A very nice result and effect can be had in producing felted ‘ropes’ by starting with wool, twisting it, letting it double back on itself, and felting the resultant strand. You can mix colours with amazing outcome. The wool used has to be shrinkable, of course – a hand-washing symbol on the label usually assures this. Rub the strand back and forth on palms of hand to set it, then wet your hands and keep on rubbing. I add a bit of soap and if I remember where I stored it I get out a ridged clay slab (I have no idea what it is for – got it at a garage sale because it looked like a washing board and felting came to mind; I think it is meant to be used in cooking) and rub the strand back and forth against this. Once the entire strand is felted to the desired degree rinse it out well and hang to dry. I have yet to try using many strands of wool and cutting the thick rope into beads or buttons. Have read that adding glue to the felting rope will give a particularly hard product.