Felted Knitting and Needlefelting

When I posted on Sunday I forgot I did have some images of both felted knitting and pieces of 3D needle felting. I have previously posted pictures of 2 knitted felted bags that I designed and sell patterns for.

These 2 bags where originally knitted in Elle Merino Brights (Aran weight) felting wool but as this yarn is no longer available I reworked the pattern for Noro Kureyon.

This chevron felted bag is knitted in Twilley's Freedom Spirit and then I decorated it with a needlefelted flower. The individual petals are needle felted from merino tops and then sewn onto the bag with a cluster of beads to form the centre of the flower. The pattern for this bag is now available although it does not include instructions for the needlefelting.

A couple of years ago I was asked to demonstrate needlefelting on the Elle Yarns stand at the Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace and then to help teach a couple of workshops they ran in conjunction with a couple of wool shops, one in Bury and one in Wells. There where photos of the Wells workshop in Simply Knitting as one of the assistant editors attended the day. Partly in preparation for these workshops I made this little teddy with needlefelting.

He is made in several pieces and the arms and legs are sewn on so they move. He is about 3 inches tall when standing and is made from needle felted merino tops. He did take quite a few hours to make. I enjoyed making him but as yet have not made another.

Felted Knitting

This year is flashing by; its nearly March already!

I have been booked to teach a number of hand knitting workshops for Alton Knitting and Woolcraft, the yarn shop in Alton. One of the workshops I was booked to teach was 'Felted Knitting' and the original date was 10th March.

In the second week of January Marion, the manager, rang me to say there had been a 'cock up' on the dates and the programme said I was doing the workshop on 10th February, (which did in fact happen). Suddenly I had only 3 weeks to make the samples instead of the month and a half I had expected.

At the end of last year there where a couple of articles in Knit Today about felting knitting which proved to be useful. I had done quite a bit of washing machine felted knitting with both hand knitted and machine knitted items but my previous attempt at hand felting had been OK but not as easy as I had hoped. In the Knit Today article they mentioned using protective shelf liner from Lakeland; a plastic mess which comes in a roll. I ordered some and when it arrived tried it out, and I have to say I was very pleased with the result.

It didn't shrink the knitting as much as the machine washed pieces but it did make a very acceptable piece of felted knitting very easily. It worked very well for flat pieces but I think 3 dimensional pieces will felt better in the washing machine.

For the workshop I knitted a bag in Rowan Tapestry and Kid Silk Haze with an eyelash yarn for the top section of the bag. I knitted some leaves to add to the bag as decoration. I also made a flower corsage in Rowan Scottish Tweed. The bag was washed at 40 degrees and felted well and the Scottish Tweed was washed at 60 degrees. (I have tried felting it at a lower temperature but it doesn't work as well).

In the last few months the yarn spinners have also caught onto this idea of felting knitting as both Twilleys and Elle Yarns have a good range of yarns suitable for felting in the washing machine at 40 degrees.

The bag in the picture is knitted in Elle Merino Brights, a softly twisted, singles, merino wool, dyed in long lengths to give a gradual colour change which felts in the machine at 40 degrees. I used a modular knitting technique to make the front and back panels, and short row knitting to shape the side panels. Wherever possible I picked up and knitted pieces together as I would rather knit than sew! I also made a knitted lining for the base so I could use stiff card to keep the base flat.

The pattern should be available soon along with other patterns on my website. I am also teaching the Felted Knitting Workshop again on Sunday 25th March at the Interknit Cafe in Farnham.