The Secret to Felting in a Front Loader

I have a Maytag front loader washing machine. When I was doing felting, the machine wouldn't felt no matter how hard I tried -- extra clothes in the load, tennis balls, the hottest water, the extra dirty cyle, extra spin, faster spin, etc.

Today I discovered the secret to felting in my front loader machine. You set the load to hand wash, cold water, no extra spin, no faster spin and wait for the cycle to finish. Ta-da your sweater knit in Classic Elite Miracle that was a 40" bust will now be a 35" bust, the overall length will go from 25" to 22" and the arm length will go from 19" to 17". Fortunately, the sleeves were really too big so what was meant to be was meant to be. After it dries completely, I will see who will be gifted this sweater. My husband was glad he didn't do it. The secret is the Miracle yarn. My conclusion is alpaca felts better than wool in a front loader washing machine. Considering that Miracle is 50% alpaca and 50% tencel, I would have to say I will not be making the same sweater with the other Miracle yarn in my stash and whatever I make will hand wash in the sink.

I guess you know your life has come full circle when this type of thing humors you more than it ticks you off. I must have been knitting this for someone else all along but now I know it.

A wonderful lady I met at the Black Duck Emporium on Monhegan Island said when you get to the point of seeing un-knitting as a learning experience your knitting is zen. Today is another zen level in my knitting. Pictures to follow.