Looks like just a sleeve, right? Well it is. A merino wool sleeve that has been felted (run through a hot wash) then cut off to be exact. That was the hardest step. Really, I mean it. Next step? Tie the end with the cuff in a knot.
Next step.... roll the bottom twice.
There. You're done. You just made an eco friendly, inexpensive, soft, insulated, cozy baby/toddler hat from a recycled natural fiber! I challenge you to find an easier recycled wool project ;) From here you can embellish it in a million different ways, but you don't have to. This looks much cuter on a real baby, but I didn't have one available, so my son's old doll Soupy volunteered. Merino is thin, soft, & stretchy, so a great material to work with. Sizing the hat? Well, that depends on the size of the sweater & how much it felts, but you can judge pretty good just by looking at the sleeve. Like I said, it is stretchy, so sizing doesn't have to be exact, and you can always run it through another hot wash to felt it more if it's too big. You can make newborn through toddler sizes, and beyond, depending on the size of the sweater/sleeves.
Kinda makes you want to run to my Artfire shop & buy all my merino sweaters, eh? ;)
10 comments:
Oh you're too clever! I'm gonna try it for my granddaughter...
Cute!! I agree it is hard to cut the sleeves off a nice wool felted sweater, I make fingerless gloves out of my sleeves - come over to my blog and take a look, I have a little giveaway going on too. Cheers!
I have used the cowl neck off of wool sweaters to make hats. They aren't as easy as your project here but they are cute. I try to save as much from my sweaters as I can as I use them to make wool diaper covers and the sleeves get used up on that part but the necks are usually left from the turtleneck sweaters. Then I have made wool soft block toys with the rest of the scrap and stuffed it with the really tiny leftover pieces of wool. So little to none goes to the garbage. ;) I need to get an Etsy shop and start selling my creations, maybe this winter.
Sarah, feel free to send me a pic of your granddaughter modeling one if you want. I'll put it on the blog!
Thanks Heather! I blogged about your giveaway.
Shanna, I am intrigued! Feel free to send me pics of your cowl hats. If you don't want me to blog them I won't, but i'd love to see them.
Kris - I'll do it! Just gotta go through my sweaters.. And thanks for following on my blog -- maybe you broke the ice!!
I will try to remember to take some pictures this weekend and get them to you. Thanks for asking! ;)
This. is. the. bomb! I am so doing this :)
Thanks for the reminder! I just reposted it as this week's Tutorial Tuesday.
Is there some magic trick to felting merino wool? I've had good luck with some sweaters and then others will.not.felt no matter how often I washed them with hot water and some detergent. I read somewhere that merino wool lacks the scales along the fiber shaft that allows other wool to felt up easily. Any hints?
Superwash wool is most common in merino, for some reason. Superwash is when they treat it so it won't felt. Avoid anything labeled "superwash", "washable", or "machine wash". Other than that, it's a gamble, but i've had great results a majority of the time.
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