FELTED CLOCHE

'Caroline Reboux' ~ wet felted cloche using merino and silk

Back in May I was inspired by the gorgeous lilacs that cover Prince Edward County for three weeks each spring to make a purple hat.  It's only taken me two months to get it done.  My camera cooperated for these photos and the colour purple is actually purple and not blue as it sometimes falsely appears depending on the light.  The inside of the cloche is a pale lavender colour (since the lavender is so pretty in the garden right now).  Here is a picture of my lovely Mum Norah with the lilacs we picked on our annual spring lilac tour.

My Mum Norah with lilacs (pure purple inspiration!)

My lovely friend Debbie felting her first hat

Yesterday my friend Debbie and I spent the day together felting hats.  Deb is a fibre artist in her own right and spins the most beautiful yarns and knits wonderful woolly things.  She also sews beautifully.  She has a little felting experience but this was her first hat.  I think she is a natural!  After selecting hat colours we decided a treat of the delicious rainier cherries Deb had packed earlier that morning was in order.  When we saw the cherries beside the merino fibres she had  already picked out we thought it was amazing that their stunning colours had subliminally influenced her colour choices for the hat!  What power nature has over us!  

Just look at those gorgeous colours!

My lovely co worker Cheryl

This is Cheryl at Rosehaven Yarn Shop.  She is not a felter but an admirer of felting and you can see how impressed she is with Debbie's layout so far.  I call Cheryl the resident knitting machine and if you want to learn knitting or improve and perfect your skills she is the one you want to connect with.  Mistakes to fix?...no problem.  Cheryl teaches all our knitting classes at the shop.  She has the most marvelous blog called Pearl's Handmade which you really should check out...but only if you LOVE beautiful things!!!  www.pearls-toronto.com 

This August Cheryl is having a sock camp at Rosehaven in Picton.  Knitting two socks at once no less.  To find out more see Rosehaven's workshop calendar.

Here is the one shot I finally took of Debbie using the finishing and shaping technique I like when making a hat.  It works really well to nip in the brim and snug the hat into the right size.  After stretching the hat over the wooden block I use my favorite plastic juice container lid to smooth the seams and and tame the dimples (unless of course you like dimples in felt...which a lot of people do).  Some people also like to trim the edges evenly or into an interesting style line and others prefer to leave then just the way they decide to be on their own.  It's a very personal thing.  That's what makes felted hats unique, one of a kind and it's also why felting makes people smile. 

Shaping and refining the seams with the 'wonder tool' juice container lid

 

Brim folded and left au naturel finished off the shaping process

Debbie after a long day's work with her fantastic hat!