During the last few years, pattern designing has been on hold due to the number of artist bears and dolls I created and sold. Of those many, many characters I’ve sold, many of them were finished using a process known as fulling.

“What is fulling,” you say?

Well, you see these little gems below? Those furry friends look soft and fuzzy, unlike traditional crochet or knitting, because they were fulled.

We’ve talked a little bit about fulling (also known as felting) on our blog here a while back, so we’ll give a refresher course. We said: “The technique widely known as “felting,” is a process of basically making wool thicker, softer, fluffier, more durable, and more solidified. Since [2011], we have experimented with MANY ways to full our products. Unlike needle felting or wet felting, fulled crocheted/knitted bears aren’t a commonly offered product. Now, from our experience, there is no exact science that makes each product turn out a certain way. Take into consideration that many variables contribute to different outcomes. Felting/fulling has these basic variables: moisture, temperature, and agitation. Though it may seem simple enough, a certain brand of soap or slightly-off water temperature will give you different results, and many types of wool felt up differently.”

Now that you are up to pace… I wanted to share my experiences in fulling/felting with anyone interested, so I put them into a couple of NEW PATTERNS! “The Felted Hare” and “The Felted Bear” PDF patterns for crochet are now available! The instructions for the bear also include how to create and pose the bear on the ball! You can purchase them by going to our website, or by clicking any of the images below to purchase from Etsy. I’ve been working the last few weeks on a variety of these adorable, easy-to-make little characters to show how versatile they are.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoy creating these unique items, using  this interesting process! I love the results!

Hugs, Sue