Hello all!

And thank you for all your nice comments on my latest posts! I appreciate them all as I know it takes time to pose and write!

I have done more felting this week, some of it custom order scarves and some cuffs. The whole idea about a cuff or a wide bracelet is rather new to me, in the past I neither wore nor made any, whether from fabrics or felt. But I appreciate how soft and warm they are and I can experiment with different textures and techniques on a small area – and yet make something wearable.

I often come home from a trip with a nice pebble/s, a sea glass, a shell, driftwood and I thought I could preserve some of the memmories I have from nice places we visit by felting around them. This time I made a wide bracelet from grey Shetland wool carded with madder dyed mohair, BFL and soya fibre. There are two pebbles from the Nairn beach  - to balance the bracelet so that whichever way it turns on a hand there is always one stone on the top.

Nairn, chunky felt bracelet/cuff

Shibori cuff

And – trying to see what’s possible – I attempted yesterday to make a ring. It is completely wetfelted, no cheeting with needles just a lot of fiddling with fingers. I used Falkland wool dyed with gorse. It is coarser then merino, I think around 24-25 micron so it took longer to felt but the finished ring is sturdier thanks to higher micron.

But, what have really kept me busy over the past weeks was this… more about it soon!

Do you remember when I made a long felt bead necklace? As it took several hours it made me think how to simplify the design and not to felt off my hands. Here it is, it is not that long and originally I planned to thread the “beads” lenghtwise, which I still might try later, but this time it felt better like this.

I had the “beads” ready since spring , but threaded them only over the autumn holidays, when there was not much time and space to work bigger. And lately, as I made more felt cords playing with them led me to bangles. Some I embellished with beads, some not, all rather chunky, yet so lightweight thanks to the material used – just extra fine merino wool, handformed with soap and water. The beads are securely attached on two or three sides of the bangles so that whichever way they turn on a hand they are always visible.

And a completely different style – cuffs with stones from around Scotland – preserving memories.

Some of the stones are from Loch Ness, some from a beautiful Isle of Iona on the west coast. We were there in the summer, just for a few hours and although the Isle is small, there was so much to see! Moreover, the weather was just beautiful, which was a special bonus since, as you rightly guess, it doesn’t happen often here in Scotland. The day after it was pouring rain and so foggy one wouldn’t see “the end of his nose”.

The Isle of Iona has a very interesting history too. “In 563 Saint Columba, also known as Colm Cille, was exiled from his native Ireland as a result of his involvement in the Battle of Cul Dreimhne,^[21] and founded a monastery on Iona with 12 companions. From there they set about the conversion of pagan Scotland and much of northern England to Christianity. Iona’s fame as a place of learning and Christian mission spread throughout Europe and it became a major site of pilgrimage. Iona became a holy island where several kings of Scotland, Ireland and Norway came to be buried.” (Wikipedia)

nunofelted scarf, probably the longest I have ever felted as it measures 280 cm or 112 inch

 merino felted in cotton cloth with a silver metallic thread

Last weekend I was at the workshop organized by our local feltmakers group. The tutor was Jenny Mackay and one of the technique she specializes is cobweb felt. We were going to make a cobweb jacket but as I have got a felt jacket already I thought I could try something different and opted for a tunic dress.

Again, it was very inspiring. The colours, fibres and the method which Jenny uses plus seeing other felters working. It was very exciting to see all kinds of various jackets popping up towards the end of the two days.

I have been knitting a little bit and enjoyed every minute of it (didn’t I wrote last year that I can’t imagine me+and knitting?) Nothing can beat the stretch of a knitted cloth! Another nice thing is that one cat put feet up while knitting…:)

I have also felted more soaps for the local shop Araveli.

And made felt necklaces

and how I  enjoyed this two! One of those moments when you all of the sudden know what to do with half finished pieces which have been laying around for, well since spring really. I just sat down one evening and designs started to flow. I have got few more but there was no chance to take more pictures as we were either out or it was too dark.

I have been following ecco *eco blog for a while and just finished reading the latest post. Among others there is a link to an article about violence and brutal treatment of woman and girls in Congo. What a sad life some (or so many?) people live and how blessed we are to live our days in peace and comfort! I am very thankful for that and wish I could help those poor woman.

I would like to show you today what I received from Marian aka Florcita last week. This lovely felted pendant with a glass! It is very well made and sits comfortably under the neck.

Marian is very skilled and talented, she has done a lot of crafts and is not afraid of trying new materials and techniqes. This I received from her back in the summer, after she posted on her blog about wooden buttons she made  and I expressed desire to have some.  I like them very much, also the clay ones!, whenever I look at them I feel like making felted bag, a nice sturdy one.

She also sells some of her felt, clay and paper work along with her hand dyed and handspun yarns in her Dawanda shop or can be contacted directly via her blog.

Thank you, Marian, for all this little treasures! I enjoy following your work and your comments are always encouragement to me!

sometimes my own need is an inspiration to me

I rarely go out of the house without a scarf, especially here in Scotland.  And the weather determines it’s size, thickness and materials. I thought I need something for rather warm days with changing temperatures so I made this scarf – in purple for me and these two for my shop - maybe someone else like wearing scarves just like me…

They are very long 286 cm or 113 inch and very skinny 8 cm or almost 3,5 inch. If it is warm I wear them long and like to watch how the wind plays with them, sometimes the ends are all around me, like if the scarf was going to hug me. If it gets cold I wrap them around the neck many times and have a proper scarf.

The scarves are made from merino wool nunofelted into silk ponge, I can’t have enough of this texture! Shiny on the silky side, mat on the woolly, great worn together too.

This is what kept me busy last week – felted jacket for our older daughter. As they stretch from year to year I always have a list of things I  need to make for them. In fact just making for them  and here and there for myself + making presents would keep me so busy there would be nothing to sell. So, as often, there has to be a compromise.

At first, I made the jacket in white. It was already well felted and still fitted me! I worried I would overfelt it and it would be too stiff if I felt it further to shrink to my daughter’s size. To avoid this + the fact it fitted me so well I was tempted to keep it for myself. BUT she really needs something warm and I already have a jacket… so I decided to take a risk and kept felting until I reached her size.

When it was finished we discussed colours, she wanted bluish – and I dyed it teal. Not that I didn’t like blue, I just didn’t mix the right dye proportions, but she forgave me . At first she complained that “the sleeves are stiff and it is sooo annoying!”, but then she has been wearing it since I finished it, even inside – so I think it is still a big success!

The jacket is  made of merino wool 21 micron. A disadvantage of dyeing after felting is that I didn’t achieve even colours, instead a marbled effect. It is nice and interesting, showing that the item is handmade, but there are one or two spots where the differences in the hue are greater  than I would like. The buttons are provisional, the brooch is made by one lovely friend from our local sewing group.

…I would felt with two hands, knit with other two, cook with one, crochet with another two … and spin… But I am not so I do one thing at a time.

If I don’ t felt I knit these days. It became cold all of the sudden and there are few things we need. My older daughter “needs something warm on the top”, so I have started knitting cardigan for her. I made quite a progress over the weekend. Since the wool is very chunky I decided to knitt front and back together to avoid bulky seams at least at the sides.

Sirdar Bigga Chunky 50% wool 50% acrylic yarn, 15 mm needles

no seams at the sides, still tob back missing

 Another thing I am making for her is felted jacket, almost finished, still need to dye it tomorrow, together with other scarves, so there is going to be a lot of dyeing soon.

And I need socks. Oh, I have done a lot of thinking on this topic! At times I am so indecisive – I think I am getting old . Should I knit in white and then dye – ’cause what if I dye and then never finish? But if I first dye I can get nicer colour variation. But it will take time (to make a hank from a ball and then ball from a dyed hank) and I want to knit, I need to get to the heel part before the Thursday when I meet with a knitting experts at our local sewing group. OK, so maybe I could buy yarn in some awasome colours like this or this … but I already have yarn and am able to dye it myself ( and save money says the thrifty me).

I want to knit now and I want to be warm now, so I finally decided to knit in white and bought this socks. 

maybe I will finishe this pair before the next winter comes (if I don't become an octopus)

Next to dyeing, carding and felting I have been enjoying crochet, started knitted cardigan – the chunkiest ever – for my older daughter and you see the white yarn and those 4 needles there? I am learning how to knit socks! That’s my latest obsession. I bought a book and borrowed ‘a set of 2 double pointed needles’ (doesn’t this already  sound complicated enough? ), went to our local sewing group, had explained how to start, tried not to poke myself, succeeded, borrowed another book, thought if it wouldn’t be better to first buy handmade socks and at-the-same-time knitt my own pair – my feet are fit for some warmth already, thought, maybe,  I should first learn spinning – wouldn’ t that be cool to have socks which I knitted from the yarn I first spun and then hand dyed? Well, it did cross my mind that it would be even cooler to have a fleece from my own sheep…. I must be crazy…

Instead, I attended to my Friday houshold chores… and finished off another batch of felted soaps.