Felted!

Manipulating the vessel

I am trying something new - to me - wet-felting using a resist. I started with slippers, which were a complete failure, mainly because I didn't have the right sort of resist - sheet plastic *doesn't* work. I think the fleece was also too wet and not soapy enough. I tried again yesterday, after cutting my losses with the slippers (and a lot of roving down the drain, so to speak).

Unsuccessful slipper

It *looked* all right, but it just wasn't sticking together properly, and it was really wet, even when I left it overnight. It was soggy and falling to bits when I unwrapped it the next morning.

However, I did learn a lot; and when I checked the internet again I found a couple of great tutorials and followed one to make a 'vessel' using a resist. Now, a felt pot isn't a terribly useful thing (though I suppose I could make some felt flowers to put in it!) but it was at least a success. I need a lot of things to make the next one better (including a baby rattle if I can find one of the right shape). And then I may be ready to try slippers again.

Roving, dyed by me!

Making the pot used a surprising amount of roving, so I am going to look for some big turkey-cooking size pans, and see if I can't make more of each colour than I have been. And then I suppose it's back to the Mill to get some more fleece! This is the left-over roving in the colours I used for the pot. I have quite a lot of greens, so I suppose the next pot, or the slippers, will be greens. I think I need to add some more blues to my palette. And have a whole lot more fun.

Next up: Nuno felting. Now *that* looks like a lot of fun.

Success!

Snow Day!

     See. I said the winter wasn't over yet. We had a snow day - the kind the teachers & kids have been praying for all winter.

   I actually took a snow day - didn't go in and tutor, even though  today is my usual day. I was waiting for Rush Transfer to deliver the washer and dryer, so the weather wasn't too bad for them to be out, even though the schools were closed. In fact, just before noon our snowplow guy came in and did the usual job on the "lane" - actually this year he has been plowing the whole *yard*.

       Worked out well, as the delivery truck arrived shortly after and they were very pleased to have all the room. They tried to back up to the door and got stuck! I so should have taken a picture. The machines are HUGE and gorgeous, not hooked up yet of course, so just for looking at so far.

Pale "Moon Blue"

     I spent some of the day dyeing roving - I tidied up the craft area downstairs, looking for the Jacquard acid dyes I'd bought from Knit Picks some time ago - and didn't find them immediately, but found some ancient boxes of Rit, and instructions online on how to do oven-dyeing. The suggestion was to use aluminum roaster pans but I just got out the Pyrex. You soak the wool, pour on the dye and cover with foil, then put it in the oven at 150 degrees C. for an hour. I did a dark green and a "moon blue". The blue was a cold water dye and is the palest for sure.

      You check for clear water, which is a sign that the dye is exhausted, but I think I had too much dye for the amount of roving each time. Less dye next time! I washed quite a bit of it down the sink. My weighing machine needs new batteries, so I don't know how much of each I dyed, but it was such a rush to do it that I want to do it again! I have been watching a YT video on making felted slippers - these you don't have to knit first, and they are hand-felted so there is more control. Probably less sturdy, but there's a lot of room for embellishment and so on.  Can't wait to get started!

Purple and bright!

    After I did the first two colours, I searched some more and found the acid dye tidily put away in a box - so I cleaned out the pans, soaked another two pansful of roving, and did a bright green and a really bright purple (2 t. fuschia and 1/4 t. cobalt) - again, too much dye. Tomorrow I am going to try to make pastel colours.

The dye actually *boils* in the oven, but because the wool is kept really still, and gradually brought up to temp and then down again, it doesn't felt. Amazing.

Even more wintry weather!

     We've had a daddy of a snowstorm and now can boast quite a covering of snow. It was followed by a couple of days of -15 degrees with real wind chill so the snow has solidified, even though it was followed by a daytime temperature of +7 - down to a more reasonable -3 today but still lovely for going for a walk outside.

   While walking, I listened to a couple of "Gardener's Corner" podcasts from January, 2011, where they (amusingly) talked about the winter being nearly over - and flowering winter shrubs! No wonder our ancestors found Canada such a harsh environment. No, winter is not nearly over. We sometimes say that during the St. Patrick's Day snowstorm, but that's a month away yet.
     My poor greenhouse (polytunnel really) is still a sad sight, with lots of snow covering the plastic, pulling it down, the ends blown out, and many of the plastic conduit poles down - I fear to go out and see how bad it is. Obviously it's not sturdy enough for our dreadful winters. I should have taken the cover off, and then the structure would have been safe. A harsh lesson.
     Knitting continues apace. I have been making felted slippers again, and have rediscovered a couple of felted bags made a couple of years ago and never finished. I'm thinking seriously of embellishment, and have signed up to the "Ambrosia Cottage" group on Ravelry - the owner sells hat patterns to knit and felt, and posts pictures of the embellished results. This could be where my beading skills will come in handy.

The slippers are made of Patons Soy Wool, which I bought in large supply a couple of years ago in pound bags from the mill. They start out quite big and baggy - these ones are sized to end up at 7-1/2 - but they felt down quite quickly. I put them in a hot wash and they just needed to go through one cycle. 
I've been needle-felting insoles in my slippers (after they have been are felted) and that's quite satisfying, as well as being a great decoration method. Quite quick as well.  I am just using some carded locks, which I have had ever since I learned to spindle-spin many years ago (in the first crafts revival of the Seventies). Ah the memories.

  The soles needle-felt right down to a cozy and fluffy insole. Now, to figure out what to do to make the soles wear...having tried the caulking gun (and discovering that the stuff wears off quite quickly, or doesn't penetrate the fibre and picks off) I think for this time I'm going for something sewn on. Recommendations range from shelf- or rug-liner to suede or untrasuede (purchased second-hand). I do have a tube of puffy paint too, and I suppose I might try it - it's black, though, so I won't be doing it on these babies.

This are the 7-1/2s with insole, and the red-orange ones will end up at size 9-9-1/2. I have another bigger pair with black soles and another stripey yarn on the tops. I like the little semi-circle of sole that comes to the top of the toe - they look like old-timey rubber-soled sneakers.
      I should say that the pattern for these slippers is "Duffers - revisited" and I bought it from the designer, Mindie Tallack, on Ravelry. I am becoming a true fan of this online buying of patterns - just click and it's in your email - or, if you buy through Ravelry, it's in your Ravelry Library.  I am sure people have been doing this for years for music and movies on iTunes, but it's new and thrilling for me. 
   We finally got to  go to dance again - Fred's work and snowstorms kept us away for three weeks, so it was great to get back. Work at the fabric store has kept me from ballroom dance, however (three weeks of being scheduled for 5-9 on Thursday nights!) but this week I'm on for Sunday afternoon (so as to miss dancing at the pub!) and all day Wednesday instead. I may not have the energy to dance at Irish after being on my feet for 8 hours! But it is simply great to not have any responsibility. And there are plenty of fabrics to drool over - and buy - as well.  I got a big bolt of lambswool interlining - regularly priced at $21.99/metre - for $10 the lot. I don't know what the future holds for it, but it will make many warm things. Or perhaps many things warmer.