Sunday, February 03, 2008

Felting Lion Wool

In Science Class we learned about the Scientific Process. Theory, propose a Hypothesis, perform an experiment, prove the Hypothesis to be acurate or inacurate.

Theory: Lion Wool would be "good" for a somewhat felted dog sweater.
At the end of this, I want to have a good pattern for a doggy sweater.
I want it to be in Lion Wool that will Felt into a sturdy fabric for a farm dog sweater that will stand up to really being outside. Not a "city dog on the sidewalk" sweater. Not a "suburban dog in a manicured lawn" sweater. We need a tough guy, huntin' dog, chasing rabbits, sweater. A sweater that will collect all the stick tights and cockleburrs so we don't have to cut out hunks of puppy fur when he comes in from outside.

Hypothesis: If I perform some preliminary experiments to find how much my knitting and washing in my washer will shrink and felt a Lion Wool test object, I will then be able to accurately design a sweater to fit my daughter's dog.

Experiment phase one: We used a skein of red Lion Wool with size 8 US needles. We web surfed to the Lion site for an easy pattern. I was actually looking for the one where you knit a cube and it felts into a ball. The "irony" of doing a test ball (I have issues with the word Swatch, and I'm working on that) for a doggy sweater seemed fitting. Anyway, it's in the washer felting right now.
Update later..........

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