WINTER FELT

'Pink Peacock' ~ merino wool and Silk

We seem to be in a winter deep freeze this month which has prevented me from wanting to rush outside!  I have spent some of that time felting up a new batch of hats and flowers.  I also looked at a few of my past hats with new eyes and did a couple of re-makes.  This involved the simple addition of a new embellishment (usually a felted flower) but in a few cases I decided to completely re-style by immersing the hat in warm water and re-shaping it.  That almost felt as good as making a new hat!  I will start with the new hats and flowers...

Free Form Flower

'Blaqua' ~ merino wool and silk

'Blaqua' ~ side view

'Blaqua' ~ inside

'Cardinal' ~ merino and silk

'Cardinal' ~ brim

'Cardinal' ~ inside

'Cardinal' ~ side view

Flower pin / clip

And here are a couple of re-makes.  The worst thing about this freezing, gray weather is not being able to take photos outside in the beautiful light and natural surroundings.  My fingers end up numb and the camera refuses to cooperate!  In door lighting seems to elude me and no matter how I rig things up there are always shadows lurking in the background and the colours are never spot on.


 

Bag re-make with rose and new fastener

 

Bag re-make flip side

'Airee Fairee' ~ with a new shape!

'Airee Fairee' ~ re-designed side view

FINALLY BACK TO FELTING!

Flower felted from merino wool with tussah silk fibres

Well, I am finally getting back to my felting after a long six month hiatus.  During that time we lost three family members and my ninety year old Mum fell and broke her shoulder.  So ... needless to say ... I have been otherwise pre-occupied.  It helped that I had planned to teach a flower making workshop on January 24th which forced me to get busy again!  Now I'm back to thinking about felting every day and convinced that wool has therapeutic properties! 

I'm happy to say that I will also be teaching a hat felting workshop on Saturday February 21st, 2015.  Details are available at Rosehaven Yarn Shop . Two spots are still available.  To register contact Lesley by email at knit@rosehavenyarn.com . 

 Here's what little I have been up to... in photos.

These are the ingredients I use to make the flowers as shown above...

Pure olive oil soap in warm water

Lots of lovely little bits of left over wool and silk fibre

A small amount of petal colour with green and silk accents

Bubble wrap and polystyrene resist pattern to make two sides

Wool laid out in two or three thin layers

Floral decoration

After felting and cutting petals

From the top!

When I'm not felting I am usually knitting since it keeps my hands busy and I find it relaxing.  Sort of like meditating except you end up with a hat or fingerless gloves or wrist cuffs at the end which seems like a bit of a bonus to me!  Before Christmas I spent a lovely, sunny (but cold) day knitting at Three Dog Winery (here in Prince Edward County) with Mags Kandis and Cheryl Toy. These beautiful, wine tasting, music loving, crazy friends of mine also happen to be two of the best knitters I know.  They keep me challenged, informed and laughing!   

Cheryl and Mags with Skeeter

Here is what I've managed to knit along with about five hats and two scarves which I gave away for Christmas without taking pictures!

Wrist cuffs

Noro Silk Garden fingerless gloves