Is wool the only fiber that will “wet” felt? Or do other available knitting fibers felt also?
April 17, 2010 by
Filed under sheep yarn
A friend of mine is going on vacation to Peru & I want her to bring me some yarn back with her. I know they do a lot of felting in South America, but didn’t know if they used sheep wool, or if llama & alpaca fibers felt as well. I only do wet-felting. Thanks for your input!!
According to the ball felters, both will felt (http://members.peak.org/~spark/feltballs.html). You might want to do a web search on “llama felt” or “alpaca felt.”
They do all in South America but it is easy to find llama and alpaca fibers than sheep wool and yes those fibers felt aswell lol
Llama, alpaca, vicuna (good luck on that one, aside from the fact that you need a license to bring it back into the US), and non-superwash sheep’s wool will all felt. However, have her check with US Customs first before trying to bring fleece or yarns back in, just to be sure that she can do it easily. There are some lovely handspun Peruvian yarns that you may not want to felt, but just knit with.
Yes, many animal fibres will felt, including long hair dog, cats, rabbit, poodle, etc. Not all sheep wool will felt — it depends on the kind of fibre it is.
Be aware that although there are llamas and alpaca in South America, that does not mean that local people will have yarn made from that fibre. You will find many stores ONLY sell brightly coloured acrylic. This is for the same reason why we can’t find any good apples here, even though they grow in our backyard. All the best product is always sold for other parts of the world, and we have all the left-overs no one else wants, or get it from somewhere else.
I know Merino Wool is the best for wet felting.
any pure animal fiber like wool, alpaca will felt. just make sure that it doesnt say superwash or it wont felt at all.
No, most animal fibers will felt, like, alpaca, mohair ect.
some will felt more than others.
you have to test each one to see how it will felt with a knitted swatch.
Good Luck with your felting proj.
Kitt