A new adventure in creating

Today I went on a quick adventure. I have a plan for a gift for someone and today I had to test the method. But first I had to locate a book I've been wanting for a long time. I had a borders coupon in my e-mail I could take advantage of so I reserved it at Garden City and ran over. It will help me out in my own designing adventures. It's called "Knit & Purl: 250 Stitches to knit". I'm pretty excited about using it. Along with that book, I bought some yarn today (Paton's Merino and some Caron Simply Soft). One for another baby sweater and four others for felting. The haul of the day below.

But on to the actual adventure of the day. I got to make use of the yarn I bought for felting. I've only felted once before but I had the luxury of a washing machine I didn't have to pay $1.25 for so it was less annoying. I don't want to get halfway done and have the machine stop. Plus it's a waste of money for a small project. I researched online and found a great video: How to felt without a washing machine. You can just use your hands but why do that when you can use a plunger?! I immediately went to Job Lot down the road and picked up a $2 plunger and a bucket. I only have to pay once for these.  =) And I have to say it went rather well.

I started with a swatch that was roughly 5" x 5".

And put it through the process. I used the hottest water my tub will give me and added a bit of dish detergent. In between agitation I shocked it a few times with cold water.

After about 45 min of felting I came out with a swatch that was now 5" x 4". It shrunk from top to bottom the most. It doesn't really shrink as much width-wise.

All in all it was a success and I plan on using this method for the project I will be creating. I highly recommend this method, especially to fellow coin-op washing machine saps and even to just save water. Now to start knitting my gift since I know this works. =)