Some new, crafty doings!

Ok, it's not a card but it IS crafty and a lot of fun for me and anyone else that wants to try. I am talking about felted wool! I just saw this cute little set of kitty toys that are basically balls made out of felted wool, with catnip rolled up in them. I thought to myself, "Self...I bet we could make those!" and she answered, "I believe you are correct!" LOL So, I trotted myself off to Joann to find some wool yarn. I had kind of a hard time finding what I wanted, partly because the selection left something to be desired, and also because I am a tightwad and wool yarn is EXPENSIVE!!!! I ended up finding a brand called Stitch Nation.
It comes in super-cool colors and I just loved the logo, so I ended up forking over $4.99 each for two 3oz skeins of yarn. Of course, this morning in my in box is a Joann ad for...you guessed it, 30% off Yarn!!!!! AAACCCCKKKK!!!!!

******ENABLER ALERT*******
Anyway, they are web coupons, so I am going to pass them along here. Just use the codes off the pictures when you order online!
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So, back to the balls....(hmm, that does NOT sound at ALL right! LOL) What you need is basically either some combed and carded wool roving(for all you earthy types out there!) or (for the rest of us regular chicks) 100% wool yarn. It cannot be "washing machine safe" or any type of blend of wool and sythetic, or it will not "felt" and your ball will fall apart.

With the yarn, you just start rolling a ball, make sure to wrap it tightly, and make it about 30% larger than you want the finished size to be. Cut the yarn and use a crochet hook to pull the loose end back into the ball of yarn. There is a great tutorial for this on Good Mama's Blog. Once you are done, you put the ball into an old knee-hi stocking or leg from an old pair of panty-hose, tie a knot to hold the ball in and toss it into your washer with whatever else you are washing. Make sure that it is color fast or wash it with darks if you choose bright colors like I did. Then toss in the dryer. Remove it from the stocking and it will be slightly felted, meaning that the fibers start to stick together, and it will continue to get tighter and harder each time it is used.

With the carded wool roving, you pull off strips and, with damp hands, start rolling it into a ball. If you wanna get fancy, this is the way to go! Check out this post on Crunchyparent.com There is a video tutorial that shows exactly how to do it.

These little balls are so darn cute! It makes me want to run right out a shear one of my neighbor's sheep! Except, I haven't the faintest clue how to go about doing that and my neighbors, really nice people, would probably think I had lost my remaining few marbles! LOL

Anyway, so I tried my hand at using the wool yarn to make a small ball for the cat, and a larger ball for the dryer. My only issue with them so far is that, after I washed and dried them, the balls smell EXACTLY like permanent wave solution. Having been an '80s baby, I KNOW what that smell is! Hmm, hoping that it will dissipate soon, or I won't be able to stand them. Maybe it is just the brand of wool that I used, but I will keep you posted! As Forrest Gump would say, that is all I have to say about that!

Have a "Wooly" good day! LOL

Shannon