Try a Craft: Needle Felting January

Wrapping up a month of needle felting. This week I made a cat and a tapestry. Well, a felt picture at least. My conclusion of this is that I am glad I tried it, and now I have the skills to add felting to other projects. However, I don’t want to really pursue it more. I lack the patience. Doing it correctly requires more time working on a tiny section than I can handle. Since I am working with objects that hurt if you stab yourself with them, I can only listen to something, not watch tv. I love that when I’m knitting I can look around or hold a conversation (unless I’m counting stitches) and my fingers keep on working. For sewing, the tasks are varied enough and results show quickly.

I made the calico cat- he’s supposed to have an outlined nose and a smiling mouth, but it just looks like a mustache. Which some calicos have, so there’s that. He does not look like the picture from the book, but we’ve talked about that, haven’t we. First attempts will not be compared to works by experienced artists.

Then I tried a tapestry. My first problem was that I used a piece of pre-made felt that only had 20% wool in it (with synthetic fibers). The instructions said to use a sheet of pre-felt. The wool isn’t felting into it. I had fun painting with the felt colors (but I regretted using all of my green, I actually cannibalized my first project to get the faint hint of green in the ocean.

Ok, I thought, looking at the fluffy, non-combined wool. Maybe I could do wet felting. I tried soaking the piece in hot water and agitating it with some soap. The wool got even looser, like I was washing the top layer away. Sooo. I let it dry and tried needling it some more. I worked on a corner for about an hour and it doesn’t look any different. I have declared that I am finished with this. Maybe I will come back to it when I feel like stabbing someone, I mean something.

In February I will try crochet. Right now I’m searching my house for a crochet hook. I have a plastic one in the kit, but I know I have a metal one. No luck finding it so far.