Felted Cobweb Wool Scarf

I've been reading all kinds of fiber arts books this winter.  I've read several on felting.  My favorite so far is Uniquely Felt by Christine White.  In that book there are instructions for felting a cobweb scarf.  Cobweb is a very fine see-thru felt.  I decided to give it a shot even though it said that it was an advanced technique.  I didn't follow the instructions completely... here's how it turned out. 

I started with washed Romney wool that I had dyed with vegetable matter.  I honestly can't remember what I dyed it with... that was a LONG time ago!! Possibly with the Weld plant. 

I had 2.5 ounces of wool. I didn't card it, but left it in lock form.  

First I laid down some bubble wrap and then covered it with plastic.  Then I measured out the dimensions I wanted on the plastic.  The dimensions for the scarf were 15 inches wide and 9 feet long.  Felt shrinks a lot so it turns out a lot smaller than that.  

Then I carefully laid out the locks of wool very thinly.  This takes a long time.  It's good to have some hot coffee in your favorite mug.  :)

This is how thinly the wool was laid out. 

Then I covered the wool with some fine tule fabric.

The solution in the spray bottle was homemade olive oil soap dissolved in hot water.  

The kids helped with this part :) 

Then I took off the tule and put on some 2 mil plastic.

The next step was using a sander (without the sandpaper) to start felting the fibers together.  This process took over an hour.  I'd definitely recommend ear protection!

The next step was felting by hand.  This is where things kinda started falling apart.  I probably didn't get it pre-felted enough with the sander.  Nevertheless, the kids had fun helping me rub the wool in soapy warm water.  

We felted the wool by hand for probably another hour and then gave it a good rinse and ironed it out.  

Wow- that's a little more see-thru than I had originally envisioned!  

Is it garbage or art????????  

Ah, what the heck, I'll go with art!!

I like the color- a little wild!

Here's the close-up texture.

I've actually worn it several times already, so I guess it turned out alright. :)