Felting ‘flowers’ into scarves
Swirls of Merino wool flowers, ready to be felted into a scarf or two
I did a felting course on Thursday and Friday last week, so on Saturday I wanted to play around with what I learned.
I dragged out an old bag of leftover Merino bits. The bits were all mixed together and not that inspiring. A bit like when you mix too much paint and all you get is brown. I set about untangling and sorting and had a lovely time creating these ‘flowers’ above.
I am not an experienced felter yet, so thought I’d experiment with embedding them into a scarf. I didn’t know how they would take, given they were a bit worked already, just from hanging around with other bits of wool in the same bag. I placed a thin layer of wool fibres over the top of each flower before felting, just to see if they’d anchor in place.
I am delighted with the result!
Emmylou - felted scarf with 'flowers'
So delighted, in fact, I made another one straight after it, though this time I shaped the scarf around the flowers shown in the first picture.
Felicity - purple, blue and orange felted scarf with 'flowers'
New skill learned this week – felting!
Elfi - felted grey scarf with coloured and embroidered shapes
This week I took a Yarra Valley Arts Council class at the Healesville Primary School in felting a scarf and felting a hat.
What a great time we had, laying fibres, wetting wool, rolling until we thought we could roll no more. It was much easier and much less messy than I thought.
And here’s the result: Elfi. Named after my Aunty in Augusta, Georigia. You can see more pictures on my etsy site.
Happy felting!!
Recycled and upcycled orange silk remnant, now a new scarf
Raw silk rag knitting - voila, a new scarf
Montmartre, this raw silk and cotton rag knitting scarf, is the second of two I made this weekend.
I bought the remnants from my local op shop and paired them with a bobble trim yarn in varying shades of oranges, browns and greens. To add a bit ot pizzaz, in came the sequin yarn. To finish, I crocheted a two-layered flower with some of the ripped up cotton and paired it with some silk, some complementarily coloured wools, and a bit of spangley sequin yarn.
I used 13 mm needles, and three strands of yarn: the rag shreds, the bobble yarn, the sequin yarn. There were 13 stitches. I knited pearl stitch (garter stitch) for about six feet.
Use any two-stage flower pattern from the net. Use the rag knitting thread as your bottom layer. Put a bit of rag knitting thread in the middle. Go crazy with coloured french knots. Make it pretty, then sew a pin on the back. You’ll feel artsy if you do this 
Recycled and upcycled – rag knitting scarves with crochet flowers
I’d love your opinion on my recycled/upcycled scarf collection, made from op shop sheets, doona covers, silk and shantung remnants and an old 60s tablecloth. (See also www.handmade3777.etsy.com for more pics.)
For a while now I’ve been trying to improve how I reduce, reuse and recycle, and challenge myself to do more of this in different ways. This range of scarves is my latest attempt at reuse, repurposing, upcycling.
I love the texture of these ripped up numbers, and they end up being so individual. I started fixing flowers to them but have decided that people may like the choice about whether they want to wear a large flower or not. Personally, with the ones I’ve made for myself, I wear the flowers all the time!
What I’m really loving about this creative burst is that one idea leads to another. As I’m sitting knitting a woollen scarf, I’m thinking “hmm, I’m sure I could rip up a sheet and do something with it”; when I’m doing the rag knitting, I’m thinking “there’s a canvas in the cupboard…why don’t I start that painting of Charlotte soon?”
The exciting thing is that my creative journey is stable and continuing, and I’m feeding the artsie side of my brain, which feels good.
I hope you’re feeling good and have beautiful and creative weekend planned.
Butter yellow crochet scarf with FrootieLoops
I finished this crocheted number off last night. It’s made from a butter yellow mohair/wool/acrylic blend, and has brightly coloured, dry-felted merino wool in the centre of each circle, achieving a kind of FrootieLoops effect!
I bought the wool from a local fete and dusted off my dormant crochet skills this year, which has been a lovely experience for me.
You see, I work during the week in the suburbs in a busy IT job, though moved to the country to take stock of what’s important, and change my life a bit.
On the weekend I like to sit on the deck, knitting or crocheting, defending my work from my Siamese cat Peabody who loves wool, and looking at the bird life and the mountains. I use the steady up and back of knitting & crocheting as a meditation of sorts, to rest from my weekday busyness.
So, life’s pretty good, and I now have 16 scarves in my etsy store.
Hope the creative bug is urging you on.
A ghastly redundancy? Heck no!
I was told on Tuesday I am going to be made redundant, possibly at the end of June 08. For some, this would be ghastly news. For me, this is the opportunity I have been waiting for.
You see, while I like change and think I’m good at dealing with it, personally I rarely change. I’ve been working for the same company, admittedly in differing roles, for nigh on 15 years. Being made redundant will spur me into action, and allow me to consider a more balanced life.
Today I’m going to work up my short-, medium- and long-term goals, and try very actively to plan a more creative life, while still factoring in earning an income that will feed the hungry mortgage. Early ideas include diversifying:
- perhaps working three days a week as a contractor in the content and information architecture space
- earning a part-time income from a duo my partner & I are forming, performing acoustic sets at cafes in and around the Yarra Valley
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earning a part-time income from things I create. This could include:
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baking German shortbread, and selling them at local tourist markets
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doing up old junk and selling transformed pieces online
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selling my knitted & crocheted wares at local markets, shops and online (see www.handmade3777.etsy.com)
- selling felted creations, though I’m yet to learn how to felt.
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So, some ideas are on the table and a redundancy will give me the opportunity to explore and test the viability of some of these options.
At least, I’ll be able to take a little break from full-time work, which to me will be like a long cold drink after a very big walk (think Oxfam).
Housework vs creativity
It’s Sunday, and a gorgeous 17 degrees here in Healesville. My Siamese, Peabody, just brought in a tail-less lizard that’s still alive.
Bring on the smoke & mirrors: cat food in front of cat, dustpan and broom in front of lizard, quick skip to the garden with lizard, which is, thankfully, unpunctured and now free.
Peabody is a Siamese bought from a pet shop. He has a Siamese head but the fluff of another breed – a squirrel perhaps – and the body of a vegetable: sweet potato comes to mind.
He has Siamese fetching characteristics and I’m teaching him to dance (well, maybe he thinks I’m teaching him to attack). He has the high mew of a kitten and not that lovely Gang Gang cockatoo croak (though on occasion he seems to find this sound).
How does this relate to ‘housework vs creativity?’. Well, housework doesn’t move me very much and it brings on a bad case of the procrastinations. But chores need to be done, so I’ll ring fence my wayfaring with a to do list:
- mop floors
- have lunch with ex boyfriend
- clean up work email
- knit (ooh, it’s trying to wriggle out of fourth position)
- make dinner
- take a walk
- write a blog before turning in.
I’d better go before my ex comes and he finds me typing and the floors are still covered in fluff bunnies and I’m in my dressing gown and there’s no lunch and no knitting….
Ah, there’s the motivation…
Scarves
Having increased my travel time to work by 50ish minutes when I moved to the country this year, I was feeling a bit washed out when Friday showed up. The fix I settled on was to take an annual leave day each week, for nine Fridays, starting late July 07.
While it was a shocker in terms of keeping up with work, it was a great salve for my creative side. I was able to sleep in, to potter, to read, to admire the view, to hang out with the cats, to turn over and over in my mind the possibility of permanent part-time work in my current organisation and to consider the possibility of becoming a contractor.
During my part-time sabbatical, I found myself hankering for colour, for texture, for fabric. I bought some wool on eBay, augmented the selection with some purchases at Spotlight, dragged out my mother’s old knitting needles and began to knit. Here are the first three scarves I made during August. I hope you like them.
Two things you need to know about my mother and her family:
- Mum died in a car accident 16 years ago and while the memory of her is becoming paper thin, I find great comfort in doing things she did and using tools she used. As such, all the scarves are made using the same needles, the wool doubled or tripled if the ply is too thin for the needle!
- My mother’s mother’s maiden name is Meisner, which translates loosely to ‘weaver’. My sisters and I have a love of colour, texture, fabric, of creating stuff with our hands. No matter whether it’s nature or nurture, the pull for us is real.
While knitting, I created a label called 3777 Hand Knut in Healesville. The point of the label and my big run on scarf making is not really to earn money from them right now – let’s face it, it’s Spring in Australia – though if they make their way onto the necks of scarf lovers the world ’round because someone loved them, that’s great. The longer-term reason for doing this is to act on creative impulses and move toward the life I want to live rather than the one I find myself feeling like I have to live.
And by the way, since my nine Fridays are now done, I’ve negotiated to work each Friday from home. A small change, though one that’s moving me in the direction I’d like to go.
Until next time, remember it’s not how skilled your hands are, it’s how keen your mind is for those hands to create and whether you act on the impulse.
Where hand made begins
For a long time, I felt I was waiting for my life to begin. A bit like waiting for those pandas on rollerskates in the Kit Kat ad. The turning point for me was living with a great friend for three years. I bought half her house in an inner-city Melbourne suburb and moved in. I lived out the back with my critters, and she lived upstairs with her kidlets.
During our cohabitation we shared dishwashers, stories, wine, food, friends, chores, cleaning bills, washing machines and lines, sorrow, joy, novelty birthday cakes, work, gardening and more. We had separate fridges and our cats hated each other. I fed the possums and she tolerated them in our roof.
Eventually the house became too small for us all, so I found another place to live, which feels more like me, and is proving to be the basis of a new, more creative way of living.
There are some things though I took away with me when I moved out to Healesville in February, about the way she is, and how she lives. I’d like to be more like her in these ways.
- Think, Do, Get. Good or bad, what you think, you do and end up getting as a result.
- The Certaintly Principle. If you’re certain about something, you can generally sway an outcome to the way you see it. So, if you’re passionate about a topic or expert in it, and find your voice is not heard, try being more certain.
- Generosity. My friend always gave according to what she could and never did it reluctantly or with an eye on a return favour being due to her.
So, hurrah to great friends and to changing yourself if you want to.
Who knows, yet, what the focal point will be? Fabrics, textures and colours? Perhaps old junk done up like Sunday?
Until then, I’ll continue to focus on being creative each day, will remember to Think, Do & Get in a positive way and, as always, will reduce, reuse & recycle.
