Why won't it felt?

[Quiverfillin]

Okay, I'm fairly new to felting and I have a question. I made a bag out of hand-dyed Organic Merino Rambouillet yarn because the colorway was amazing and I couldn't bear to use it for a diaper soaker! Now I'm trying to felt it and it just won't felt! It's been through 3 HOT washes and it's fuzzy but not at all felted, still has all the stretch and stitch definition and is the same size. How can I get this to felt? Please tell me it will felt...

 

THANKS!!

[JCB]

Are you using a little bit of soap (not detergent) or baking soda in the water? Maybe your hot water is not hot enough. Try adding some boiling water into the machine on the next go-round.

 

If it's 100% wool that hasn't been treated so it won't felt,... it should felt eventually.

 

Good luck!

 

Joan

[tezcatlipoca98]

Do you have the yarn band still?

Does it say anywhere on it "Superwash"?

If it does... Superwash means that you can wash it and it won't felt EVER. I'm thinking this could be the case, especially if you were orriginally going to make a diaper soaker out of it.

 

Solution? IDK. Is it huge or medium sized? If it's something that you could see yourself using as a tote the size it is, go ahead and make a nice strong liner for it and use it as a bag. Too huge? Can you unravel it and start again maybe?

[Quiverfillin]

It is NOT superwash. It is organic, minimally processed wool. It didn't have a band on it because it is not commercial yarn. For the record, superwash doesn't really work very well for soakers. I do not use or buy superwash yarn. I try to get wool yarn as close to the original sheep as I can!

 

I did have some baking soda in the wash with it. I added a pot of boiling water each time too. I also threw in some rubber balls for extra agitation. I will just keep trying I guess.

[losingmymind2]

We have very soft water at my Mom's and I had to add a squirt of hand dishwashing liquid to get my yarn to felt properly. At home I used baking soda in the hard water. Put the item in a pillowcase and toss in some jeans or towels for agitation and let it run thru a couple cycles. Good luck

[jpr54_]

i had to wash one felted item 5 times-

 

is the washing machine top load? this is important

also place a pair of dungarees, etc. into the load-

 

joanne r. aka jpr54_

[MullersLaneFarm]

I've read that Merino is suppose to be a fast felter, but I've always had a bugger of a time felting merino, both from handspun yarn and from raw fleece I've processed myself.