Crafting with Wool

Why would spinners want to know about crafting with wool?

Tapestry There are several reasons actually.

Depending on the type of wool you prefer to spin and the amount of time you have for your hobby, you may be able to produce more yarn than you can knit.

Hand spun garments are very durable and hold their 'as new' appearance for a long time, so there are only so many jumpers that your family will need at any one time.

If you spin for the pleasure of it, you won't want to stop just because your family is saying enough!

Another reason is that there is always some of the fleece that you either can't or don't want to spin.

I don't know about you but I am always very hesitant to throw out something that I can use for something else.

So what can you do with your left over wool?

Decorating Items

Spun or carded fleece can be used to create wonderful articles to decorate your home.

By adding color by dying your wool, you can make anything from wall hangings to lamp shades which you can use to add personal touches to your home.

Felting Wool

Wool is felted using extreme temperatures, from hot to cold, during the washing processes. Wool can be felted into a fabric that can be used for any number of projects or it can be felted into shapes.

For more information on how to felt your wool and what you can do with it on the Felting Wool page.

Novelty Gifts

The number of ways you can use your wool to create novelty gifts is only limited by your imagination. For example you can use bits and pieces of your spun wool to knit or crochet small toys and then stuff them with clean fleece to make an environmentally friendly, dirt and fire resistant toy for you children.

One of my favorites is a pin cushion. For this project you need a small basket, a circle of cloth and reasonably clean but unwashed fleece wool. Basically you fill the circle of material with the fleece wool and gather the edge of the circle to form a ball. The ball is then placed into the tiny basket to complete your pin cushion. Of course, feel free to decorate the basket to make it as attractive as possible.

The unwashed wool contains lanolin which will prevent your pins from rusting!

Padding

Wool is natures perfect insulator and that makes it perfect for using as padding in soft toys, pillows, quilts or clothing.

For pillows or soft toys you don't need to do much more than wash your raw fleece and tease open the staples when dry to have a good medium for stuffing your pillows.

For use as padding, you raw fleece should be washed, carded and then felted to create a good quality padding which is not only warm, but fire resistant.

Tapestry Wool

Small amounts of left over spun wool can be used to create your own tapestry. You don't need a too much of each color but you do need a good imagination and some design skills!

Do you have a good idea for crafting with wool?

Why not tell us about it. Just fill in the template below and you can build a page of your own on this website to tell everyone about your idea or crafting with wool!