Felted wool rug

Well,  that was a long break.

I wish that I kept up with my blog through the holidays but I just got too busy.

Now I have time to sit back and reflect.

I did make a really cool gift for my sister-in-law in Seattle.  I wanted to post it right away but I had to wait till she got it.  I felted a rug.  It was large (forgot to measure it) enough for her feet at the side of her bed - in fact its probably a bit to large for that.  It was the first time felting a rug and I had a lot of fun (so did my boys with the felting process!)

I laid out all the colors on top of a base of white wool batting form West Earl Woolen Mill (717) 859-2241 - they have no web site - so worth the phone call and talking with an actual person! 

I do have to say that I didn't lay out the colors correctly - all I did was lay them on top of the white - I should have broken up the color a bit and criss crossed it - instead I just laid a strip of this and that and that's how the rug turned out (a layer of color on white).  

Then I rolled it up in a big heavy duty bubble wrap with very hot soapy water & a white sheet

(I got the bubble wrap at Rheinbek wool festival) and rolled it for two days and whacked it around and rolled it around and then I unrolled it to check for movement of the pattern but for the most part t didn't move.   I rolled it some more and then after it was felted enough I threw it around the bathtub for a while to shock the wool into felting some more.  Love my feet??  Ha.  
Then after all that and rinsing it out and stepping all over it - I took it down to the washer machine and put it on spin and spun it dry.  Then I hesitated to put it in the dryer but i did it anyway and boy was I glad - after it was in there on low for 15 minutes it was dry, fluffy and ready to mail off to her.  I was happy with the process and I can't wait to try it again.