This summer Pat and I felted another blanket using some traditional mongolian techniques that have been tweaked just a bit. I tried to take photos of almost every step this time so hopefully the method is thoroughly shown.
Step 1: Lay the carded rovings out onto another blanket overlapping each other. Put two or more layers of wool depending on how think you want it, each layer perpendicular to each other
Step 2: ‘Water’ your wool with soapy water so it is just damp
Step 3: Roll the blanket up onto a PVC pipe-the mongolians would roll it onto a smooth log from a tree
Step 4: Once it is rolled up, tie it in a few spots so the blanket doesn’t unravel. I don’t have a picture of the next step (the actual felting!). It is easy though- sit on a chair with one or more other people and roll the blanket with your feet making sure you move along the whole length of the blanket. Partway through the process you can roll the blanket back up onto the pipe in the opposite direction.
Below-adding some colour and patterning to the partially felted blanket
To finish the blanket we sewed some border around the edges and we put the blanket briefly in a front loading washing machine to tighten it up a bit more. Be careful doing this! If you have some thin spots the washer might felt holes into your blanket.
Our finished blanket below!
