Wool Obsession

Have you ever completed a spinning project and found that you have a small amount of fiber left over? Or have you acquired small fiber samples that you don’t think are worth the trouble to spin?

I don’t know about you, but I hate to just throw these small bits away. So, I’ve thought of a couple of things you can use them for:

• Leave them out for the birds for nesting material - I’ve had mixed success with this - the birds seem rather picky about the fibers they like.
• Card it in with other types of fiber to create an interesting batt
• If it’s an animal fiber, particularly wool, use it for needle felting

The last idea - needle felting - is my personal favorite, even though I don’t do as much of it as I’d like. If you’ve never done needle felting before, you might want to give it a try - it’s actually quite fun! All you really need is wool or alpaca or another animal fiber, a needle felting needle, and a surface to work on so you don’t accidentally stab yourself. You can use needle felting to create an embellishment on a knitted or crocheted object or you can create an entire new object with needle felting - like some of the wonderful creations at Glass Dragon Bears Etc.’s Etsy store.

If you’d like to learn more about needle felting, here are a couple of sites to visit:

• All Buttoned Up has an excellent written tutorial on needle felting
• Fiber Arts Video has posted a few videos that demonstrate how to do needle felting

If you’re looking for supplies for needle felting, one good source is Paradise Fibers. They have:

• Felting tools,
• Roving/Fiber, and
• Books and videos on needle felting to help speed up your learning curve

What other uses have you found for leftover fiber?

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This was my second, and last, project for the Ravelympics 2008 WIP Wrestling Event. It’s the Minimalist Cardigan pattern from the Fall 2007 edition of Interweave Knits. I used yarn from Debbie Bliss’ line to knit it - the Cashmerino Aran. It’s a beautiful yarn - soft, bouncy, and gives great stitch definition.

Overall, I’m please with the way the sweater came out, but if I were to make it again, I’d make a couple of changes:

• Alter the pattern to knit the body all together either in the round with steeks at the front to cut later or just back and forth to the armscye. Anything to avoid having to do so much seaming.
• Make it slightly shorter, both in the body, and in the arms - maybe by 1 1/2 inches or so.
• Use a slightly different stitch pattern - moss stitch gets kind of monotonous after a while!

Hope your Ravelympics projects have gone smoothly!

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