"Felting" refers to the process by which wool becomes felt under the influence of hot water, soap, and agitation. Put simply, you knit something in a huge size, felt it, and it shrinks to the desired size. It's a pretty amazing process. Cut into a knit something, and the knitting immediately starts to unravel. Knit into the same thing after it's been felted, and it's like cutting into heavy fabric. The knit stitches have sealed as the scales in the wool fiber lock together, and there's nothing to unravel.
The first two things I felted after listing The Fifty were these two bags, made from yarn from my friendly neighborhood sheep farm, Mangham Manor.
The pattern for the bags came from the Vogue Knitting book, Felting. The even more fun thing about these bags is that my older son thought that the pre-felted bag made a pretty awesome "big hat" which led to my making such hats for most of the members of the high school's academic team one year.
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