craftlog

Eventually I will advance to Supermaggie-esque flowers and scarves, but tonight I just tried out a plain wet-felted ball. My cat’s acting really weird, so I thought maybe he’d play with it or something. My cat’s very picky about toys (see previous wonton failure), but the glowing recommendation on Rosemary Brock’s instructions page convinced me to try it. I used a handful of pink fiber from my Earthsong Fibers Plant Dyed Fleece-N-Felt kit. Basically, I wadded it all up and then dunked it in soapy water, alternating hot and cold, for a while, squeezing it and rolling it around. It started hardening up after maybe 5 minutes or so. Once it seemed like it wasn’t shrinking any more, I rinsed it in cold water and stuck it in the drier for 15 minutes. It made an OK ball, which my cat is studiously ignoring. I learned that the plant dyes are not colorfast. It’s more like a pale pink now instead of the bright pink it started out as. Also, the wool wasn’t evenly carded. A few strands of it were all matted together, and those bits didn’t felt so well. I don’t think I’ll try felting this wool again.