I’m not one to wear bats or skulls as jewelry during the month of October, but when I spotted this little bead in my daughter’s collection, I knew I had to make it into a necklace. I have been thinking a lot about mixing yarn and beads lately, and this finally convinced me to sit down and get to work. I’ll post a pic when it’s finished.
I’m going to say something silly, but I’m sure there are others out there feel the same. I have a hard time throwing out wool scraps. I don’t feel the same about cotton or acrylic yarn and I’m not sure why. There’s just something about the wooly ends. It pains me to toss them.
One night after amassing a large pile of granny square ends, I had an idea. I pulled the plies apart, walked over to the sink where my husband was doing dishes, and doused them with hot water. I added a tiny drop of soap and started rolling them in my hands. Within seconds I had the most adorable little felted bead! Just recently, I made some while the camera was out, and decided to take a few pics for the blog.
How to Make Felted Beads
1. Collect your wool ends. Here are a few from recent projects.
2. Separate the plies. Skip this step with single ply yarn.
3. Pull apart the individual plies until you’ve got a fluffy ball of wool. The fluffier the ball, the more even it will felt.
4. Felt them by hand. Sometimes I use hot water from the tap. Other times I heat a small mug of water in the microwave. Get the wool wet and then squeeze out the excess water. Roll the wool between your palms until it starts to felt. Sometimes a little bit of soap helps get the process going.
Rinse out the soap and you’re left with these little cuties:
I have great ideas for these, but I must admit that they are currently in a jar with a rainbow of other colors. I’d like to make a bracelet or necklace with them. I’d also like to use one as a center for a crochet flower hair tie. In the meantime, I just keep felting and collecting, happy that I’ve found a use for my wooly ends.
What do you do with your yarn scraps?
Thank you to everyone who commented about their creative time of day. I’m encouraged that so many of you find the morning hours so productive. I’m definitely going to give it a try. I even went to bed early last night! Of course, that might have had something to do with the major destash and deep cleaning of my creative space. I was pretty exhausted the next day.
My parents also went home yesterday. The first few days after their visits are always an adjustment, especially getting my daughter back into her routine with some independent play time. Today I got some precious time alone while she strung beads. I helped her get started and then she just took off!
Excuse the jammies, but Fridays are usually our “stay at home” days. I did make her get dressed before lunch, and she spent the rest of her day wearing her new necklace. Here she is crafting at her special end of the kitchen table.
As for me, well, I’ve got a lot of projects that are almost finished. The weather has been kind of glum the past few days. Yesterday we even had snow! I’m hoping for sun this weekend so I can take some pictures for the blog. I’ve got some fun things to share!
stash: Beads are actually from my amigurumi stash. My daughter has been asking to play with them forever. I think they might become her jewelry stash.