Starting with yesterday’s post, I continued my hat project. I had *barely* enough wool to make two layers with my roving. My mittens, if you recall, had four layers. Four wet felted layers will block wind and make your hands sweat if it’s 30 degrees! Two was not enough, but it was what I had at the time. We were going to ride the next day and I wanted this hat finished to “test drive”.
After the initial wet felting had begun, and I’d rolled the hat, I then clipped the front and neck area open and finished those edges. Now, with my mittens, I’d placed them on my hands and ran hot water over them as I soaped and scrubbed them into shape. What was I going to do here?
Well, of course, I put a plastic bag over my head. Or rather just my hair! I put the wool cap on and went to scrubbing!
No. I did not take photos. It was ugly. It was funny. It was wet and soapy. Finally, I decided to leave it alone to dry.
Please note, two thin layers is NOT ENOUGH. After all was said and done, I could see through spots in my hat, and I had to needle felt some additional wool into it. If you notice the fuzzy green, that’s been needle felted from the inside, unlike the green that just blends with the turquoise.
My little decorative strip didn’t *quite* work out either, the green faded into the brown, and the colored flower spots didn’t look quite like I had planned. A few minutes of needle felting and I had a bright green vine with colorful flowers along it.
Once I bought more wool, I made the ties by wet felting the strands together and then needle felting them onto the hat in a spiral.
Did it turn out like I’d planned? There was more “ruffle” to my neckline than I wanted… but other than being too lightweight for a cold Wyoming day, this was a success for a cool Wyoming day!
To me it resembles a cross between the helmet liner of a knight and a 1920’s flapper! Not particularly flattering for me, but as a first attempt, I’ll take it!
If you’re interested in buying some Wyoming roving and experimenting for yourself, let me recommend lucyssheepcamp.com, it is where I buy mine, and she’s on etsy! Tell her I sent you!
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I love it!!
Super cute! I agree with the comment above about using it as a liner — or putting it on top of a thin knit beanie hat as another layer, because that decorative band is just too pretty to hide.
Kris recently posted…white out
Carol I love the felted hat. Thank you for posting the link to buy WY wool so I can try my hand at felting again. Last time I made a hat I used a ball as a form, which didn’t work all that well. :).
I’ll leave another comment: how about a pom pom on top?!
I think it came out really cute! Someday I’m going to have to try hand felting and needle felting. What’s the grey fuzzy thing on your camera?
Della, that’s for wind. Just like the fuzzy things they use on tv microphones to keep the wind noise down. I’m trying to see if it makes a difference on my videos.
Oh gotcha! That makes sense. 🙂
You might actually try knitting/crocheting a hat and using that as a liner! Then it would be WAY warm. Of course just looking at it makes me itch because I’m allergic to wool!
Very cute! I’ve enjoyed reading about all your felted woolen projects:
the birdie, the Christmas stocking, the mittens, and now the hat!!
So cute! I’d never even heard of needle felting until you told me about it.
A-dor-ah-ble!
Love the selfie!