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[coraline]

I knit a hat (Knitty's "Coronet") and it turned out a little bit big. I am thinking of trying to shrink/felt it just a tad to get it to firm up and be the right size. Is this a terrible idea? Any ideas on technique (boiling water, washingmachine, etc)? The yarn is Cascade Cash Vero, which is 55% Merino, 33% acrylic, 15% cashmere -- with that

Comments

[hugh_mannity]

Hmmm... If you don't mind taking a chance with it, toss it in the washing machine and dryer (on delicate). It shouldn't shrink up too much because of the acrylic content.

I've had success and some fail doing that both deliberately and by mistake. I've had some items shrink up just enough and some shrink up just a little too much (mostly socks).

Good luck!

[anodyna]

My best advice is to test it with a swatch before committing to it with the hat. You can't always tell how much an item will shrink based on a swatch, but at least you'll know if it (a) does nothing, or (b) gives some unacceptable-looking result.

The topic of felting came up somewhere else recently and I bookmarked this post that describes a dryer-felting method that a lot of people liked better than felting in the washer. It's easier to control, for one thing, because checking progress is as simple as opening the dryer door and looking at the object you're shrinking. I used this method to shrink a hat I made for my brother that came out too big, and it worked well.

Good luck!

[superl99]

OMG, thank you for that link! I have a front-loading washer and have avoided making patterns for felting because of that.

[anodyna]

Yay, I'm glad you found it useful!

[basketcaselady]

Hats don't take too long to knit. I would probably frog it and reknit it to fit.

[athanasius63429]

I knit a hat ( Knitty's