Hats for Christmas - Needle Felting

Have you tried needle felting?  It's addictive.  At a recent craft show I was participating in I received an order to make a special color (turquoise) needle felted hat.  Once I completed the hat I delivered it to a co-worker who had ordered it.  That turned into an order for five more hats.  Black hats.  I found out that black wool is not cheap!  The dyes are expensive making the black colored wool expensive.  So, I emailed Ms. Luna and she was able to send me four gorgeous batts of naturally black wool from her Shetland sheep.  The wool needle felted very well.  Once the hats were completed I again took to work to my co-workers who ordered them.  Doing business with friends and family is sometimes a delicate situation.  A comment was made that the "black" was too "brown."  A defensive emotion came to me but I had to be calm.  I explained that the Shetland black wool was natural from the actual sheep and the color was not going to be a flat commercially dyed black and that the dimension in the wool was a gift.  I sold 4 out of the 5 hats specially ordered!  One co-worker just couldn't accept the brown in the black.  I was disappointed but also took a deep breath and got over it.  The pics below are of the needle felting process and some finished hats!  Enjoy!