Needle felting is sculpting with wool, and I think of it as almost working with clay because you can fix things, change things along the way. I got into needle felting through a friendship with a Moab woman who raises endangered sheep.

I went to a sheep shearing and started learning about wool and all the different kinds of wool. I love it all and the history of felting in general. Wool has tiny barbs on each fiber that when you push it in other fibers it locks together.

Some of the wool on my animals came from Castle Valley and here in Moab…Other wools have come from all over the U.S. I took to the comfort that wool makes me feel…It’s a natural fiber and feels comforting to me. The first sheep I made I called “comfort sheep” and I gave away quite a few of them this past year. Now I am making “pocket bunnies” for comfort as they will fit in a pocket nicely.

- Rita