When you see a rug in the shape of a sheep, it may be that it has been tanned. Then the sheep is slaughtered and the skin peeled off. Fortunately, there is also a way to make a these rug without killing the animal, they call this felting. Felting a rug requires little more than warm water, soap and manpower. Hilde taught me how to felt a rug.
First I started with cleaning the rug. There are many straws and twigs in it because this sheep has been walking on the heather all summer. I tried to lay out the rug so that the shape of the sheep is clearly visible. The legs still have quite a bit of wool but the shape of the bag is most important. Then you turn the rug over without pulling it out of proportion. While cleaning it, you remove pieces of wool that are not attached well enough. I carded these remaining pieces with the carding mill. When these we nice and fluffy I place them on top of the rug in a roof tile fashion. I used a felting needle to pin the carded wool to the rug. After this I poured a few watering cans with hot water and soap over the wool. Rubbing my hands over the rug bindes the fibers. You repeat this until it is a flat and stiff cloth, roll it up in a towel with bubble wrap and then you roll it in different directions. The wool shrinks, so it is important to roll it from all sides. After this you can rinse the rug and let it dry.
The felted rug is drying
