Product of the Month April

Product of the month: Merino Wool Tops

knitshop.co.uk has a treat in store for fans of our Merino Wool Tops: we’ve got nine new shades for you to choose from. Feast your eyes on Cobalt Yellow, Pumpkin Orange, Green-Yellow, Asparagus Green, Dark Grass Green, Sepia Brown, Dark Chocolate Brown, Light Wisteria and Plum Purple.

The new colours take the total number of Merino Wool Tops options to 34. All the new shades are 25 micron wool tops. knitshop.co.uk’s Merino Wool Tops come in either 21 or 25 micron versions and are sold in 50g bags.
Merino Wool Tops are fantastic for a number of creative projects. Yarn lovers can spin their own luxurious skeins using a single bag of wool tops or combine shades for a unique effect. Drop spindles cost from £20, so it’s an inexpensive way of extending your love of all things woolly.

Merino Wool Tops are also perfect for felting. There are three main felting techniques. Fulling involves knitting an item and then washing it on a hot enough setting to allow the stitches to matt together and create a cohesive fabric. So you could spin your own yarn, knit a hat and then felt it in the washing machine.
However, Merino Wool Tops also lend themselves a much more straightforward felting option. Needle-felting and wet felting both involve working on the wool tops themselves. The fibres are pressed into shape using tiny needles or by manipulating them when damp.

knitshop.co.uk's Needle Felting Kit is using Merino Wool Tops. Back in April 2011 the Needle Felting Kit was reviewed by one of the knitting magazines, here is the blog about it. The Needle Felting Instruction is also available to download from the knitshop.co.uk website for free!

Hats, bags and toys are all easily made using needle-felting, wet-felting or fulling techniques. All you need is a pattern to work with and one or more colours of knitshop.co.uk Merino Wool Tops. For needle-felting, you need a special felting needle and a punch pad so you don’t ruin the surface you’re working on. The advantage of these felting techniques over fulling is that you don’t first need to knit your fabric.

If you’re going to be felting large quantities of fibre, it makes sense to use a felting handle. This holds up to five felting needles at once, so you can make five needle impressions every time you press down on the fibres.
If you like the idea of creating felted items, knitshop.co.uk sells several kits containing wool tops, felting needs, instructions and a punch pad.
Once you’ve mastered the art of wet felting or needle felting, we’re sure you’ll be browsing our growing selection of Merino Wool Tops and pondering your next felted creation. We sell several books on felting to get you started. There are also some great ideas to pique your interest over at KnittingDaily.com.

A necklace made from Merino Wool Tops - watch out for the necklace felting kit being a available very shortly!

Links to this blog:

Merino Wool Tops: http://knitshop.co.uk/24-merino-tops

Felting accessories: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/63-felting-accessories

Felting handle: http://knitshop.co.uk/felting-accessories/660-5needle-felting-handle.html

Felting kits: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/143-felting-kits
Noni knitting and felting books: http://www.knitshop.co.uk/144-noni

Knitting Daily felting patterns: http://www.knittingdaily.com/media/p/51523.aspx

Needle Felting Kit blog from April 2011 http://knitshopcouk.blogspot.co.uk/2011/04/needle-felting-kit-review-by-knit-today.html