I'm just starting on a new project this week that I'm very excited about. I'm taking a knitted horse pattern from Freya Jaffke's book "Toymaking With Children" (a definate must for any Waldorf Family) and adapting it to make a felted horse for my son Sam. My hope is that it will be more sturdy and durable then the knitted version.In my first attempt I'm doubling my knitting needle size and the pattern size using a basic worsted weight yarn (Fisherman's Wool by Lion Brand Yarns.)
The horse turned out huge as you can see above, measuring about 15" wide by 12" tall. The smaller orange horse shows the pattern's original size. Now to sew it up and loosely stuff it with wool.
Here is the horse after agitating in the washing machine for 2 cycles. I had a little trouble with the back seam busting and some of the wool stuffing coming out and then wool just shifting around more then I would have liked. I think if I did this again I would stuff the legs more firmly than I did this time around.
This photo is after a bit of hand wet felting and some shaping. Overall I like the shape, but wish the legs were more uniform in shape. I'm guessing he won't be able to stand alone, but hopefully that won't matter to my son!
