Thursday, January 28, 2010

Theme Thursday: Felt

Felt: past tense, or present tense, or a noun. Sort of an all-purpose word.

I remember having a little box imported from England, the Fuzzy Felt Hospital. (I still have it somewhere). It consisted of a little board topped with a felt-ish material, and little beds, pillows, nurse uniforms, heads, and other appendages that you could manipulate into sick bay scenarios.

Felt is satisfying to work with; it never frays or unravels, unlike nerves. It's actually fun to cut with pinking shears. I remember making many needle case covers with my grandmother. I have one of hers.

I'm made several felted bags (although I've read that felted is not the correct word in this case), which are enormous after you knit them. Shepherding them through their stint in the washing machine is a bit tense. You don't want them to get too small, but you want the fibers to shrink and mesh so that they are sturdy enough to take everyday abuse. L has one I made, not bad looking!



This bag is from the Amazon site for Pursenalities, by Eva Wiechmann, but is done in the pattern I knit for L


Here is a YouTube instructional video from the Crunchy Parent on how to make a felted wool ball. Notice cats in background:


20 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like the colours and didn't know felt-making was so involved!

Betsy Brock said...

I just recently learned what 'felting' was...interesting! Fun craft you have there.

mouse (aka kimy) said...

emma was on a felting kick a few years ago and made me a most beautiful purse, I contemplated taking a photo of it, altho it has held up well, it looks a little droopy and well, like em's slippers just 'didn't work' with my usual approach to tt!

happy tt!!

Ed & Jeanne said...

I'm a total dunce when it comes to fabrics. All I know of felt is that it's on my pool table...

California Girl said...

it's never occurred to me to work with felt but I appreciate the attributes of which you write. I also like the pictures.

Wings1295 said...

Interesting stuff, never heard of 'felted balls' before.

Brian Miller said...

nice. i had no clue...

Stephanie said...

Your felt box sounds darling. Your purse is nice.

Kate Hanley said...

Cool info about felting. I just started knitting classes and the place where I take them has a craft class working with felt. I'll have to try it sometime.

Kris McCracken said...

The first time that I saw a felted bag made, I thought it was magic!

Tom said...

i remember the thin felt sheets we used for craft projects when i was a kid...

and my Henry dog had a red felt tongue which fell off in the washing machine. He's never cared much for ice cream since.

Betty said...

Loved Fuzzy Felt when I was a kid. had forgotten all about it until now.

Baino said...

My sister reminisced about Fuzzy Felt in my comments and I remembered it so well. We spent hours with farms and stuff. I remember my daughter having to 'felt' stuff for her Design degree. It never looked like much but apparently it was quite artistic. I manage to felt woollen jumpers by washing them in the machine.

Alex said...

I had to go back and read the post again. I read Fet-ish instead of felt_ish so I read the entire post waiting for the fetish to kick in. Only to realise I should go visit the optometrist.

Jasmine said...

Really interesting post tut tut. i have yet to try felting sweaters. i watched your video clip, if only wool was that cheap in England. I would be in heaven :)

Betty Carlson said...

Felt seems like something you would like...don't know why I "felt" like writing that!

Dreamhaven said...

I love all sorts of crafts. One of the nurses at work makes those bags and she also makes felted animal for her dog.

Jaime said...

when i was little i used to make all kinds of things with felt. i'm just not that creative these days.

lettuce said...

fuzzy felt oh how i loved fuzzy felt

I didn't realise you;d done some knit-felt bags too (I'd insist - felting is exactly what happens to the fibres in the wash....)

would you put some pics up? aren't they fun?

e said...

Very intereating, Tut-Tut...how's the tooth?