Fulling/felting quick question

On Wed, 22 Feb 2006 13:49:20 -0800, Jean pSmith spewed forth :

Els (or maybe Jean?) said "lopi-style". As with other things, terms are co-opted. "kleenex" is a good example of a trademarked term that is used generically.

I've had fine good luck fulling knitted lopi items, such as hats and slippers. These are things made from Reynolds Lopi or Lite Lopi which ismade by Istex, which produces yarns using Icelandic breed wool. I've also had good luck fulling items knitted from single-ply unspun Icelandic. The finished goods have varying degrees of hairness from guard hairs due in part I suspect to the nature of the yarn used. Spun yarns produce less-hairy products than unspun does.

Alpaca gets fuzzy when fulled, but I wouldn't call it hairy,

That whole "generic term" thing again.

All over the place, including from my own spinning wheels. If it isn't bleached white or labelled as superwash it'll full to some greater or lesser degree.

One may also knit with rovings stripped down tomanageable size, then full the knitted item. No different than knitting with White Buffalo or with unspun Icelandic (plotulopi, add an umlaut to the o).

My trips to Europe seem to indicate that most European households use a fr ont-loading high-effeciency washer. These aren't conducive to efficient fulling, tho they do get clothes clean! Here in the U.S. most of us are still using top-loading agitators. I can usually produce the degree of fulling I want with two runs through a hot wash/cold rinse with heavy agitation.

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I have not done a knitted and fulled piece with Alpaca, but I have done felted pieces and it felts beautifully. I will have to do the test of a knitted piece and see how it comes out.

Els

The word Lopi is just Icelandic for wool. I do not know what the situation is in the US or the UK, but in Canada a number of companies have tried to copyright the word LOPI over the years, and all have failed. (We researched this when we sold a generic brand of Icelandic Lopi a few years ago.)

As to felting, the best yarn IMHO is Patons Classic wool. Up Country was fantastic but is discontinued. Lopi felts well, but needs a bit more work, and in any yarn for felting keep away from the light colours, because bleach was used in the processing and it makes felting very hard.

Roger.

Thanks Roger for the input. I have felted with the white buffalo cheeses. It felts very well, and also is great for dyeing. I do not have a brand name, since this was sold in huge cheeses without a brand name on it. Most likely just like "Lopi" it has become a generic name (Buffalo) Velcro and Kleenex are other examples as well. The other yarn I felted with was Veronique made in Germany. I did get it from a neighbour who was cleaning out her stash. It is singles, and looks indeed a bit like a Lopi yarn. Most likely because Lope is singles as well. Still for fulling or felting knitting, I would go by sampling or what other people have done before me....in other words .... Word of mouth.

Els

Great to know!

I have a big spool of texere's alpaca, I made a poncho out of same- really fuzzy and warm. I had been trying to come up with something interesting to do w/ the rest, maybe a felted hat is the ticket!

Okay, here are another couple of terms I'm not completely clear on- mostly from other peoples' usage,"fulled" & "felted". I have heard them used as synonyms, and also treated as having different meanings.

Anyone wish to help me with my lexicon?

thx, Jean

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 08:16:22 -0800, Jean pSmith spewed forth : !

Fulling or wauking is what one does to cloth to finish it.

Felt is made from fiber, not yarn or cloth.

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Hello Jean. The word "Fulling" is used when you have a knitted or woven piece (or in other words a woolen constructed piece in any technique), and it gets special treatment to Full the material or waulk it, so to make it come together in to a very densly constructed material after it is created. The word "Felting" is used, with you work the raw woolen fibers. They get manipulated to create a dense cloth or other items such as tea cosies, slippers, etc.

Els

Although I'm not disputing your definitions, I would like to point out that the word "felting" is used frequently in place of "fulling". Look at the recently published books with patterns for items that are knitted and then "felted".

The modern use seems to depend on how much the wool shrinks. If it shrinks so much that it's almost impossible to see the stitches, it's called "felted;" if you can still tell how it was stitched, then it's called "fulled."

=Tamar

I have to agree with you, that that is so. However when asked what the difference is. That is what it is: Fulling is after, and felting is before. When people want to be really technical, than those are the correct terms. I personally do not think that it matters much as long as you know what you are talking about, it is irrelevant.

Els

Yes, according to my textile dictionary, you full fabric and felt fibers.

Roger.

"The Jonathan Lady" wrote in news:M4LLf.4631$ snipped-for-privacy@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net:

well, yeah, but that doesn't make it correct. just because the book's authors are making a mistake & using a term incorrectly doesn't mean you should go along with it ;) this is actually an issue with some textbooks in US schools... they have incorrect information or incorrect answers on the teacher's master sheet, so kids are being taught things that aren't right... don't believe everything you read or are told by "experts". lee

These small cross overs makes the language lively, I think that when we full, and when we felt, the important thing is to do the technique correctly, I often use cross over words, and here I am70 years and bright eyed and bussy tailed. Maybe a the tail is a bit fulled or felted thought....

Els LOL

My understanding on the use of the word felt is:

2) any woven fabric that is partially felted as by shrinkage or the process of fulling.

cf Webster's Unabridged 1978.

Aaron

Whether or not it is correct, I believe it is useful to know that felt/felted/felting is the term most often used in recent books about fulled knitting. Anyone who wants to learn about the technique will not have much success looking for books with full/fulled/fulling in the title.