Rainbow soap

A break from castles today. We had friends around for the morning. It was so lovely and sunny today, that we headed out into the garden with our drinks …. and a bag of wool roving. Now, I’m not much of one to sit around idling. I get itchy fingers, so I usually have a crafty activity for visitors to do. (That way I can do it too!)

I cut up a slab of soap and we wet felted the wool roving around it. This is such a perfect felting project for children, of all ages, and we had four willing ones to join in. Once the roving is wrapped this way and that, and dunked in warm water, the whole caboodle is put into the toe of a pair of tights. The children wandered around chatting as they felted the soap. By the end, all hands were truly clean and the soap was felted. Everyone went home with a present.

Good job, as TF and BL joined in planting sweetcorn, this afternoon. Only half of my seeds germinated, which left me with 32 plants. While I dug the holes and filled it with water, the two children planted the sweetcorn. TF is such a hard worker. At the age of almost 4, I think he would have done it all by himself and not stopped till it was done. All were planted in record speed.

The badge of honour. Dirty hands after a job well done.

The felted soap did come in handy. All the children could not get upstairs fast enough to have a shower, this evening. They love the soap. No more dropping the slippery soap and trying to catch it as it pings around the wet floor of the shower. All children happily asleep in bed now. Phew! It all starts again tomorrow!

11 comments

  1. Hello Cheryl, It’s nice to be back! Thank you.
    Your felted soaps look great. It is indeed a great project to do with children. Very satisfying. We also enjoy using the felted soap a lot. They also make great gifts.
    Luciana

    1. So much fun. I cut the soap small enough that they could easily manage it in their hands. They loved using the soaps last night. I’m sure we will be making many more. If they can bear to part with them, they would be great gifts.

  2. What a wonderfully productive day! We recently felted soap too, you’ll recognize the post soon! I feel so sorry for people who don’t realize the effectiveness and amazing ability of our littles. They are so willing and so effiecient if we just give them instruction and then expect big things from them. How willing they are, and proud!! Another hurray for Cheryl!

    Blessings, Debbie

    1. I love doing this activity with friends and their children. Most have not come across felted soap before and some have not wet felted. It feels great to pass something on to others. I’m looking forward to seeing yours.

      I agree with allowing the little ones to do more. Two of mine went/go to a Montessori nursery and this has enabled them in so many ways. They are both more likely to get on and do. Leading by example is so powerful. I honestly believe that if I had a field to plant, then TF would have not stopped until it was all done. His attitude was so grown up. If he has an objective and knows how to do it, then he does it. Amazing little chap!

    1. Hats off to all of you people who homeschool! It is wonderful to be there when the children learn something new and I know that I miss a lot when they go to school. But (could you hear that coming?) I’m not sure that I could keep inspiring them and dreaming up fun activities all the time. You guys rock, believe me!

  3. Yes, a lovely craft project with children – it’s lovely to watch their faces when they see felting happen in their hands. Anything woolly gets my vote!

    I received the envelope today with the paper from the giveaway – thank you very much, I’d completely forgotten about it here. Something to do on a crafty day soon, very kind of you to send it through x

    1. Children, wet felting and outdoors just work so well. Lots of smiles and laughter. Lovely clean hands as well! I’m glad you got the paper. I hope you have fun with it.

  4. Thanks for the sweet comment on my Sew Mama Sew giveaway post and for playing along! Sorry, that not everone
    could win!
    I posted the winners on my blog and also emailed them …
    http://muffinsnmore.blogspot.com/2011/05/winners.html

    If you would like to order some buttons I would be happy to custom-make some
    for you. Because the toadstools seemed to be the most popular I will include
    a free toadstool button or toadstool sewing pin (you can choose) with every
    order placed until the 15th of June 2011.

    Wishing you a great day and hope to “see” you again on my blog sometime!
    Love

    Ms Muffin

  5. heeeeeeeeellllllllllppppppp!!!!!!!!!
    I loved the felting idea and have depress a knit wool hat. Loved it, but for some reason I did something wrong. I purchased roving wool yarn from hobby lobby. Martha Stuart brand I think it was. But when we wrapped the yarn around the soap and slipped it in the sock the warm water just didn’t do the trick. After walking around all morning with it in my hands while the children were working, it still is not felted. What do ypu think I did wrong?

    1. Hi jk. Without seeing what you ended up with, I cannot be totally sure what went wrong. I don’t know the Martha Stuart branded roving, but if it is designed for wet felting then it should be suitable. I use merino wool, as it felts easily. Other types of wool can take longer to felt. I recently used Jacob sheep fleece and it took ages, but the finish was worth it.

      The other suggestion that I have is that the roving may have felted in clumps. Before the wrapped up wool goes into the sock, I make it wet and gently felt it to start the process off, so that everything sticks together and there is uniformal coverage of the soap. One other thought, I use tights (pantyhose?) which are very thin. Thicker socks may cut down the effect of rubbing. Hope that helps. Good luck.

      (Tried to email you but it bounced back!)

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