Spaced

Another scarf off the loom. Seems like I've really been bonding with my vintage Schacht rigid heddle loom. This scarf pattern was from a Spunky Eclectic Weaving Club kit. It was an interesting process...

See those spacers in there? You'll see why in a moment. My mom just happened to stop by with some leftover 2" paper strips she thought the kids might like to use in crafting. Thank you, ever so much sweet mama! I promptly folded a handful in half and inserted every few picks on the loom. Once I had used up all of the warp, I cut the scarf off the loom, arranged it on a piece of solar pool cover dedicated to felting, and began carefully removing the spacers.

Next, I added some hot, soapy water and covered the scarf with very fine mesh fabric.

Oh so carefully, I rolled up the whole shebang around a pool noodle.

I doubled an elastic band around the whole roll to keep it tight while I rolled.

And rolled. And rolled. And rolled.
Seriously, if you're not a process person, this might not be your thing. Every 4-5 minutes,or say 200ish rolls, I carefully unrolled to check on my progress and see if the fibers were beginning to mesh a little. I continued to add soap and hot water as necessary. After about 800 rolls I started to see the beginnings of the felting process.

When the scarf was stable enough, and no longer in danger of unravelling, I switched to the sink to continue the felting by hand. I use ZOTE for the soap. I always stock up when we are in Mexico, but I bet it can be found in Latin markets in the US. Incidentally, this soap is a killer stain buster! Never had a stain it couldn't whip.
So, to felt, I recommend soaping the article, plunging it in extremely hot water, agitating it, then rinsing in cold water. Alternate hot and cold water, agitating all the while, until the desired amount of felting has occured. Or until you can't take it anymore. Lol.

I couldn't take it anymore.
Should've worn gloves.

I had a couple of sassy stray strands (say that 3 times fast!) that just didn't want to cooperate, so I used my needle felting tools to try to stab them into cooperation.

The best part about this project is that because I was felting it, I didn't have to wait for it to dry au naturale. I just threw the whole thing in the dryer and checked it every 5 minutes for about 20 minutes or so total.

There ya go! Easy- peasy! Just not lickety-split:)
XO-