Felting: Before and After

While house and cat sitting this Winter Break, I had open access to a top load washing machine. Glorious Day! I happened to realize that a pair of my slippers had worn through, and wanted to make replacements, which involved felting. A process that I only know how to do using a top load washing machine.
So I took advantage of the opportunity and slammed out a new pair of slippers with yarn from my stash. I also had been wanting to try to make some felted coasters and those practically fell off the needles.

Felting: the process of making a matted fabric of wool, hair, etc, made by working the fibers together under pressure or by heat or chemical reaction. 

Basically, you PURPOSELY SHRINK A WOOL GARMENT. To do this you make the slippers ginormous, then shrink them until they fit. It took three rounds in the hot wash with a rug to get the slippers to the right size.

The Slippers: Before 

The Slippers: After 

As for the coasters, the process is the same. You make 'em big, then shrink them til they're the right size. It only took one cycle for the coasters, I'm assuming that's due to the difference in yarn brands. 

I was also with it enough to take a picture of the yarn before knitting them up. So now you all get to see the whole she-bang with the coasters. 

The Yarn Before: 

Knitting up/ Pre-Felting:

The Finished Product: 

TA-DAH!!!!