Happy Dooda Day!

That is to say, "Happy Mothers Day!" In my case, Dooda is a synonym for mother, because I call my mom Dooda (which means worm). So, imagine my delight when, three weeks before Mother's Day, I came across a sewing pattern for a small stuffed worm! Of course, I had to make and send her one. But then Brian came up with the brilliant idea of holding the worm hostage, so that Mom would have to come visit us in order to claim her worm. Torn between wanting to send her a worm, and wanting to have a hostage worm, I decided to make two. So Dooda, you must read to the end of this post to understand the package you received.
The pattern called for wool felt, and I didn't have any on hand. I had plenty of other fabrics, but there's something about a woolly worm that just feels right, so I made my wool fabric myself. I took some yarn from my stash, and knit it into a swatch:

Then I tossed it into a stockpot of boiling water:

I let it boil for over an hour as the smell permeated the apartment. Yummmmm....wet dog. Now, this technique for felting failed miserably. There wasn't the slightest indication of any felting at all in trying this method. Instead, I had to use the washing machine strategy. I soaped up the swatch, and tossed it into a pile of laundry that was destined for a hot and violent cycle. This was a far more successful enterprise:

 Next, I cut my pattern pieces:

And there were enough scraps to serve as worm guts! (By worm guts, I mean filling.)
Here's how they turned out:

Our male specimen was dispatched last week, and arrived at Dooda's residence Wednesday afternoon with instructions that the package in which he was contained was NOT to be opened until today. However, we have retained the female. She now spends most of her days gazing out of the window forlornly, longing for the day when she will reunite with her counterpart.

So for the sake of everyone involved, Dooda, please come and get your other worm.