Saturday, January 20, 2007

Here are the Before and After Photos of My Little Shoes :) ....... Hope you can all see these photos because I had to send them a different way.. I don't know whats up with Blogger...



This was my First experience with "felting"or as My Daughter April said.... The first time I used " Shrinky Dink Yarn" :).......and I must say I did enjoy watching the process...
I first put them in a pail in the tub with a teaspoon of Euculan.. which I have to tell you smells absolutely wonderful ! Then I used a plunger to agitate the water... I did this for several minutes and still no shrinkage??? hum??? So I changed the water and did it hot again.... kept plunging....
Then I decided to add some boiled kettle water and kept plunging... Now I could see it starting to shrink... I then remembered someone saying to rub the item while in the water and this is when I could see the Big felting really happening... So I would reccomend that you rub the item while it is in the water... Soon I had these sweet little shoes .. I put them in cold water to stop the shrinking and shaped them and put plastic supermarket bag in each to hold the shape while they were drying... After a while I took out the bags and now they are outside finishing up the drying.. :)
It was a Fun Experience .. Not only did I get these Little Shoes but I think I got some muscles in my arms from all that plunging :) Posted by Picasa
Sorry.. I forgot to post the pattern... I got in in Donna Koolers Encyclopedia of Knitting and I used Patons 100% Wool Yarn.. I REALLY loved working with this yarn but I would be afraid to use it for anything other than felting because of the shrinkage... Maybe if the item was washed by hand it would be OK but I am way to lazy to do that :)

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Penny, these are adorable. Which pattern? I've been felting a realllyyy long time, and my lys gave me a tip I'd never thought of. I'd always used plastic grocery bags, and she said she used towels, hand towels, or face cloths, depending on size of item, as it absorbed water and made them dry faster. You did a terrific job, and what a lot of work by hand!!!

Dianne R. in Pinellas Park, FL

Erica said...

Oh, they ARE sweet little things!

T said...

Oh. My. Goodness. Those are absolutely the cutest little things I've seen in a long time!

I can't believe you did the felting by hand - this isn't some sort of New Year's resolution to get all muscled up, is it? ;-)

Great job, be sure to share the pattern name!

Anonymous said...

Those little things are adorable, Penny! :-)

I remember my first (and only) hand-felting experience... It was the Booga Bag. Do you remember? 2 years ago + when I was in OOB?

I didn't use a plunger but a wooden spoon and my wool was in boiling water on the stove. Yet, it took me HOURS to get the result I wanted!!!

So, let me tell you, NEVER AGAIN I will felt by hand!!! I got burned, sore muscles... To make it short I didn't enjoy the process at all! LOL

Next time, I will use the machine... ;-D

Anonymous said...

Soo cute!!!! I wish my feet were that small LOL...

Anonymous said...

wow, i recently tried hand felting to no use too & just went back to the washing machine method, you have patience...

Anonymous said...

Shrinky Dink yarn....I love it!!!!

Craftybernie said...

They are just toooo cute. What pattern did you use? Is it a Fibre Trends one or did you wing it??? I would love to make a couple of pairs of those for my friend who's had twins.....