What Katie Did

40th anniversary of the moon landings this week

I watched it all every inch of the way. I was 13 and it made a huge impression on me.
so much in fact that I named my two homing pigeons after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. I think it is cool to have a pigeon called Buzz, but Neil?
This is felt made using ... can you guess?
no cheese involved at any stage.

Signs of life and some more felting

Short days, wet and cold, not much incentive to go out. But just occasionally there is a sparkly day and Poppy and I head off to the woods. This would be fun to make as felt!

But I have been making felt - some new scarves and some smaller flat pieces to make into book covers
Here they are

lots of lovely colour, some silk scraps, a bit of Wensleydale for some curly and mulberry silk for shine

The scarves are nuno felted for a light touch and extra soft drape

I'll show some more when they are finished.
Now I'm getting ready to have a birthday - very old indeed! But I think I have a treat or two in store.... more later!!

Long Range Felting Forecast

You can expect there to be increased activity on the felting front round here. There have been positive sightings of an unprecedented amount of FIBRE in these parts

a great deal of unusual activity has been reported

and an improvement in the condition known as 'Prinkly Finger' is not expected any time soon

Before the arrival of this substantial warm front, only small projects have been able to be completed


But now that the bulk of the warm weather fibre has arrived, please call back here from time to time as I attempt to felt the whole of Hexham ..... nay Northumberland .... or maybe even The World!!
I have plans .... big plans!!

More and more felt...

This must be Felt Week! I can't stop! here is today's experimenting - prefelts...

I made several of these

using all sorts of colours from my scrap box

you get the idea. Then I cut them into random shapes and laid them out onto a green base

and felted them - and going well beyond Prinkly Fingers in the process
 

then I did it all over again with pink

What to do with them now?

Can't stop now!

Yesterday's efforts photographed this morning in the lovely autumn light.

John helped me make this one - he selected the colours and the layout and helped with the rubbing and rolling - I must say it was more fun with help!

bit more of that vintage lace - don't you just love how that word transforms some tatty old bit of lace into a desirable bit of thing?

here is a peek at the scarf I made after this one - inspired by the Lizzie Houghton book

yes, dear reader, there are lumps in this one - they are marbles! All will be revealed a bit later. (as in later in the week - I am soooo busy!)
Now then, I have been invited to be a member of this group and I have been toying with the idea of joining these guys too - both have the advantage of being UK based and therefore listed in £££ which I understand better than Etsy and the dollars - can anyone give me any opinions about either of them? I would be very grateful.
just now I am getting ready to pack up and head north to the Loch Arthur Community for their craft fair on Saturday. I am really looking forward to it! cancelled - bad weather - what a shame!
John took the camera for a walk last night.

Are my pictures too big?

How I make those felted scarves

Ethel and Edna left a comment wanting to know about the felted scarves hoping to make one during half term - am I in time?
I made this one yesterday as the sun shone through the windows. I like to work in good light - I don't think I would bother to make felt if it was a grey day!
Felt can sometimes be a bit hard and unyielding. The scarves I am experimenting with are lightweight because they are felted onto chiffon and use much less fibre. The end result is still strong and durable, but has a lovely flowing drape to it, making it nicer to wear.

I was given a bag full of these scarves - the colour won't show through at the end, but I usually use something that goes. The felting process causes the fibres to shrink by up to 30% sometimes a bit more, so chiffon is ideal - it just shrivels up and forms a strong base for the finished thing.

I have a range of lovely fibre and some really interesting bits of silk and lace for embellishing.

 

lovely bits of dyed Wensleydale fleece - I got all these things from Woolfest

 

silk scraps

 

some lovely old lace - this is when it pays to be a hoarder!

 

mulberry silk fibre - so soft and delicious - it shines when felted into merino

 

so - here we are - having fun laying out the wool! I like the scarves I make to have two definite edge colours and related, yet different sides (if that makes any sense) then you get a combination of effects when you fold it longways to wear it. I know what I mean

bit of net curtain to keep everything in one place and my new felting water thingy  to deliver the hot water to the dry fibre. You can use a plastic bottle with holes in the top, but I treated myself to two of these for future workshops. (having two meant that John and I were able to have a squirty water battle which left both of us soaked and mildly hysterical - did i mention John was home - no - I didn't - well he is - and it is very nice)
The soap I use is good old Ecover Washing Up Liquid - I'm sure the Felt Police will be after me now that I have confessed to this - but it works for me - I use soap flakes too when I have them - but I don't get too precious about it.
Next - wet, hot, soap, friction here we go - take the net curtain off after everything is nice and wet
there are a few strands of silky scrap in there and at one end a bit of old lace

rubbing and more rubbing
John took this wonky one - keep rubbing
then after about ten minutes of this when all the fibres are nicely firmed up, you can start the rolling - so far - this is pre-felt and we want to continue the process now to get the shrinking and felting bit done. A roller blind from Ikea here with the fixings removed - look after it by washing the soap off after use and drying it well and it will last and last.
Hot water is good here too - so if its cooled down a bit you might want to sprinkle more hot - having lots of old towels is important.

roll and roll away for - oooh - quite a while! Keep unrolling and looking to see how it is doing - it will be shrinking - any silk fibres or bits of fabric will be puckering up in a delightful way. Turn it 45' and give it a bit more of a roll, you can't do much wrong here - be firm! Pull edges into the shape you want - not necessarily straight - I like funky edges!
When you think it is felted as much as its likely to, you can give it a rinse to get out the soap. It takes a while to dry.
This morning, I noticed that some of the Wensleydale bits were not as stuck in as I wanted so i have just needle felted them in
this is a dry process using a (very sharp) barbed felting needle - tiny tufts of fibre are evident on the other side - I shaved them off - or you could cut them carefully - or leave them if they enhance the other side of the felt.
Now this one needs a name!

I sold 'Heaven and Hell' and 'Cry Me A River' at the weekend to a lovely visitor! This one will be going to the Loch Arthur craft Fair on Saturday.
But not without a name! I am liking the strange names you come up with! And would love to see any felt you make if you feel inspired to do so after reading this - Please contact me for clarification if I have confused anyone!

edit - see - I did confuse someone - yes - turn the whole thing over once you have laid out and wetted the first side and rubbed it for a bit - for a long thing like a scarf if is infinately easier to have a helper - good old John - then lay our the second side in the same way - the rubbing and felting then follows. Sorry Sheila - anyone else stuck?

and Lucille left a comment with the name for this one - it is now called 'the Sun Never Sets On The British Empire' or just ... the sun never sets..... love it

Felted Apples and a good night out

A couple of weeks ago I made felted apples at Wark Apple Day. I was too busy making to be taking any pictures. A visitor to the event asked me to run the same workshop for her Parents Group in a village nearby. This was my treat of an evening last night.
Fibre, soap, hot water and elbow grease is all that is needed to make great felt. I never cease to be amazed by this! I had made apple shaped bases out of strips of old blanket onto which the apple coloured fibres were felted. Everyone seemed to be having a good time.
and they made some very realistic looking fruit!
complete with stalks and leaves







and in a bowl please

(lots of time for pictures this time!)
Didn't they do well!! Everyone had Prinkly Fingers!
And to continuing the felt theme, I have this fabulous new book to inspire me even more! Loving this!
The light is OK again today - how much that affects my mood!! I will try and get some decent photos of the three scarves I made the other day - I like the names people are suggesting for them. It is important to name things well, so hoping to post later and have an official naming ceremony!
Take care today - whatever you are doing.

And now for something completely different...

You would be forgiven for thinking that I have stopped making things altogether judging by the content here but nothing could be further from the truth. I have craft fairs coming up here and here and have been making all sorts of things for them. Also I have some courses to teach before Christmas and have been planning them! Today is the perfect day for FELTING! It is bright and sunny but cold out so great light but no desire to go for a long walk.
Here we go
FIBRE!

lots of lovely fibre. So some new scarves are in order. I was given some chiffon scarves a while ago and used these as the base for three new scarves today.

this one is called 'volcano' for obvious reasons and I have 'cry me a river' in progress as I write this (my hands need a rest from rolling!) The 'nameless one' is drying - I'll have another look and find it a name - or maybe you can think of one - this is the fibre - what do those colours say to you?

I am having such fun!

oh yes!
if the light stays for a little while longer - I'll nip back and post the end results. Good to be back!

Later

 

here are two of them hanging in the greenhouse - I need to add some silky embellishments I think - but this is the next stage

Now suffering from that strange condition - 'Felters Fingers'

Felt magic

Many months ago, my dear friend Holly asked me if I would teach a felt making workshop in November. This was about August and it seemed like a million years in the future so I agreed without thinking too much. And now it is in the past, and I can't work out where the intervening time went?
Yesterday was a wet murky day, just right for spending among like minded people in a lovely place with COLOUR!

Everyone got the hang of the magical process of turning that wonderful soft stuff into a variety of felted item. We were making necklaces and other nice things to wear so there was lots of rolling going on.

 

When you give people the same materials and instructions, I love watching what they do. Combinations of colour that I would never think of, but that work so well.

The bottom left is the row of felted soaps drying

Mind your fingers! Sally gets down to some needle felting here. Matt made his without realising it matched his clothes!

Here is Lara, Lisa and Holly's lunch
and here is mine

and here are a load of happy people wearing damp necklaces and bracelets!

How about some felt making?

I think felt making is a sunny day activity. It must be to do with all that water. And its a sociable one too. Some things are naturally solitary activities, but knitting and felting seem to me to be much more fun in a group. This weekend is turning out to be glorious and Martha the perfect companion. She has been experimenting with making finger puppets - more of that later - I have wanted to make some more 'beads' for a while now and here is the photo journey from fibre to felt.
I made felt balls last year, these beads are made like this.....

First, get yourself set up with a nice big flat surface, a few old towels, a kettle full of boiling water, some nice soap - I use 'wool soap', a bowl with cold water and some wool fibres. I use 'merino tops' from Wingham Wools - over there on my 'supplies' list.

As you know, wool will felt when it is hot, wet, agitated and soapy, so that's what were going to do. It also needs structure, so laying the fibres at an angle to each other works.

Lay more colour in the opposite direction and keep stacking up them up like this until you have a soft pillow of fibres, about five or six layers deep.

A bit of net curtain comes in handy now. Lay it over the top, sprinkle very hot water over and rub with the soap until you can feel that the fibres are all wet and soapy

take the curtain off and roll up the stack like a swiss roll

then roll and roll and roll back and forth - use more hot water and a bit more soap to keep it hot and soapy and feel it start to get firmer

When it is all holding together really well, put it into cold water for a while. This firms it up even more. Then, stick it in the washing machine on a hot wash with some towels - the ones you were using! I made another with more layers - when they come out of the machine they are fantastically firm. Cut them into slices of varying thickness - this can be tricky - you need your biggest, sharpest scissors

When they look like this you put them into a net bag and wash them in the machine again. This must be why you need good weather - to dry all that washing!

then they look like this - very soft and blurry.

That's that - I'll show you what I do with them when I've done it! But maybe you have plenty of ideas of your own?

The fund raising evening was a triumph on many levels. Everyone had a great time, I realised what a fantastic team us knitters have become and we made some money for our target!  To paraphrase Annie 'What's not to like?' 

Enjoy your felting! Here is a glimpse of Martha's work..... more later!