Making felted soap & wool dryer balls

How we love wool in this house!  This weekend we held a favourite workshop here - all about wet felting wool.  Participants made wool felted soaps and wool dryer balls, and we talked about all the ways that wet felted wool can be used - to make clothing (hats, slippers, jackets), three-dimensional items by felting over a form, artwork pieces, and even larger pieces like tents and yurts.  Traditionally the yurts in Mongolia are made of felted wool.  The fleece is made wet, then rolled into huge long tight rolls and pulled by horse rolling along the ground behind in order to felt!  Amazing!  Other large pieces can be wet felted by walking on the wet wool, which felts up a large mat in no time at all!  Felted wool is very dense and water-proof, wind-tight, warm and durable, which is why it's so versatile for all these types of uses.

In our workshop participants learned the basics of wet felting while working on small projects, but this technique can be applied in many other ways.

Why make felted soap?
It is a great way to use of small ends and pieces of soap (for soap makers this is a perfect recycling project as we always have small pieces and odd-cut bars lying around); and felted soap is like a wash cloth and soap all in one; plus teh wool felting helps make soap bar more long lasting as you use it - these felted soap bars seem to go on for ever!

How to felt soap:
1) take small bar of soap, wrap in your choice of wool roving (best done in thin layers, to fully cover the soap bar)
2) wrap soap and roving in a piece of cotton jersey cloth (stretchy cloth) and secure with rubber bands
3) dip this soap "package" into hot water that has dish soap added, let it get fully wet and soapy
4) rub soap bar on a piece of bubble wrap or a sushi mat or anything else abrasive, and continue to scrub for about 5-15 minutes (dipping soap bar into hot water occasionally)
5) unwrap soap, check if wool is felting, add more wool or continue to felt it until you are happy
6) let soap dry for 24-48 hours, wool will continue to tighten and shrink around the bar as it dries

Why make felted wool dryer balls?
Wool dryer balls are so simple to make, and if used in the dryer can save energy by cutting down on drying time (they absorb water from your wet clothes) and eliminate static naturally.  For those who use a clothesline and don't need dryer balls, these balls can also be used as cat toys (add a little bell in the middle before felting), or as soft natural toys for babies and toddlers, or juggling balls for older kids, etc.  

Wool dryer balls are great recycling projects too.  Use scraps of old wool sweaters, scraps of 100% wool yarn, and odd bits of wool roving, and you are done!

How to make your own wool dryer balls / wool ball toys:
1) Layer one: Roll yarn or wool sweater bits (100% wool only) into a small ball.
2) Layer two: Secure with more wool yarn and keep wrapping in a ball shape. 
3) Layer three: Add colourful wool roving over top layer.  Make the rolled up wool ball slightly larger than you want your finished felted ball to be, as felting will shrink the ball.
4) Secure this ball in an old nylon stocking, tie up the nylon tightly around the ball, and then make your next wool ball until the entire nylon is full. 
5) Throw your nylon "string" of wool balls into your washing machine with a load of towels and wash on hot at least twice.  Balls will felt perfectly every time!  Let dry well between uses.

Felted soap love!

We are spending a lot of time making felted soap these days.  It's been such a great activity to do with kids!  Our nearly 6 year old absolutely loves felting with wool and often comes up with beautiful designs that I would not have thought of.  Needle felting, wet felting, carding wool, finger knitting, even trying to learn the drop-spindle (we have not got the hang of that yet!), she could spend hours doing anything tactile that's related to wool really.  These are all simple projects that are manageable, don't need to cost much in supplies or time, and are easy enough for kids to enjoy. 

Making wet felted soap is especially nice on cold days when we need to warm our hands up and feel a little bit extra cozy.  Warming them in hot soapy water, choosing gorgeous natural wool and sorting colours, creating patterns that always end up looking like a lovely unexpected surprise when we finish.  It brings such a relaxed mood of thoughtful concentration into our kitchen that I could do this every day.  Here are some of our latest creations - if you want to learn please consider joining us for our upcoming Felted Soap Workshop on April 26. 

Eco-crafting! A hot water bottle cozy for a cold winter day

Cold days have come!  Today the snow was blowing, we had a fire going in the woodstove all day, made a big pot of chili and got into some crafting....a new quilt is in progress, my friend Michelle's beautiful handspun hand-dyed wool is slowly turning into a knitted hat, I've been sewing play food for Maya's kitchen, and a stack of old woolen sweaters have been felted and are ready to sew into warm things - like this hot water bottle cozy.  I sewed this cozy without a pattern because it really is so simple, but then came across a great blog called "Resweater" that is all about reusing wool sweaters and offers a great step-by-step tutorial on making a hot water bottle cozy.  The projects on this blog remind me of our local friend over at Sew Oiseau, who is well-known around these parts for her creative use of old wool sweaters - reconstructed into gorgeous shawls, wraps, skirts, kids longies, wool diaper covers, dolls, rugs, baskets, hats, arm warmers, leg warmers - you get the idea - 100% wool sweaters are indispensable!

A Little Bird Told Me Craft Sale Vendor Profile: Michelle Morin

Over the weeks leading upto our annual handmade holiday craft sale, "A Little Bird Told Me", on Sat, Dec 10, we are highlighting each one of the participating vendors.  Here is a short interview with Michelle Morin (hand-spun and hand-dyed local wool, and felted toys):

Little City Farm: Describe the products you will have at the Little Bird Sale:

Michelle: For the sale, we will be bringing organic wool yarn, homespun and hand dyed, as well as felted animals, rovings and more!
 
Little City Farm: How did you learn this craft/art?

Michelle: I started spinning about 6 years ago, after meeting our sheep farmer and learning that the wool was all going to waste! I have been knitting since I was a child, and I have always loved the amazing properties of wool!

Little City Farm: What inspires your craft/art?

Michelle: Usually I am inspired from nature and the seasons, but sometimes just letting the children have a go at the colors is the best inspiration! Children are more free and have less silly rules in their minds, so their  dyed wool is always my favourite.


Little City Farm: Describe how your craft/art is eco-friendly?

Michelle: All of our fiber is from happy organically raised animals, raised here in southern ontario.

Little City Farm: Favourite music to listen to while you craft?

Michelle: Again, happy children playing is usually the background noise in our home!

Find Michelle and her family at the Little Bird Sale, on Dec 10!

Workshops - Wool Diaper Covers and Longies for kids

First workshop of 2011 was a grand success - the house filled with eight lovely mamas learning to use the serger, swapping parenting advice, and sewing wool longies and diaper covers from recycled felted wool sweaters.  So simple!  And wool is so wonderfully absorbant, warm and cozy and naturally antibacterial - a great material to work with.  Thanks to Amaryah from Sew Oiseau for walking us through this one, once again!

Sneak peek for upcoming craft sale - new artists pencil rolls, organic teethers and cuddle dolls

A few more items hot off the sewing machine - I'll be adding them, with the organic play quilts, to the usual line-up of soaps, herbals, vegan baking and loose-leaf teas at our Dec 11 craft sale...

....linen pencil rolls for young artists (also good for organizing knitting needles, crafting tools, sewing supplies, crayons, etc); simple all natural "teething carrots", and cuddle dolls made from the softest organic cotton, stufffed with wool (I'm finally using up that fleece I started carding more than a year ago!).  My two-year old helped me to stuff the cuddle dolls with wool and sat beside me at the sewing machine into the late hours last night to see the dolls materialize.  She gave them the snuggle approval, hugging each one as it was completed.

Felted slipper workshop

A favourite way to pass a Sunday afternoon - getting a group of crafting women together to work on a project.  Add some freshly picked mint tea from the garden, and warm breadjust out of the oven and how can you go wrong? Today's crafting session was learning to make felted slippers.  We each made a child-sized pair of slippers made of pre-felted wool (wool sweaters felted in the washing machine) with recycled leather bottoms.   Felted slippers could of course also be made with wet-felted wool, or even needle-felted, but this was a quick way to get an incredible soft, cozy durable pair of slippers.  The pattern could easily be sized up or down, and you could embellish with applique, add buttons, lengthen the ankle, etc to create a variety of styles.  I love that our two-year old can play alongside, sorting wool bits, counting pins in the pincushion, watching and helping.

New Fall Workshop - Felted Slippers, Oct 17!

We're happy to announce a new workshop we've just arranged, coming up at Little City Farm on Sunday October 17 from 1-3 pm.  Amaryah, from Sew Oiseau here in town, is going to lead us through the steps in making felted slippers - make a pair of cozy leather-bottomed slippers for your little one, using natural, reclaimed leather and felted wool.  All materials will be provided.  Fee: $35.

Pictured here, to give you an idea of what is possible, are children's slippers with a wee star applique (the photo is from this photostream on flickr).  Contact Karin via our website to register for the workshop.

Sock Knitting Workshop

For those who love knitting, this past Saturday would have been bliss. A cold blustery day outdoors, and eight of us gathered around the dining room table with skeins of gorgeous yarn and handmade bamboo needles, sipping herbal tea and learning to knit socks! We had Nicole (from the local K-W Spinners and Weavers Guild) back to lead this session. She is an avid spinner (led a spinning workshop here in the fall) and knitter, not to mention beekeeper, gardener, etc. Knitting socks have become somewhat of a passion for her, and she brought an assortment of wonderful socks she has created, from simple stockinette stitch knee-highs, to intricate patterns like "cascade". She walked us through all the tricky details, like knitting heel flaps and reducing gussets, and got us started on our own pairs of socks. The workshop group decided to meet again in a month, to see where we've all gotten to with our socks, with Nicole generously offering to come back to help with any questions.

Tips for sock knitting - use tiny (set of 2.24 mm double-pointed needles), and fingerling weight yarn that preferably is not 100% wool or socks will felt in the wash!

Keep a small crochet hook on hand for picking up dropped stitches, and a tapestry needle for grafting and weaving in the ends.

Recommended Reading:
Teach Yourself Visually Sock Knitting, by Laura Chau
Knitting Vintage Socks, by Nancy Bush
New Pathways for Sock Knitters, by Cat Bordhi (more advanced)

Useful sites for knitters:

www.ravelry.com (a great place for pattern and yarn ideas, and connecting with a community of knitters)

www.knitty.com (a free publication of patterns and articles that is published quarterly)
Recommended local store to purchase yarn and supplies - Shall We Knit in New Hamburg

Handmade Woolen Waldorf Animals Workshop!

Here are some quick photos of yesterday's Woolen Waldorf-inspired animals workshop. These animals are made of felted wool sweaters, and stuffed with 100% wool. It was a cozy house, filled to the brim with wonderful crafting women, busy with activity of artful sewing and animated conversation for 3 hours! It made me think of traditional sewing bees -perfect for a wintery day, and a popular way to kick off our 2010 workshop schedule. We even had more would-be participants on our waiting list, and hope to host another similar workshop again later in the fall. This session was led by Eve Geisler, of Eve's Little Earthlings. She has been making these kinds of natural toys for more than 10 years and had all kinds of tips and advice for making them look professional. Though they look small and simple, these animals take a surprising amount of skill and finesse to look just right!

Eve's Little Earthlings Etsy Store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/eveslittleearthlings
Eve's Little Earthlings Flickr Photo Stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36450136@N08/