I’ve Been Felted!…….Oct. 30, 2005

One of the things that I have really wanted to focus on this winter is learning and hopefully mastering a few new methods of felting. 

This weekend, I was called upon as a spinning demonstrator at a small wool day program in Moultonboro, NH.  The program was geared more towards introducing people to rug hooking, but a few of us who utilize wool in other methods were asked to attend as well.    I can’t tell you how much I really didn’t want to go.  I don’t know why……….I just wasn’t feeling very well, and really had to push myself out the door.  I have to admit, that I am very glad that I did, as I learned some new things as well.

One of the ladies demonstrating, specializes in needle felting.  I have dabbled a little bit here and there with needle felting, but not very much……so I sat down to a little private pumpkin session and look what I came up with!  I have a few folk art ideas for the house floating around in my mind…..

Another thing I have dabbled a bit with is Nuno felting.  A very good friend of mine, Sue Hoople, was demonstrating nuno felting this weekend.  Sue is an incredibly talented and whimsical fiber artist. 

As the afternoon quieted down a bit, I sat down for a session of nuno felting.  Sue uses silk hankies which felts up very quickly.  Sandwiched in between the silk is my favorite fiber……..angora blended with merino.

In addition to the above scarf that I felted, Sue sent me home with this book on felting.  What an incredible book!  It discusses the historical uses of felted wool in various European countries and follows that up with detailed instructions on different types of felting, covering things such as clothing, shoes, quilts, hats,  mittens and rugs. This is one of those books that I know I will read from cover to cover!

Sue also sent me home with a bunch of fiber to play with.  So today, I set about to do just that…..play.

I used the madder and indigo dyed silk and wool to start with.  Let me tell you, if you have rough hands……..these silk hankies can be a challenge.  Because I have been doing some custom dyeing and cleaning out garden beds, my hands were in rough shape.  Thank goodness I had some of my spinner’s cream (blatant plug) kicking about !

As I laid the fiber out, I was concerned that there was not enough wool to go along with the silk, but being the impatient person that I can be, I just plugged along anyways to see what I would get……after all, I WAS playing and one can’t be striving for perfection when they are playing, right? (Sounds good to me)

These pictures were taken while the scarf was still wet.  There are things that I like about it and other things that I know I need to improve on.

I like the light weightiness of the scarf, but unfortunately, I was right to be worried about the lack of wool to be sandwiched in the silk layers.  As you can see there are some holes.  I will take a picture of it tomorrow when it has dried.  I can tell people when I am wearing it, that it is art……….hehe~

Sue being the generous soul that she is…….and truly she is one of the most generous fiber people that I know, sent me home with enough hankies, both dyed and undyed for me to play with.  I can’t wait to dye up some wool and mohair locks to play with these beauties.  Margene……there is that blue that I was challenged to use….let’s see what I can come up with 😉

So…..my day that I dreaded, turned out to be such an inspiring one!

BTW……….that lovely little puppy was bred by a friend of mine and she most likely will be coming to live with us in a few weeks.  She is nameless to me yet, as.I like to study their little personalities a bit and see what name suits them.  Isn’t she a cutie?  I soooo love puppies and she really is a cute one!