Wet Felting

Why do I continue to be frustrated in my efforts to wet felt? This is so annoying. I found this book at the library which seemed to carefully explain things step by step. Except her photos result in a lovely pair of boots, while mine ended up a sodden mass of half felted fiber that separated into thin sheets. I did successfully make two squares of felt, but the boots continue to elude me. And I am not sure what I am doing wrong, I felt I was following the directions. I hate wasting the fiber as well, but I supposed I can make it into something else, it still will needle felt. But man, I feel as though I keep trying and trying and I just can't get it.

I'm feeling a bit like I did when I was 10 years old and my mother tried to teach me to knit. I ended up with a huge lump of yarn on one needle, insisting I had done what she showed me to do and bursting into tears at her insistence that of course I hadn't. There probably is something I am not doing the right way and eventually I will figure it down but for right now I am going to take a break and maybe make some of these lovely boots that Molly Chicken was kind enough to share.