Quest to make a good Balmoral bonnet

[piperdbh]

Thanks. I will give this a try. Do you think hot water followed by cold is the trick? Rub a lot on a washboard? Brush it?

hot water + just a little bit of soap + agitation + cold rinse = felting

Scrub it against itself as if you're washing a spot out of it. Don't brush it. You might pick the yarn and stretch a stitch out which would really hard to poke back in. If you use the washing machine, throw in a pair of blue jeans or 3-4 tennis balls to agitate the bonnet. Stop the machine every 5 minutes to see how the progress is going, and when the bonnet is still a couple of sizes too big, rinse it in cold water. That'll shrink just a wee bit more. If it's too big, throw it back in the hot water and let it agitate a bit more, then rinse again. This is a combination of felting and Jocking.

And make sure you post plenty of pics!