Loose Ends

I have a couple unrelated things I wanted to blog tonight. Julia from our Thimbleberries Club asked last night whether I had ever given directions on this blog for felting wool. I think I probably did at some point, but I'm not sure, and since I've shown you some felted wool projects lately, I thought maybe I should mention the "how to" basics.

Most of my wool comes from the thrift store, and I always look for 100 percent wool garments. For heavier projects, like the purses and pillows I've made, I've purchased wool sweaters. The lighter weight wool I've used in applique comes from suits, skirts, and jackets.

The basic method for felting wool is to put the wool into the washing machine with a little soap and run it through on hot. Judy recently mentioned putting the wool inside a pillowcase or cloth bag to keep all the little wool particles that slough off from clogging up the drain, and that's a good idea. You would then remove the wool from the pillowcase or bag and dry it on hot in the dryer. Judy also mentioned adding a dye magnet to the wash. Since I'm usually washing wool from just one garment, I don't bother, but if I was doing a mixed load, I would.

When I felt sweaters, I put them through the wash-and-dry process first and then cut them up later--often not until I'm going to use them. With other wool garments, I cut them up first and remove linings, interfacing, buttons, zippers, etc., before they're washed. If I've forgotten to mention anything about felting wool you were wondering about, please leave me a comment and I'll respond.

This morning when I got up, I put on my robe and found one of the cards of peppermint buttons on the bed under my robe. I couldn't figure out how they got there, but I figured I'd somehow carried them in. Nope, not the case. Turns out when Hubby got up this morning, Spike was running around the house carrying the buttons in her mouth, and he couldn't catch her. I guess she was doing quality control again. Nice of her to leave them where I was sure to find them!

Tonight I thought I'd try to find and post a nice photo of a hot, studly-looking guy dressed as Santa--just to get you all in the Christmas spirit, you understand?! I can't begin to tell you all the weird stuff my searches found, particularly when Yahoo told me it wasn't going to search for me unless I turned off "safe search." I'm telling you, if you ever hear I've been arrested and they've found I've been viewing internet porn, would you please tell them I was just searching for Santa? In the end, I didn't find anything suitable. I did find this on YouTube, though and it's kind of funny if you have an odd sense of humor; otherwise, it's just plain wrong. And, I'll warn you: You might not want to watch it early in the morning or if you're feeling at all queasy!