Fulling/felting quick question

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

sorry, maybe I am using the wrong term! Maybe single ply, double or
chunky weight is a better way to describe?

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 know Icelandic lopi is hairy, and I have avoided the icelandic
content. Icelandic seems to have a tough cuticle, which would resists
average alkalinity, and make the felting process a more difficult one.
It also has a straight nature, and felting really works best with
natural curl.

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.

I suspect, though have not tried (another project) alpaca would yield
similar results.

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


The reason I used the term "lopi" was that I have seen other low twist,
single ply woolen "fat" yarns (not of an icelandic persuasion) referred
to as "lopi" so I guess I assumed that it was referring to a yarn style
and not necessarily the wool heritage. Maybe this was on a website or a
shop card, I can't recall.

That whole "generic term" thing again.


I stand by the UpCountry recommendation. It has worked beautifully for
me. Although it is discontinued, some shops may still have old stock. I
hate when the stuff I like gets discontinued! Other manufacturers are
probably producing soft single ply woolens like this.

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).


there are some nice wools on this site for knitting and felting:

http://www.texere.co.uk

As a note, I prefer to add hand massage/kneading to the felting process
rather than relying solely on the washing machine agitation. I feel this
gives a solid even result. Persons suffering arthritis or other joint
ailments will probably want to avoid "massaging" or kneading the damp
wool, as it is physically taxing, but additional agitation cycles mmay
be necessary for satisfactory results.

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.

+++++++++++++

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET.
This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%.
Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

In article , Wooly
wrote:

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

sorry, maybe I am using the wrong term! Maybe single ply, double or
chunky weight is a better way to describe?

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 know Icelandic lopi is hairy, and I have avoided the icelandic
content. Icelandic seems to have a tough cuticle, which would resists
average alkalinity, and make the felting process a more difficult one.
It also has a straight nature, and felting really works best with
natural curl.

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.

I suspect, though have not tried (another project) alpaca would yield
similar results.

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

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

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.



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.

In article , Yarn Forward
wrote:



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.



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

Els van Dam wrote:
snip
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

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 :
!

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?

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

Felt is made from fiber, not yarn or cloth.

+++++++++++++

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET.
This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%.
Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

In article , Jean pSmith
wrote:

Els van Dam wrote:
snip
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

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

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

"Els van Dam" wrote in message
...
In article , Jean pSmith
wrote:

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

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".

--
Jan in MN

In article ,
The Jonathan Lady wrote:
"Els van Dam" wrote
Jean pSmith wrote:

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?

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.

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

In article , "The
Jonathan Lady" wrote:

"Els van Dam" wrote in message
...
In article , Jean pSmith
wrote:

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

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".

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