Materials:
- 1 ball Patons Classic Wool Roving, in desired color(s)
- 2 yards Bakers Twine, string, or floss
- Sharp darning needle
- Scissors
- Beads or additional embellishments (optional)
For hand-felt method:
- Medium-sized bowl
- Liquid soap or shampoo
For machine-felt method:
- Pair panty hose or tights
- Small rubber bands
- Ruler or measuring tape
- Washing machine & dryer
- Laundry detergent
Finished Measurements
Felt ball: Approximately 1"/2.5 cmGarland: 60"/152.5 cm (or desired length)
Directions to create 25 felt balls:
- Cut 20, 5"/12.5 cm strands of roving yarn
- Work cut strands in hand to loosen up fibers; smoosh into a yarn blob.
- Add a about a pea-sized amount of soap onto yarn blob; roll in your hands to distribute.
- Drop blob into hot water. Taking care to ensure water is comfortable for hands, pull blob out of water; vigorously roll yarn blob into a ball
- Add more soap and water to yarn ball; continue agitating and rolling ball
- Repeat last step until the fibers have melded together. The key to felting is agitation, so don't be afraid to put a little elbow grease into it!
- Once you’re satisfied with felt ball; let dry on a towel. Machine-felt version: Prep pantyhose by cutting legs off
- Wind yarn into small ball, measuring approx. 1 1/2"/ 3.75 cm --does not need to be perfect!
- Place ball into panty hose leg; secure tightly into place with rubber band
- Repeat these steps until legs of panty hose are filled with individually tied-off yarn balls
- Throw pieces into washer, along with a towel or help the agitation process; wash on hot; dry on hot
- Repeat last step until you can feel that the felted balls are now firm.
- Cut felt balls out of panty hose.
- MAKE GARLAND
- Cut approx. 60"/152.5 length of swine or string.
- Using darning needle, string felted ball (along with optional beads or embellishments) onto string, knotting string on either side of ball to keep in place.
- Repeat last step until garland is finished.
- Tie loops on either side of garland to hang.
Vickie Howell is a designer, author, Creativity Spokesperson for Yarnspirations.com and Host/Co-executive producer of PBS’ Knitting Daily TV with Vickie Howell. For more information on Vickie and her projects, go to: vickiehowell.com and follow @vickiehowell on Twitter.
