KNITTING AND FELTING

'Bandeau'  pleated cloche ~ hand knit & felted

Although knitting and felting have been around for a very long time they are fairly new to me. It was by chance that I discovered wool as a medium for expression in textile art and design when a friend and knitter extrodinaire, Erika Mohssen-Beyk (Reachview Organic Farm) taught me to knit.

This was in 2008 after moving to Prince Edward County. One day, while in town, something beckoned me into Rose Haven Farm Store, the local yarn and fibre arts shop on Main Street in Picton. I could not resist the beautifully rich colours and warm textures of the myriad yarns ready and waiting to be shaped by my hands into something! But how? Erika who works at the shop was happy to show me.

We started with socks and I loved the process but It didn't take long to realise that making a second item exactly the same as the first wasn't where my skill level and my creative ambition wanted to take me. Somehow no two socks were ever alike so I decided to make a simple hat and then another and another...each becoming the inspiration for the next.

Recently, and many knitted hats later, another friend, Carol King (C.K. Woolies, Cherry Valley), taught me to hand craft felted hats by using a fulling technique which shrinks and thickens a large knitted piece with an initial structure into a beautifully sculpted hat. Each time the results are different and each hat is unique.



'Clocheness' pleated cloche ~ hand knit & felted

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The more I knit and felt the more I have become comfortable with the joy of experimentation. I simply love working with wool fibres and when I discovered wool felting it became the perfect medium for me.




'Over the Rainbow' flowerpot beret ~ hand knit & felted

'Cottage Rose' mad hatter ~ hand knit & felted





'March Hare' fringed beret ~ hand knit & felted

'March Hare' top view

'Cherry Flower' cloche ~ hand knit & felted

'Jamberet' flower pot beret ~ hand knit & felted

'Fringepot' flower pot beret ~ hand knit & felted

'Blaze' mad hatter ~ hand knit & felted
(Leaf motif and design inspired by Cathy Carron)

'Tuxedo' mad hatter ~ hand knit & felted



'Flapper' cloche ~ hand knit & felted

'Flapper' cloche ~ top

'Turkey Tracks' cloche ~ hand knit & felted

'Turkey Tracks' ~ top