Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Barb's amazing weaving

Do you remember the squares Barb wove from the DK Crofter? They were very cool, and originally intended to be a blanket.
However, Barb liked them so much, that they turned into a shawl - more public viewings are possible with a garment. :)
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Barb is thinking of giving classes in weaving at the shop. I am encouraging this idea, Barb is a very clever lady. Let me know if you are interested!

Friday, June 11, 2010

Felting experiment

First,it was lovely to meet so many readers at the Gympie Quilt and Craft Spectacular. I was pleased to find that there was plenty of yarn, and plenty of not-just-quilting fibre crafters in attendance. We had a busy but fun time.

Today I will write about a project I finished a little while ago, after my fun with the French Press Slippers.
I fancied a felted hat. Patterns for these are few and far between, but the Cleckheaton Accessories book put out this year has a pattern I thought might do.

Here is the unfelted hat in Jo Sharp DK wool, aubergine.

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Looking at the Cleckheaton book, I was not terribly impressed with the felting intstructions. The pictured hat is only lightly felted, with the stitches clearly visible in the photograph of the finished item. I was concerned that the hat would easily overfelt, and be too small. Fortunately for me, I do not have a top-loading washing machine, and my front loader is not terribly vigorous in its action. If I want to fully felt an item, I need to run through 3 or more cycles. I put the finished hat in my zippered felting bag, and ran it though one cycle.
Here is the finished hat - a perfect fit, and only lightly felted.

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I fancy a more stiff brim, and a more fully felted hat, so am thinking of writing my own pattern. The aubergine wool is such a gorgeous colour.

Friday, June 4, 2010

Craft Spectacular June 5 and 6



I will not be at the shop on Saturday. Instead I will be running a booth at the Rotary Craft Spectacular at the Gympie Pavilion. 9-5 Saturday and 9-3 on Sunday. Hopefully there will be some knitters, crocheters and weavers amongst the Quilters.