So... Felting

As I mentioned previously, I recently bought some merino top in a lovely burnt orange so that I could try felting.

At the weekend I decided to give it a quick try *grins* So I grabbed my supplies and went with the simplest thing I could think of - the felted balls.

Pulling off thin tufts of the top was fun - it's so fluffy, see?

And I'm really pleased with how the balls came out... They're a range of sizes, although they're all pretty small because I had no idea if it would work. I plan to make some more that are slightly bigger. Still not sure what I'm going to do with them, but that's hardly the point *laughs*

I used quite a few different tutorials to end up with a method I liked, so I thought I'd make a note of it here in case anyone else is interested.

• Supplies: feltable material (I used merino top but I have no idea what else you can use!), bowl of hot soapy water, hands ;)
• Pull off small sections of the top into little wisps. Shape around themselves to make a ball 
• Dunk the ball into the water, fully submerging it - at this point mine no longer resembled a ball and just felt like a blob of wet wool, but I carried on and it worked out, so don't panic!
• Very gently roll the ball around the palms of your hands, forming it back into the correct shape
• Continue doing this for a little while until you can feel it starting to get denser and harder
• As it gets denser you can put a little more pressure on as you roll it around, but don't do that to start with or it'll get squished ;)
• When the ball reaches your desired size and consistency, rinse and leave to dry.

And voila, a felted ball *grins*