Felt ball with yarn scraps?

[goldfinch]

I've just acquired a large bag of vintage wool yarn scraps and bits. Is there a way to turn yarn scraps into felt balls (i.e., wrapping them around something & felting them, or unraveling the bits and bunching them up and felting them?) or do you have to start with "pre-spun" wool to get a felt ball? I actually tried wrapping some around a small ball and felting it in the washing machine but didn't end up with anything close to what I was trying to accomplish.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.

[isaberg]

No idea, but it sounds really neat!

It might work to take a felting needle to a ball of yarn - I'll check on it this evening & report on my results.

[isaberg]

I did indeed experiment with this - lots of fun! It worked well for me to wind a ball of wool yarn, then use a felting needle to attach a layer of roving (that pre-spun wool) to the outside of the ball, then wet-felt it by hand. The felting needle doesn't work at all well on the wound yarn, just the roving. Here I thought I was being all original, and when I came to report it, turns out tons of other people have known this all along.

Mehndi mama has some good instructions here:

http://www.mothering.com/discussions...d.php?t=555371

[goldfinch]

Thanks, isaberg!

I can't easily get my hands on any roving, and have semi-committed to only using second-hand materials on these projects, but the temptation of felt balls may prove too great for me to resist.

Thanks again for your help!