Pinterest Challenge Winter Edition.... Felt Balls....

It's time for the Pinterest Winter Edition hosted by Bower Power and Young House Love

I finally made myself a felted ball wreath! This has been on my to do list for years. 

Inspirations from here. LOVE LOVE LOVE the original. 

I can't even begin to tell you how ridiculously long this took me because I continually underestimated the number of balls I would need to finish. I never want to wet felt another thing in my life... I think there is around 350 balls on this 16" wreath... And the first round of 100 balls that I made were way too small so all of those had to be redone... I'm balled out. 

 But isn't it GORGEOUS in my entry?! (whatever I love it! lol) After my 3rd batch of balls proved to be insufficient I was really hoping Uber would tell me he hated it (he had said when I showed him my pinspiration picture that he wasn't a fan) so I was ready to scrap it and use the balls elsewhere. Unfortunately -fortunately?!- he decided that he actually really liked it.... so one more day of felting and I finally was able to complete it... I absolutely have to say that this wasn't a process I enjoyed I just wasn't willing to shell out the cash for this many premade balls.   

To make these I tightly rolled the felt and spent a few seconds needle felting it into the ball shape to make sure everything would stay in place. Then I wet felted using hot water and soap. Generally I worked with each ball twice and when I was done I ran them through the dryer on high heat for two hours. 

 I thought making them would be fun to include Micah in. He did get a kick out of it. However the ball making part was lost on him. He liked squishing the balls and putting too many balls in the water... and playing with soap and generally making a massive mess. 

It was highly entertaining for the both of us. Then I set him up with a hairdryer and let him blow them around... because it made him very happy! When he was bored I threw them all in the dryer. 

If you are looking for a fun kid project this was definitely enjoyable- just don't expect results!

 Totally worth it! (now that it's done!)

Felt Dryer Balls Tutorial

... Well I guess we just kind of fell off... 

We've been busy having fun and celebrating things like birthdays. Oh and doing some major crafting... none of which we've taken pictures of! Hopefully we will get busy and blog some of what we've been up to next week- but I'm not making any promises!

This is useful to everyone! Don't get distracted by the first two paragraphs!

I think  I have mentioned here before that I part time cloth diaper. We've been having absorbency/ water proof issues and it's been driving me crazy because over all I really love cloth diapers but leaky cloth diapers make me want to start a bonfire. Now before I lose you all this isn't just about diapering... this is just so you know how I came up with this project. I finally had a chance to talk to the one other person I know who CD's and she said she cut out dryer sheets altogether and uses wool dryer balls that she ordered from Amazon. I had never heard of these before. Am I alone in this? I've always seen the nasty looking plastic ones that I just couldn't bring myself to buy but Wool?! That sounded doable! 

So of course a lot of googling and I was ready to DIY some...actually I was ready to make Mum do it for me... but she liked the ones she made so much she wouldn't share! From what we read the best method is to use wool roving yarn it seems to have less piling problems then straight roving (old sweaters also work... but I'm not cutting up any I still own). The two brands we found to work best are Patons and Full o' Sheep. The Patons brand yields 3 balls and the Full o' Sheep yields 2. 

 Unfortunately Bernat was an epic fail... just keeping it real!

So are you ready?- this is really complicated.......

Roll the yarn into a ball. It's not necessary to wrap tightly just wrap with medium pressure that keeps yarn in place. 

I like to roll mine keeping all of the crisscrossing at the same spot. 

When you get it to about tennis ball size cut off 18 inches and thread a long doll needle.

Then I just run the needle through the ball on either side of the crisscross 

I just repeat this a few times until I am out of string.

It looks like a button. 

Now make a bunch of them... It's definitely worth wrapping the balls neatly they stay together better for the felting process. 

If you want to do the process properly do a quick hand agitation with soap and get the wool fibers started sticking together. If you are lazy like me (and have wrapped them really well) then you can just toss them in the washing machine on hot and add a little soap.

They will come out looking a tad smaller and felted. 

Now you can stop here but if you are bored and want a total time suck you can decorate your balls-- 

Be prepared to be addicted it's fun! The stitch decorated ones are mine, the awesome perfectly decorated ones are Mums. She crocheted a net around them and they look beautiful!

 For best results have 8-12 in your dryer. We've been using ours for a few weeks and I really have to say they work just as well if not better then the dryer sheets did. Uber has even given them the ok - which means everything had to remain as comfortable and soft to wear as it previously was.  

I'm not going to go on and on about the benefits. There is plenty of well written information out there on how and why these work just visit this Etsy seller she has beautiful products and also sells oils to scent the balls. 

Toadstool Terrarium

The lack of sunlight makes having plants in our house impossible. So I decided to make myself a little terrarium.... out of felt! I am really thinking the world could be made out of felt!

This is TOTALLY someone else's idea check out Lisa Jordan's blog lil fish studios mine looks like a 5 year old made it compared to the beautiful work she does - I wish I could afford it! If you haven't seen her before you must check out all of her amazing creations!
I just made a simplified copy of hers though I realized later mine is about 4 times the size of hers... which is actually harder (I think) Anyway I have plans for another one that will be my own design...as much as it can be.... lol by no means will it really be mine.
Anyway I LOVE it and it is now on a shelf in my dinning room.... should have taken a picture of that! It's a nice pop of color!
And here is the boy who is growing up so fast! He was actually laughing at me tonight. Got to love it!

Also I am going to be having a giveaway (hopefully friday) so check back for all of the details!!

Felting

I finally got to try my hand at felting on my trip. I raided Sherie's amazing stash of roving and was able to start on a project you will be seeing more of in the future (hopefully).
These are actually in the wrong order. This beluga whale was my second project. I LOVE him! Personally I don't understand why people go on and on about dolphins, belugas are where it's at!
My first try was this little sea horse.

Here's the two together. I definitely got my scaling a little off but I think it is going to be ok... maybe there are giant sea horses... you know so that the mermaids can ride them...

This is absolutely addictive! I had a feeling it would be neat but I didn't really realize how fun it would be- even when you forget to put your gloves on and stab yourself! I put in an order with Mum for a massive quantity of felt.... Uber may have me commited if he finds my stash of wool felt... as long as he lets me take it with though no one will get hurt!

I have a LOT of ideas I can't wait to work on!

My Sis Has an Etsy Shop!

I am very excited that Sherie has finally taken the plunge. Go see her awesome creations, you won't be sorry. Where did she get her logo? Jessica of course!

Felting 1st attempt

My title could also be,

This is all Sherie's and Joan's fault.

Or,

Why, why, why don't I take before pictures????

Oh I know! Because I finished the crocheting at 9:30 last night and started the felting.

~
So it started out like this. A chunky wool, a bit more pastel than I like but it's pretty. I made the entire form of the purse. My measurements were about 18 by 11 for the body of the purse. The handles were almost 10 inches above the purse.
~
I started trying to felt it in the sink since I don't have a top load washer. It was going to take forever so I just threw it in my machine, on hot and hoped for the best. I think it finished at about 3 in the morning..... When I woke up this morning I found this!!!! Well, I did have to attach the button. It now measures about 12 X 6, the handles are about 6 inches above the purse. I have got them rolled in just like I was hoping would happen!

It was kinda scary not being able to see the felting process. I couldn't choose to stop it any sooner. But all in all it was fun. I wonder if I can do it again and get nearly the same results.