Crafty Manolo » The Whole Kit and Kaboodle




The Whole Kit and Kaboodle

By Twistie

I believe I’ve mentioned before that I wanted to try out some new crafting techniques. Well, I took the plunge recently. See that beginner’s needle felting kit up there? Yeah, I ordered one of those from Mielke’s (pronounced ‘Milky’s’) Fibers.

The kit comes with eight needles (two each in four different sizes), a 12″ x 9″x 1 1/2″ foam work surface, a generous amount of carded fleece in some eight different colors, a strip of cotton batting, a bit of yarn, and a set of instructions in basic techniques taught in the form of four different projects. The instructions tell you how to do the work and suggest shapes and colors, but leave the final design up to the student, which is great because it encourages you to delve into your own creativity right off the bat. The needles come in a sturdy plastic tube and jabbed into a piece of foam so you won’t hurt yourself before you begin. They also include a handy chart to explain the color coding on the handles of the needles, including the length. That’s a good thing since two different styles have the same color handles, but one is significantly longer than the other.

As soon as the kit arrived, I pulled all the bits out and started playing. What do you know? By the end of an hour of reading instructions, identifying tools, etc. I sat down and in less than half an hour, I had a pretty piece of needlefelt in the form of a red heart I can wear on my sleeve… but will more likely attach to a hat at some point. I even managed it sans bloodshed! My vocabulary of vulgarities remains unenhanced, but at least I’m not wearing bandages on my fingers. I do, however, firmly believe the reason the kit suggests using red fleece to begin with is so that if one does draw one’s own blood, it’s less likely to ruin the project.

All in all, I’m thinking I spent $25.00 quite well. I’d been looking at needle felting beginner’s kits for a couple months, and this one seemed to me to offer the best combination of quality, versatility, and ease of use. If you’re looking to take up this fun craft, I highly recommend this as the kit to get.









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