How to Make a Felted Hat for Your Favorite Ogre

I never really got the hang for knitting. The only knitting project I ever tackled was a scarf, which in the end became a heptagon-shaped potholder. But I love looking (and feeling) different types of fiber. Look at how beautiful this particular fiber is! It’s made up of silk and wool and alpaca that was cleaned off an industrial drum carder (they named it “Monster Fiber”).

When I saw a photo of a tiny needle felted cat, I wanted one for my very own. Untreated wool has tiny barbs that can hook together under certain circumstances. In needle felting, the strands of wool are basically tangled together with a special needle.

I’m showing this picture of my very first project not because I’m proud of how fat I made Marina’s tail, but because I wanted you to see how big and sharp and scary felting needles are. I made certain my felting basket always carried plenty of band aids and alcohol wipes.

Soon I started playing around with wet felting as well. In wet felting, the tiny barbs on the strands of wool are hooked together by friction and shrinkage.

Eventually, I figured out I could incorporate needle felting into wet felting projects. Sometimes I needle felted designs into the fiber before wet felting. For my ogre hats, I began forming the horns before attaching them and wet felting the hat.