I’m in the process of sewing Ellie a Waldorf-style doll* for her birthday.  (Yes, her birthday is in 10 days and no, it will not be done in time.)  The first step was to needle felt wool stuffing into a ball for the head.  Several hours and a few needle holes in my fingers later, here it is.

Super exciting, isn’t it?

I’ve never needle felted anything before and I had no idea it would take so long to do this!  Being the amazing math guy that he is, Nik would say things like, “Oh, you have 9 inches [out of 12] of circumference done?  That’s great except that you have to cube what’s left in order to consider the volume of a sphere so you have WAY more to go.”  And then he’d give me the exact percentage that I had left, which was usually depressing.  To which I usually replied, “Thanks a lot, I like my fuzzy math better so I’m going to console myself with only have three inches left of circumference to achieve.”  Actually, it was kind of fun to use geometry in sewing, which is what Nik teaches!

So here you have it, a “sphere” (not exactly) of approximately 12 inches in circumference, that will never be seen again, because it’s already covered in stockinette and soon will be covered with knit “skin” to make the head.

Doll-making is a whole new adventure for me!

P.S. If I ever am bored and I have nothing to do, I might be tempted (but probably not) to make another one of these balls just for Ellie to play with.  It had the nicest feel in my hand – a sort of warmth to it that made me just want to play with it.  I guess that’s what comes from using real materials in something, rather than plastic.

*I’m using the pattern for the Little Amigo doll from Growing Up Sew Liberated.