Felting by hand

I've done a lot of felted projects - I think nearly all purses - and I don't like the mess where the washer empties into the old timey basement drain. I decided to try my hand at felting... by hand.

I have made this purse many times. I use the "pink lady" knitting pattern (http://www.junebugsplace.com/hkpurses.htm) as a guide but I pretty much do my own thing, because I like the purse to end up pretty small. I CO 10 instead of 20 and go from there. I like to give this as a baby shower gift with a set of baby toy keys. It's a quick project - I whipped this up last night (three hours-ish).

Starting size = 13.5 inches
Ending = 10.5 inches

The particulars:
- I used Wisdom Yarns "Sonnet" for this project (75% wool, 25% silk). Each skein is 93 yards which was just enough.
- Kitchen sink of hot water, just enough to cover your work is all you need
- Gloves
- Just a bit of dish soap
- Agitate by hand
- I drained some of the water out of the sink when it cooled off and added more hot (from the stove -- I wanted the purse to know I meant business).
- After about 10 minutes, I took the piece out of the hot water and shocked it a bit with cold water. I can't be certain this was actually useful. I had read on a few blogs that it was helpful, but I was mostly getting impatient.
- After about 20 minutes, I could see some real progress. Left it in for 30 minutes total.

Happy felting!

Pink lady pattern - scroll way down on this page: http://www.junebugsplace.com/hkpurses.htm
(not to be confused with the mega or phat pink lady versions of this pattern)