Knitting a Felted Bird Shelter

Knitting a Felted Bird Shelter
Published: Sep 28, 2011
Updated: Feb 23, 2021
2 minute read

When you have a lot of birds in your yard, you may want to hang up a birdhouse so that the birds can have a safe shelter to build a nest in. Although you can hang a wooden bird house onto a tree, wooden bird houses are not suited for certain small songbirds, including swallows. One solution is to hang a nesting pocket birdhouse, which is softer and round in shape. You can knit your own nesting pocket birdhouse using basic craft supplies.

Things You'll Need:

Things You Will Need

  • Scissors
  • Clothes Washer
  • Sewing Needle
  • Cotton Thread
  • Worsted Weight Wool Yarn, 1 Skein
  • Yarn Needle
  • Size 8 Circular Knitting Needles
  • Clothes Dryer
  • Cast 30 stitches of worsted weight wool yarn onto size 8 circular knitting needles. Select any color of wool yarn that you prefer.

    Knit around the circular needles until you have knitted a tube that measures 12 inches long.

    Cast off all but 10 of the stitches, then cut off the yarn from the knitting needles leaving a yarn tail that is 6 inches long.

    Thread the yarn tail onto a yarn needle, then insert the needle through the remaining stitches. Remove the stitches from the knitting needles.

    Cinch the stitches together, leaving a hole that is 3 inches wide. Knot the yarn onto a neighboring stitch, then cut off the excess yarn using scissors.

    Place the opening of the knitted tube flat, and sew the doubled edge together using a needle and cotton thread. Cut off the excess thread using scissors.

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    Wash the knitted bird shelter in a clothes washer using hot water, then dry the shelter in a clothes dryer in high heat. This will felt the wool yarn together to create a firm, structured bird shelter.

    Warnings:

    • Keep sharp scissors away from children.
    Kelly Sundstrom

    An award-winning journalist and national special needs spokesperson, Kelly Sundstrom has written for dozens of major brands, magazines and newspapers. With more than 20 years of experience as a professional artist and crafter, Sundstrom…

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