I first heard of this technique on Stephanie’s blog, and I was instantly intrigued. A way to reduce the amount of yarn ends? Sign me up! It took me a little while to track down a needle felting tool, but I finally had the chance to try it out on my latest project.

• 1 Clover Single Needle Felting Tool
• 1 Felting Mat (I used a pillow)
• 2 Yarns containing animal fibre (I used a 75% Superwash Merino/25% Nylon base)

Instructions by Stephanie at All About Ami

It was so cool to see the way the two yarn ends joined together! Apparently animal fibres contain scales on the shaft of the yarn, and agitating the yarn with the felting tool allows the scales on the different yarn ends to lock together to form one cohesive strand! While the overlapped ends are a bit thicker than a single strand, I doubt you’d even notice where the join was in the picture below.

I would strongly recommend getting a foam mat or proper felting mat if this is something that you want to do regularly. I found that the yarn even wanted to felt onto the pillowcase, so having the right mat would be helpful for sure. I also left a lot of little stab marks on the pillowcase, so I wouldn’t recommend doing this felting on anything you want to keep pristine.

I don’t know if I would recommend this as the best way to manage yarn ends. For one, using a single needle tool did mean it took some time to fuse the two ends. The pen tool, with up to three needles, would likely work better. Secondly, this technique only works on animal fibres, which means it couldn’t be used on acrylic yarns. Still, it was a learning experience, and I’m glad I tried it. I do want to try my hand at some needle felting in the future as well, so I’ll hang on to the tool for that very purpose.

Until next time, happy crafting!