Felting

I find that in life I make it my mission to not be taken in by gadgets and gizmo's that make everything seem 'easier'. However after buying the Spinning Mill I found it has real mileage as a useful item. A few months ago I saw the Clover Felting Needle Tool and thought it might be really useful too. I've never tried felting before except for putting the odd knitted item in the washing machine (sometimes I even meant to) and I have to admit that I was seduced by the packaging showing lovely appliques. I considered for a long time that it would make much more economic sense to buy a single felting needle for 50p than the Clover tool for £14 odd to learn a new skill. But no one wants a sharp object to feel cumbersome to use and felting needles look just so. The Clover tool looks user friendly and simple for beginners like myself. So against my better judgement I bought one. The tool explicitly says it has to be used with the Clover Felting Needle Mat and I automatically dismissed this at marketing. I wasn't going to pay and extra £7.50 for a glorified scrubbing brush.

Now that I've been playing with the Felting tool for an afternoon I can come to to following conclusions:
1. I like felting.
2. I don't like stabbing myself.
3. The Clover tool is overpriced, as are the needle replacements and the needle mats.
4. The mats are probably quite useful for long term use, however I found a stiff nail brush was just as good even if the bristles aren't long enough to protect the needles.
5. After I'd got the hang of felting a bit of wool to a bit of felt I found it a lot easier to do by taking a needle out of the tool and using it on it's own.
The single 50p needle would have been a better option. I'm glad I didn't buy the mat as well, although in hindsight it would have been more useful if I bought that instead of the Clover tool.
6. Theres a chart on the back of the packaging about what type of needle to use for what fabric base and applique. All very informative but there are three symbols which I have no idea what they mean. Maybe I'm just slow but they arnt explained anywhere in the extensive and repetitive instructions, and I have no idea what they mean.