Woodland Elf Hat

I found a cute pattern in a book I have out from the library: Bend-the-Rules Sewing. It's a woodland elf cap! For the material I used a green wool sweater I bought at my local thrift shop. I felted it in the washer/dryer, and then followed the relatively easy cutting and sewing instructions.

And finally, here is the finished project, modelled on Rowan's head. The hat was meant for Ben, but he's very particular about which hats he wears, so he just kept pulling it off.

Wet felting

It's cold and drizzly outside, almost cold enough to snow. I prefer snow over rain in winter, because then you have the chance to brush it off before it melts and gets you wet. But raining it is, and we came back from our playgroup somewhat chilled. So we plunged our hands into dishes of very warm water and tried wet felting. We got warm and made something pretty!This is a very easy project. I followed the instructions in Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children by Sharifa Oppenheimer. I wish I had thought to take photos at the beginning of the project, but rest assured that it was very easy!

The children simply laid clean, carded white wool in one direction of my pan, then laid coloured wool the other way. Add some hot and sudsy water, then begin the felting! Start gently to prevent the wool from wadding all up. As the wool felts into a pad, you can play with it a little more vigorously. It takes a while for it to be durable enough for play. Here's what we ended up with.