If you have old cashmere sweaters lying around, or if you knit cashmere sweaters, you can felt these items to make them fuzzy and smooth. Because cashmere is an animal fiber, it felts wonderfully, and leaves garments soft and beautiful. Felting cashmere sweaters with boiling water takes some time, but even the novice crafter can make her cashmere sweaters look professionally felted.
Fill a large pot with water. The pot needs to be big enough to hold your sweater as well as enough water to completely cover it.
Bring the water to boil. While you are waiting for the water to reach a boil, put another bowl of ice water next to the pot with boiling water. It should also be large enough to contain your item, the water and the ice without overflowing.
Soak the cashmere sweater in the ice water.
Wring it out so that it is wet but not dripping.
Put the sweater in the boiling water for a few minutes.
Wring it out. Put on gloves before you start to wring out the item to avoid burning your hands.
Rub the cashmere between your hands quickly. This will cause the cashmere to become fuzzy, and the stitches will lose definition.
Repeat steps 3 through 7 until the item is felted as you would like.
Block your felted cashmere. To block an item, put it on a body form that you have purchased, or leave it in a dry place while it dries. Either way, the position it dries in is the position it will stay in. Put the item near a fan to speed up the drying process.