsed it by squooshing it back and forth under hot hot tap water.
This is the end result!

I'm not sure if I did it right- I was just trying to whip up a quick fun project that was messy enough for the balcony. Next time, I'll use a thicker batt, light shines through thin spots on this peice of felt. Also, the felt has a tiny tiny bit of stretch, which makes me assume that it isn't fully felted. Maybe I'll rinse/scrunch for another five minutes.

Earlier today, I picked up my sewing machine which was badly in need of a tune-up. I also found out I was using the wrong thread (d'oh!) and that my rotten polyester choice was causing extra tension. Maybe I'll hand-felt and sew myself a lined tote bag. Oh projects, why do you eat up my work schedule? I really need to update my shop tomorrow- a row of beautiful Springy yarns are waving on my clothesline, and I've got a dozen batts in three colorways that are waiting to be listed.

Tomorrow!