I’ve gotten pretty hooked on making felted balls and I promised a how to post soon. I gave my sister a tutorial a few weeks ago and in no time she had a great looking blue and green necklace.  I’ll warn you up front,  these are not for the dainty – dishpan hands are an inevitability.  But, they look great strung together in necklaces and earrings and I’m already planning to use them for my Christmas decorating.  So, grab your supplies, roll up your sleeves, and get felting.  Here’s how to do it:

The supplies:  100% wool roving (it takes about one ounce to make a necklace) and one bowl of hot soapy water – add as much dish soap as you would for washing dishes.  The water temperature should be as hot as you can handle it.  You’ll also want to keep a dish towel close by to dry your hands between balls.

Step One:  pull apart a small portion of the roving.  It’s important to pull the roving and not use scissors.  It’s easier to start with a small piece than a large one, since you can always add more roving later.

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Next,  use your fingers to fluff the roving by pulling the fibers apart.  Then, roll the fluff into a ball and you’re ready to start felting.

Dunk the ball into the hot soapy water and start working the fibers.  The best description I’ve heard of the this part is to pretend that you’re petting a baby chick.  Very lightly rub the fibers in a circular pattern until they begin felting. Apply light pressure at first, and when the ball starts felting you can apply more pressure.

The whole process will take several minutes, so be patient. Re-dunk the ball into soapy water as needed during the process. Be sure to keep even pressure while you’re felting so you don’t end up with an oval. When the ball starts getting hard, you can squish out the extra water to check how hard the ball has gotten.

Depending on how the ball felts, you’ll probably end up with a few wrinkles.  No worries, you can always add a little fiber to smooth out any bumps you may have.

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Tear off a little extra piece of fiber and wrap it around the ball evenly.  This layer will smooth out the surface and can fix any shape problems you may have.  Dunk the ball again and repeat the felting process with the outside layer being very careful to keep the ball round.  (It goes a lot faster this time around).

And then, before you know it… Ta da!  You’re first felted ball.  Let you’re creative juices run wild.  All you have to do is dunk, felt and repeat about 20 more times and you’ve got the makings for a necklace.  Just use a sharp needle threaded with beading wire to string them together.

Good luck and Happy Felting!

I have exciting news.  I signed up to have a booth at the upcoming AlliDay hand-made arts show in Tulsa.  I’ve been knitting up a storm the past few weeks trying to make enough stuff to fill up an entire booth. I’ll get some pictures posted soon.  I’m making a little bit of everything; baby stuff, scarves, purses, necklaces, and accessories.  It will be a great chance to display my stuff and see if people like it.  Well, the folks at the AlliDay show were nice enough to feature me on their blog…. check my interview here at the  Alliday Show Blog

I’m excited, I’m nervous, I’m pretty sure I’ll have carpal tunnel by the end of the month, but I think it will be worth it.  I’ve always been a procrastinator, so this is making me really get my act together.  My knitting act, that is.  You don’t even want to see the pile of dishes in my sink or the nuclear explosion of yarn in the dining room.  But, that’s ok; I never kept a very good house in the first place.

Those of us who have knit with it know how soft and absorbent alpaca  hair is.  That’s precisely why the people at Matter of Trust  are using it to fill ‘booms’ that will be used to soak up oil from the Gulf Coast oil spill.    Alpaca farmers across the country including this one are donating their unused fleece for the cause.  Weirdly enough,  human hair works just the same way.  Hair salons are being asked to collect their clean hair clippings to donate as well.

It got me thinking – I don’t have nearly enough loose fibers to help much now; but if I started saving all of my wool and alpaca scraps in one place, in the unfortunate even of a future environmental disaster  – I could be part of the solution.  Just a little food for thought.

That’s right, today is the 40th annual Earth Day.  While I think that environmental awareness warrants more than 1 calendar day a year, it’s a good day to think about our priorities and lifestyles and see where we can make an improvement.

Knitters already understand the value of making something yourself by hand instead of buying  the cheap imported alternative, but here’s a look at how we can reduce, reuse and recycle even more.

Reduce our yarn stash, never!  But we can reduce the use of pesticides, virgin materials, and synthetic fibers in our yarn.  Step one:  look  for natural fibers like cotton, wool, alpaca, bamboo, linen, flax, soy, tencel, hemp, plant fiber, angora or cashmere.  These come from natural sources.  Avoid fibers like acrylic, polyamide, acetate, nylon, and microfiber.  These are all man made (read:  petroleum based) fibers.  Natural fibers are more expensive, but they made for a much nicer finished product.

Here are some other symbols to look for when choosing yarn:

FSC – the Forest Stewardship Council certifies forests that are responsibly managed and replanted.  When you see this symbol on your yarn, you can be sure that the fibers used to make it were harvested correctly.

Organic – The U.S. Department of Agriculture regulates what can and can’t be called organic.  When you buy organic yarn you’re supporting farmers that grow their crops without petroleum based pesticides and fertilizers.  It’s better for the surrounding water supply and it’s better for the farmers that produce the crops and their families that live on the farms.

Fair trade certified.  This is one people don’t talk about as often, but it’s one of the most important.  In a global economy like ours, a lot of the products we use, including yarn and fibers, are imported from other countries.  Fair trade certified products mean that the artisans that make those products are paid a fair wage for their craft and not exploited.  Fair trade websites like thehungersite.com sell yarns, but if you look around at your local yarn shops and craft fairs your likely to find fair trade products.  And if you don’t, go ahead and ask about them, they may be happy to source them for you.  It feels great to support other artisans like yourself.

Think local.  It makes sense, when you buy locally made yarn, you’re supporting agriculture in your community and reducing the amount of fuel needed to transport it.  Alpaca farms are popular across the country and many make and sell their own yarn.  Check your local co-op or agri-tourism website to see if anyone in your area makes yarn.

Reuse – I’ve seen all kinds of ingenious ideas ideas for reusing things like t-shirts, plastic bags, and even newspaper into yarn.  Here are links to a few tutorials:

http://www.myrecycledbags.com/2007/02/17/instructions-for-cutting-plastic-bags-creating-recycled-plastic-yarn/

http://greenupgrader.com/2138/handspun-recycled-newspaper-yarn/

http://www.craftpassion.com/2009/05/recycle-tutorial-making-of-t-shirt-yarn.html

And,  let’s not forget – good old fashioned frogging.  Visit your local thrift store and find an ugly sweater made of beautiful yarn and start unraveling.  You can wind it onto a spool or into balls and let it air for a few days then start recreating.  This is probably the cheapest and greenest way to find beautiful yarn.  The thrift store is also a great source for purse handles, buttons, and other notions.

I’m starting to find a lot of great recycled options in the yarn aisle.  From recycled cotton to wools and silks, this is a great way to support the recycling industry.  It’s great to recycle, but unless we buy recycled products, there won’t be any incentive for people to keep doing it.   Here are a few ideas on how to recycle your own leftovers:

Gift wrapping.  I love the idea of using the leftovers from a knitted gift to wrap it.  It’s like giving them a little sneak peak of what’s inside.

Pom Poms.  Tie them onto a tree branch in a pretty vase, string them together and decorate a kid’s room,  or just use them to drive your pets crazy.

Knit a small square to add to a patchwork charity quilt.

Or, just donate them to a friend with kids or a local school or camp.  It’s amazing how many craft projects they can come up with to use them.

Well that’s it.  Happy Earth day to everyone! Let’s all make a small change to make the planet a better place to live.