…one step back
25 Feb 2011 2 Comments
in felt Tags: bag, bubble wrap, felt, handle, template
Buoyed by my success with the ridgeless felt eyeglass case, I thought I’d try making a bag with a handle. Following the instructions in Lizzie Houghton’s Creative Felting, I made the handle first by rolling and wetting strands of wool to form a long cord, leaving the ends dry so that I could felt them on to the bag itself.
Then I made the bag as before, enclosing a bubble wrap template with two layers of wool plus decoration, rubbing and rolling it before cutting it open. At this stage I tried to felt the handle to the inside of the bag, wetting the dry ends of the cord and rubbing them to attach them to the bag. However, I think the bag had gone too far in the felting process, as I couldn’t get the handle to stick.
First felt bag - with separate handle!
Back of bag
It seems that if I am using an enclosed template I will have to attach the handle to the outside of the bag at an earlier stage. I don’t think I can cut through the wool to felt the handle to the inside of the bag any earlier, as it won’t be stable enough.
One step forward…
25 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in felt Tags: bubble wrap, embroidery, eyeglass case, felt, shrinkage, template
My first attempt at using a plastic template to make a felt fan case wasn’t a huge success. The case had unattractive ridges along the sides where the wool on each side had felted together.
So I thought I’d have another go, this time making an eyeglass case. This time I used three layers of merino rather than two, partly to make a thicker case to better protect the spectacles, and partly so that the outer layer would be a horizontal layer that wrapped around the sides, thus avoiding ridges.
I also completely enclosed the bubble wrap template. Then after the pre-felting stage and a bit of rolling, when the wool had started to shrink and the template inside started to wrinkle up, I cut through the top edge of the package and continued rolling and rubbing.
Finished case with embroidery
Back of case
This case shrank noticeably more than the fan case, which hardly shrank at all. I think this must be due to the extra layer of merino – the more layers of wool, the more it shrinks.
I’d also like to find a way of neatening the cut edges. Particularly when making felt with different coloured layers, the edges can look a bit ragged.
Circles scarf
24 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in crochet Tags: crochet, Noro, Ravelry, scarf
What I like about this scarf is that it looks as if it’s made from hundreds of circles sewed together. In fact, it’s made in long strips of circles, which are connected with slip stitch as you go along. So there’s no sewing – only a few ends to tidy up at the end. Which is a relief – I hate having to sew in lots of ends.
And it’s worked in a multicoloured yarn, so you don’t have to keep changing colours all the time.
I found the pattern, by Linda Permann, in an old copy of Inside Crochet magazine, which I picked up at a market stall, but it’s also on Ravelry. I used Silk Garden Sock Yarn by Noro in blue, black, lime, and grey.
Felt for Ellen
21 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in felt Tags: 5K Race for Life, cancer, felt
Last week I went to the funeral of my friend Ellen. Nearly six years ago she was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a mastectomy, but last summer she celebrated five years of apparently being clear of the disease. Then two weeks later she started feeling breathless. It turned out that the cancer had spread to her lungs. She died on 3 February.
I only knew Ellen for a couple of years – I met her through our reading group. A feisty Scot, she radiated a can-do attitude that took you up and swept you along. She persuaded me to take up running, and it was entirely due to her encouragement and inspiration that I completed my first 5k Race for Life for Cancer Research last year. And it’s clear from the crowd who turned out for her funeral – some from as far afield as the US and New Zealand – that she touched many others in a similar way.
As a way of remembering Ellen, her partner Marion suggested making a quilt or wall hanging, where everyone contributes a square representing Ellen in some way, and then we all sew them together. The size is 2ocm square, including a 1cm border for attaching it to the others. So I’ve made one in felt, which is slightly bigger than 20cm, as I had to guess how much to allow for shrinkage (but it can easily be cut down). It incorporates the medal I received for running the 5k Race for Life, as I would never have done it without Ellen.
I’ll post a photo of the whole quilt/hanging when it’s complete.
RIP Ellen – you’re much missed.
The Woolshop by Stanley Spencer
20 Feb 2011 Leave a Comment
in exhibitions Tags: Stanley Spencer, Tate
I went to Tate Britain today to see the Watercolour exhibition. Afterwards, I popped upstairs to see the latest paintings on display.
That was when I came across The Woolshop by Sir Stanley Spencer. I’m quite a fan of Spencer – I’ve been to his gallery at Cookham, and last year I visited the Historic Dockyard at Chatham to see his Shipbuilding on the Clyde series, newly restored and on loan from the Imperial War Museum. But I’d never heard of this painting.
The Woolshop by Sir Stanley Spencer
The painting is full of lines – the woman’s hair, the ply of the wool, the stripes on the salesman’s jacket, even the grooves on the pillar and the pattern on some of the rugs and fabrics behind. The salesman – apparently Spencer himself – grasps a skein of blue wool above the woman’s head, but it feels as if what he really wants to do is grab her hair, just below. In his other hand he holds a roll of purple yarn. She, meanwhile, caresses a yellow skein that matches the colour of her sweater, holding it as if it were a baby.
For me this sums up the tactile experience of visiting a wool shop – all that yarn in all those colours, crying out to be handled and stroked.
Edited to add: I have since discovered that the woman in the picture was Daphne Charlton. Spencer lived with Daphne and her husband George at the White Hart Inn, Leonard Stanley, Gloucestershire in 1939-40. While George Charlton was away, Spencer had an affair with Daphne, and later painted several pictures, including this one, recording various domestic incidents of their life together.
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