learn to felt

Felting was something I’d ALWAYS wanted to try so my first stop was the town library… I grabbed a selection of books about the subject and started to collect the things I needed to start. I spent ages just popping some of the bubble wrap, combing out the coloured fleeces and grating the olive oil soap.
I was quite nervous at first and made a tiny, weeny piece of felt, about 2 inches across ha ha all that effort but then I progressed to make some bigger pieces. I have now made flowers and also pictures.
You never know quite how it’s going to turn out. It’s a surprise every time… and I LOVE the smell of the warm felt too.
I made this flower for my mum.

I’ve started to learn to mix colors, using a couple of dog brushes in place of carding combs. It’s giving the felt a good depth of color.

gave me a ‘how to’ book for my birthday. Lots of lovely projects in there – I want to learn to do it as a historical craft, but there are really nice ‘arty’ suggestions in this book too…...can’t wait until the Christmas holidays, when I will have the opportunity to try out some of the easy starter things…...

semi-felt ball….....completely carried away with the wonder of it all!

Need to work on the amount of soap etc, but probably not using enough friction too.

my life doesn’t seem complete without the attempted making of felt balls!

Tetanus shot acquired. And it appears that I’m in the small minority of people who experience unpleasant side effects beyond the usual soreness. (Fatigue can be a side effect; maybe it had some oddball synergistic effect with my chronic fatigue syndrome.) I nearly passed out in the farmers’ market; the dizziness hit me like an oncoming truck. I had a heck of a time getting home. (Why didn’t I think to take a cab? Too out of it to think straight, I guess.) Much better now, but it looks like I’m going to be under the weather for the next few days. I am fortunate to be well-supplied with snacks and silly books while I wait for this to work itself out.

It’s not pleasant, but it sure is more pleasant than tetanus. No regrets on getting the vaccination; I should have gotten the booster shot a couple of years ago, especially given all the gardening I do. A FOAF had tetanus a few years ago. She didn’t die, and I don’t think she broke any major bones from convulsing, but it was excruciating and damaging. Tetanus is high on the list of diseases I do not want.

I just need some roving now and I’ll be ready to get started.

I’ve been putting this off because I’m putting off the tetanus shot I should no doubt get before I start jabbing barbed needles around my hands. But the felting fora at Craftster are giving me the urge to get it done. I’ve love to make a little felt songbird.

I felted a hat once, it was VERY cool!

My needle felting kit arrived from Elann! Now I just need to get some roving and I’ll be good to go.