Resources
Having decided to introduce more handwork into your class or home-school environment, read up a bit on the skills you need, and got a handle on where to start, you are ready for the next step - gathering materials. This can be daunting. As with any craft or skills, there is a lot of jargon and a lot of variations on what seems like the same thing to choose from.
I will try to demystify the jargon and technical details of various crafts through blog posts and build a list of them here for easy reference. I will also give details of suppliers of various materials that I have used and would recommend. I do not receive anything in return for endorsing products or sellers and if I ever do in the future, I will make that clear when writing about it.
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If you know of any good sources of materials, please do let me know so I can build a comprehensive list for our community to use.
Wool Roving
For wool roving to spin or felt your can't go far wrong with New Zealand Romney from Talley Ho Natural Coloured Wools and Carding.
I buy the 'Lucky Dip' collection - a 1kg bag of 10 different colours of wool.
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If you would like something lighter and softer for felting, go for the merino 'Carousel Collection' - just like the lucky dip, but merino. I wouldn't recommend learning to spin with merino but it is beautiful to felt - it feels like squishing clouds. We used it in my class when we wanted to make felt hand-warmers as we needed them to be light and flexible.
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EcoHobbyWool on Etsy sell beautiful, mostly merino, roving in a range of colours for very reasonable prices. They also sell felting batts which take a lot of the hard work out of felting so you can jump straight to thefun!
Felting Needles
Felting needles are also available from EcoHobbyWool on Etsy. I haven't bought these myself but would give them a try if I were in need.
Spindles
