Wool Felt: is a type of fabric that is made by bonding fibers together. It is not a woven fabric. Because it is a blend of wool and rayon, when soaked in hot water, then tossed in the dryer, the fibers will shrink up and cause the fabric to be bubbly and soft. You can expect shrinkage of 3”-5” in length and 2” – 4” in width per yard. Think of wool felt as more similar to a craft type felt, but with a much nicer feel, flexibility, and variety of colors. Wool Felt will NOT pill, shed, or stretch out of shape like acrylic or polyester craft felts tend to do.
Felted Wool: refers to a woven fabric that has been soaked in hot water, agitated, then exposed to heat for drying. This process compacts the weave of the fabric and creates a very dense product. Think of felted wool as being similar to a wool hat or heavy wool coat.
Rebecca, I'm thinking of buying wool yarn and knit simple swatch sizes and then felt it myself. I can find 100% wool yarn much cheaper then wool yardage. And the wool yarn has great color selection.
Thrift stores here don't have 100% wool anything. It's always a wool blend.