A Felted Bird's Nest

Having bought a wreath last fall, I decided that in order to be perfect, it needed a little bird’s nest.  I remembered having seen a tutorial on a blog and I hunted and hunted for it, to no avail.  All I could remember was: Cut the sleeve off of a wool sweater.  Do some stitches with random NON-wool yarns.  Stitch around both ends.  Tuck the ends in and pull the stitches to tighten.  Then, wash in hot water to felt (shrink and tighten) the wool.

So, that’s what I did.  I whacked the sleeve off of an old wool sweater that I bought at a sale at the Salvation Army.  I made random stitches here and there with three different types of acrylic yarn in natural colors.  There was a lot of orange in one of the yarns.  I didn't like it so I tied it in a knot on the back side each time that color came up. I stitched around the ends with a strong thread and pulled the first end tight..  I tucked both ends to the inside and pulled the other end tight.  Using a needle, I tucked the threads to the inside before washing the whole thing in hot water.   

This is the first item that I have purposefully felted.  It didn’t shrink much.  My Mom convinced me to put it in boiling water and then in cold.  I stirred it with a plastic spoon and squeezed it out inside a wash cloth.  Then, Mom took it to her house to throw it in the clothes dryer.  It still didn't really shrink.  I think maybe the sweater was already felted!  Oh well.  It looks really cute in my wreath.  I love it!