Preparation:

Begin with buying unbleached wool roves. I buy large bags from Halcyon Yarns.

Dye small batches by hand , I prefer Dharma Trading's procion fiber reactive dye, because I don't own a steamer. Be patient, the longer the wool sits sits, the darker it gets. Dont even imagine you can do this without rubber gloves.

Rinse and dry dyed wool.

Assembly:

Make basic ball of tightly wadded natural color wool for base. overlay colored wool in different directions. Add tails of wool, mohair or any feltable yarn for embellishment if desired. You can add beads and metallics later.

Put ball in nylon stocking and knot tightly. Create another, stuffing it in stocking and knotting each one until it looks like a string of round sausages. I usually make at least a dozen at a time.

Put strings of knotted balls in washing machine with hottest water and cold rinse and some detergent. Detergent is required as the alkalinity helps the felting process.

Run through cycle.

Cut and Peel stocking off damp balls and let each dry. you can flatten them a little at this stage or leave them round. Voila! you are done.

They can be assembled into animals, caterpillers, piled in bowls or used as pincushions. The lanolin will prevent rusting pins.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1480357}}