speaking of wool-I wonder if it would be good to buy old wool jackets and such at goodwill and then cut them up into narrow strips and stuff with that...
I have a pattern for a pincushion that has an attached trash can. I had the idea to put a small amount of fishtank gravel in the bottom of it, then some thick cardboard to keep pins from going into the gravel part, and then fiberfill for the top.