Leigh Radford - AlterKnits Felt: Imaginative Projects for Knitting & Felting

[ in memory of Ken Radfor d ]

Published in 2008 by Stewart, Tabori & Chang

An imprint of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Text and illustrations copyright 2008 by Leigh Radford

Photographs copyright 2008 by John Mulligan

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic,
photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Radford, Leigh.

AlterKnits felt : imaginative projects for knitting and felting / by Leigh Radford;
photography by John Mulligan.

p. cm.

STC Craft/A Melanie Falick book.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-4532-6815-5

1. Knitting--Patterns. 2. Felting. I. Title.

TT825.R278 2008

746.432041--dc22

2008001972

Editor: Melanie Falick

Designer: Goodesign

Production Manager: Jacqueline Poirier

115 West 18th Street

New York, NY 10011

www.hnabooks.com

introduction

EVER SINCE MY INITIAL EXPERIENCE MAKING FELT, I'VE BEEN INTRIGUED BY ITS MAGIC. MY FIRST PROJECT WAS A SMALL PINK ALPACA DRAWSTRING BAG THAT I KNITTED AND THEN FELTED BY HAND IN THE SINK. BY THE TIME I FINALLY FINISHEDIF I REMEMBER CORRECTLY THE FELTING TOOK OVER AN HOURMY ARMS WERE TIRED. BUT I LOVED WHAT I HAD CREATED AND THE PROCESS OF GETTING THERE.

TO THIS DAY, THIS PROCESS STILL INTRIGUES ME. I UNDERSTAND HOW FELTING HAPPENS AND THAT IT ISNT REALLY MAGICWATER AND AGITATION CAUSE WOOL AND SOME OTHER ANIMAL FIBERS TO TWIST AROUND AND STICK TO ONE ANOTHER, THUS CLOSING UP THE HOLES IN THE FABRICBUT THERE STILL SEEMS TO BE SOMETHING MAGICAL ABOUT IT. I LOVE STARTING WITH A PIECE OF FABRIC THAT LOOKS AND FEELS A CERTAIN WAY DEPENDING ON MY CHOICE OF YARN, GAUGE, AND STITCH PATTERN, AND THEN FINISHING WITH A PIECE OF FABRIC THAT LOOKS AND FEELS COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. I ALSO LOVE THE FLEXIBILITY OF THE FELTING PROCESS: I CAN START WITH TWO IDENTICAL PIECES OF FABRIC AND THEN HANDLE THEM DIFFERENTLY DURING THE FELTING STAGE IN ORDER TO ALTER THE RESULTS. FOR EXAMPLE, I MAY CHOOSE TO VARY THE AMOUNT OF TIME I FELT MY WORK, CHANGING THE DRAPE AND OVERALL FEEL, STRUCTURE, AND SIZE OF THE FINAL PIECE. OR I MAY CHOOSE TO FOLD OR PLEAT MY FABRIC AFTER ITS FELTED IN ORDER TO CREATE A PIECE WITH A TEXTURED SURFACE.

WHEN I FIRST STARTED FELTING, I SOMETIMES FOUND THE RESULTS OF MY EXPERIMENTS FRUSTRATING. RIGHT AWAY I NOTICED THAT MY WORK DID NOT SHRINK PROPORTIONATELYFOR EXAMPLE, STOCKINETTE STITCH WOULD SHRINK TO ABOUT 65 PERCENT OF ITS ORIGINAL HEIGHT BUT ONLY 85 PERCENT OF ITS ORIGINAL WIDTH. I ALSO QUICKLY LEARNED THAT NOT ALL YARNS (OR STITCH PATTERNS) REACT THE SAME WAY WHEN FELTED, SO SOMETIMES WHEN I MADE WHAT I THOUGHT WAS A VERY SLIGHT MODIFICATION, THE RESULT WAS DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT. REGARDLESS, I WAS HOOKED I WANTED TO FELT EVERYTHING. I KNITTED HUMONGOUS STRIPED BAGS IN A MULTITUDE OF COLORS AND FELTED THEM TO MANAGEABLE SIZES. I STARTED COMBINING NOVELTY YARNS THAT I KNEW WOULDNT FELT WITH WOOL YARN THAT I KNEW FELTED WELL TO SEE HOW THE TWO WOULD WORK TOGETHER. I EXPERIMENTED WITH SHIBORI TECHNIQUES TO CREATE UNUSUAL TEXTURES. AS I TRIED OUT NEW IDEAS, I BECAME MORE AND MORE FASCINATED WITH THE RESULTSBOTH THE SUCCESSES AND FAILURESAND LEARNED SOMETHING NEW WITH EACH AND EVERY ENDEAVOR. I WAS PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF TRADITIONAL FELTING, EXPLORING DIFFERENT FIBERS, STITCH PATTERNS, SHAPES, AND METHODS FOR TEXTURIZING, AND ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

ALTERKNITS FELT IS A COLLECTION OF THE PRJOECTS I CONSIDER TO BE MY MOST SUCCESSFUL EXPLORATIONS. IT INCLUDES PROJECTS MADE BY KNITTING A FABRIC, THEN FELTING IT, SOMETIMES APPLYING SPECIAL TECHNIQUES TO CREATE UNUSUAL SURFACE TEXTURES; TAKE A LOOK AT THE .

I HAVE DONE MY BEST TO WRITE ALL OF THE PROJECT INSTRUCTIONS SO THAT YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DUPLICATE MY RESULTS, HOWEVER FELTING IS AN ORGANIC PROCESS THAT IS AFFECTED BY MANY VARIABLES, SUCH AS THE FIBERS USED, THE TYPE OF WATER YOU HAVE, AND HOW YOUR WASHING MACHINE OPERATES. I URGE YOU TO READ IN ORDRE TO UNDERSTAND AND CONTROL WHAT YOU ARE DOING. ONCE YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE BASICS, I ALSO ENCOURAGE YOU TO EXPERIMENT AND EXPLORE, ALWAYS STAYING ENGAGED IN THE FELTING PROCESS SO THAT YOU CAN REACT TO WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING AND ALSO LEARN FROM EACH EXPERIENCE. ALONG THE WAY, I AM SURE YOU WILL DISCOVER YOUR OWN TRICKS AND INNOVATIVE TECHNIQUES WHICH I'M HOPING YOU WILL SHARE WITH OTHERS. THAT WAY WE CAN ALL ENJOY TOGETHER THIS JOURNEY THROUGH THE ART OF FELTING.

felting basics

IF YOUVE EVER MISTAKENLY THROWN A WOOL SWEATER IN A WASHING MACHINE, YOU KNOW ABOUT FELTINGTHE PROCESS BY WHICH CERTAIN ANIMAL FIBERS EXPOSED TO WATER AND AGITATION GRAB ONTO EACH OTHER TO CREATE A DENSE, SOLID FABRIC. WHEN IT HAPPENS BY ACCIDENT, FELTING CAN BE RATHER DISTURBING. WHEN ACHIEVED ON PURPOSE, FELTING CAN BE BEAUTIFUL. THIS BOOK IS DEVOTED TO PURPOSEFUL FELTING WITH BEAUTIFUL RESULTS.

TECHNICALLY, THE TERM FELTING REFERS TO THE PROCESS OF MAKING FELT OUT OF UNSPUN FIBER AND THE TERM FULLING REFERS TO THE PROCESS OF MAKING FELT OUT OF KNITTED OR WOVEN FABRIC. HOWEVER, THE TERM FELTING IS NOW COMMONLY USED FOR BOTH PROCESSES.

FELTING IS NOT AN EXACT SCIENCE. I HAVE TESTED AND RETESTED THE INSTRUCTIONS FOR ALL OF THE PROJECTS IN THIS BOOK, BUT TO BE SURE YOU ACHIEVE SUCCESSFUL RESULTS, YOU NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE FOLLOWING BASIC GUIDELINES.

Fiber

Most but not all animal fibers will felt if exposed to moisture and agitationin my experience, pure wool, alpaca, mohair, and llama all felt well. Some blends that include small percentages of fibers that dont felt on their own, such as silk or nylon, will also felt, although it may take a while.

When it comes to felting, all feltable fiber is not created equal. The speed at which, and the extent to which, a fiber will felt is affected by how the fiber was processed, including the chemicals it was exposed to during manufacturing and, if it is yarn, the way it was spun. Yarns that have been treated to make them machine-washable, often called superwash yarns, will not felt at all. Sometimes even certain colors of the same yarn will felt differently. It used to be that many chemically treated white yarns wouldnt felt at all, however these days that isnt as much of a problem. Still, I never skip the swatching step when Im working with white or other very light-colored yarn for the first time.

Moisture

Moisture is vital to the felting process. As wool and other feltable fibers absorb moisture, their scales begin to swell and push open, helping the fibers to tangle. Although any type of moisture is likely to cause felting, for the projects in this book I stuck with water. The temperature of the water determines how fast your fabric will felttypically the hotter the water, the faster the felting, which also means the less control you have over the process.