How to Make a Wool Felted Necklace

This easy felting project makes a felted necklace with a bit of handspun yarn, crochet and wool roving.

I had a bit of leftover handspun single spun merino wool yarn that I crocheted for the base of the necklace. Using a 4.5 mm crochet hook, crochet a chain of approx. 100 stitches ( 36 inches). Join. Using a slip stitch work the ends into the chain for about an inch or two.

How to Crochet a Chain Stitch

If you are new to crochet, here are some instructions to get you started.

chain crochet

I used a similar method to felt the wool balls into the crochet chain, as I used when I made the hand felted Easter eggs.
You will need:
1 bowl of cold tap water.
1 bowl of hot tap water.
Add a bit of dish detergent to the bowl of hot water.
Small bits of dyed merino wool roving.

Begin by felting the crochet necklace base. Dip it in the hot soapy water and rub the necklace vigorously between the plam of your hands until it begins to felt.

Take a small piece of dyed wool roving and wrap it around the crochet necklace, forming a small ball.
Dip the ball of wool into the bowl of hot soapy tap water.
Rub the wool roving in the palm of your hand, forming a ball or bead shape.
Continue to rub it vigorously and continue to dip it in the hot soapy water.
The wool will start to harden and form a ball shape.
When it starts to harden, dip it in the cold water and continue to roll it between the palms of your hands.
Alternate between dipping the wool ball in the hot water and cold water, squeezing out excess water.
When the wool ball has become quite hard (about 3-4 minutes of rolling)
Pinch and shape the ball into a around ball or egg shape.

felt necklace

Continue to roll in your hands and dip into the cold and hot water
until you are happy with the consistency of the hardened felt.

If you wish to make larger ‘beads’ wrap a bit more roving around the partially felted ball and continue the felting process. Dip it into hot water and continue to rub between your hands as above. Alternate between hot and cold water and rubbing.

felted necklace