A while ago a customer wrote looking for a felt "Jughead" or "Goober" hat. In 2000 the Show Me Doll Club took a workshop from Mary Jo Harbour (Dolls & Wearable Art, Manhattan KS) in which she taught us, among other things, how to make felt to fit the shape of the top of a dolls head. Mary Jo kindly is reprinting the instructions for us here. Mary Jo said: "I need to give credit to Elise Peeples, who taught the class I took to learn this technique. Elise is a wonderful teacher and if anyone ever has a chance to take one of her classes, they should do so-- they'll learn so much" If you would like to contact Mary Jo about her workshops, write her at mjharb@kansas.net Select a hard ball just a bit larger than the head you want a hat for. (Have hair on the head already as it will affect hat size!) A fairly small hat, maybe 2 inches across the opening is a good size to practice with. Don't use tennis ball (the rough texture is hard to take the felt off of) but a golf ball or hard rubber ball works well. Ball should not be the hollow plastic as it may not be heavy enough to bounce well. Since large balls may be difficult to find, you may have to experiment when making hats for larger doll heads. **The natural mohair we sell works well for felting. You'll need to dye it to the color you want. Using wool roving**, pull off pieces about 5 inches long (or just long enough to cover the ball with a bit open on one side... be sure to keep an opening!) and as wide as the roving and layer them onto the ball, alternating the direction of the fibers with each layer. When you have at least 1 inch of fibers (and probably more, depending on hat size), wet it down with a very hot spray of water.   Dribble some hand soap onto the wool and rub it in...   wet down again. Slip the toe of a nylon stocking over the ball/wool and fasten tightly. This is to hold the wool in place. Put covered ball into a margarine container, or other plastic container that has a tight lid, that is large enough for the ball to bounce around inside.... and shake it, baby, shake it! Shake until you think your arms will fall off. You really want to agitate this puppy. Open the lid and check on the progress of the felt. You may need to add more water, more soap, more bouncing, but eventually the wool will start to felt together. Once it is felting well, you can remove the wool from the ball and the stocking and start massaging it with your fingers to finish the felting. When the felt has started to form well, start shaping the wet felt to the ball, making a "hat" shape. A "Goober"-type of beanie hat doesn't have any 'flare' to the bottom rim. But other hats will have a rim - and start forming this now, using your fingers. You may need to keep adding soap and very hot water, as needed to shape When satisfied, trim bottom and then put down on table and use fingertips and a bit of soap/water to "heal" the cut edges so they stay together-- just rub finger around and around in one spot until closed, then move on. Use a scrap of the trimmings to make the folded loop at the top of the beanie.