The first time I ever heard of needle felting was a few years ago at a coffee shop in Vancouver where I went for a knit and crochet meet up. One of the girls in the group was a dental hygienist and that afternoon she had brought a needle felted tooth. It was awesome and I was amazed that something could be created by using just a needle and fluffy wool. Since then I have seen needle felted projects and always felt a little intimidated - just how is it that you can shape stuff like that??

Recently, the people at FUN.com sent me a felting kit for me to try out. This was exactly the kind of push I needed to get out of my crafting comfort zone and give this intriguing hobby a try.

FUN.com has a selection of needle felting kits suited for beginners and I chose to make the penguin. The kit came with the necessary wool plus more colors in case I got creative, instructions, and two needles, which I'm so glad for because I ended up breaking one of them!

I followed the instructions and got out the white wool for the body and once I got started I couldn't put the needle down! It was almost therapeutic, stabbing and poking the wool together - though I did poke myself a couple of times so be warned. It was nice to have the extra colors so I added some rosy cheeks to my penguin. I was fascinated by how quickly and easily the wool took shape and after a few (seemingly short) hours I ended up with this adorable penguin:

I think I'll name them Gunter and I know they and a certain King will become good friends :)

Needle Felted Penguin

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