Felting for the Holidays

contributed by Shawn

I've been trying to do some finishing of my knitted gifts lately.  So last week I got out the stack of mittens I had knitted using the Fiber Trends Snow Country Felt Mittens Knitting Pattern.  These mittens have been waiting for a lovely cool and crisp day and a washer full of hot water! They are from my summer 2011 mitten period:

Not all of the mittens in the photo were intended to be felted.  The striped pair was knit in Berroco Vintage and our Easy Mittens Free Knitting Pattern and the cabled ones followed the Green Mtn Spinnery Bulky Mitten pattern, and I knit them Cascade ECO Wool Yarn.

Here are the felted pairs that just came out of the wash.

I realized that it takes longer to felt the Cascade Eco Wool mittens than the other fibers I used.  I'll have to run these grey mittens through the agitation cycle again.  I am especially fond of the fabric that was created in the brown heathered mitten (shown upper right) where I used the Plymouth Galway yarn. You might notice however that it is a bit smaller than the others as Galway felts more quickly. I should have been watching more closely, but now I know!

I decided to use this pair for demonstration purposes in the Needle Felting class.  Here are the supplies all laid out.

I did a bit of work during class, but I will be adding more polka dots and need to finish my border.

This is such a great way to embellish hand knits and personalize your projects for gifts. Stop on in to the shop and we'll be happy to help you pick out some great supplies to needle felt with - anyone can do it!