Handmade Friday

My cousin wanted me to knit a hat for her daughter that was a replica of the hat from the movie "Despicable Me".

I didn't have a pattern and I had not seen the movie (I have now though) so it was a bit intimidating.

But I think it turned out exactly how I wanted it to!

Just jumping in...

Today in homeschool, we did a bit of wet felting.  The boys and I made felted story mats.  If you've never done any type of felting before, it's kind of like magic.

Except without the cute bunnies and funky top hat.

And it's messier.

And prepare to get fuzzies in your nose.

We started with some wool batting. 

Then we arranged some different colored roving over the batting.  Taw Taw wanted to do a winter North Pole scene.  

I was going for a peaceful meadow with a little cave for gnomes to have a rest.

Then we put soap and hot water on it.

Finally, we rubbed it like crazy with bubble wrap.

After a really long time of rubbing, the fibers began to tighten up and and start looking like a nice meadow (or  a slaughter-house floor in Mr. Button's case).

We squeezed out the soap and rinsed.

I tossed the mats in the dryer with a tennis ball and began clean up.

VOILA!

After a little help from my felting needle, it's ready for story time!