Sunday, January 16, 2011

lessons in felting or it's good to have a stash

after patoot's arrival on friday, sabin and i were both fascinated by the whole notion of felting. several years ago, i made a felted scarf and since then, i've bought rovings here and there when i've seen them on sale. as you might have guessed, i also bought several books about felting. but i never really used them much, nor did i really have a plan for all that wool. but now, when we were inspired, it seems we had all of the supplies we needed at hand. (life lesson: it's good to have a stash.)

so we got out the stash and began. i set out to make a cat, but about the time i put little dots of pink in its ears, it began to look more like a frog. so felting lesson #1: you may not be making what you thought you were making.


felting lesson #2: it hurts really badly when you poke yourself with that needle. felting lesson #2a: you will do this rather more often than you'd like.


felting lesson #3: you may think you're making arms, but they may turn out to be feet. (refer to lesson #1.)


felting lesson #4: it is possible to poke the felting needle all the way through your finger - in one side and out the other. felting lesson #5: that hurts like crazy.


this is frode frø - a little green frog. he likes macs too. and i'm amazed how a bit of fluffy wool can become a little character. felting lesson #6: the felting books do not adequately convey the magic of the alchemy that happens between needles and wool. i wish some of those fabulous felters out there that i know would write a really good book about this amazing craft. this is a hint to you and you.

9 comments:

Lost Star said...

Great post. I too learnt about the pains of crafting today when I took a layer of my thumb off with some embroidery scissors. Don't even ask me how and lets not talk about the dangers of pins...

I don't understand how felting works but I agree, the things made have such amazing character and liveliness!

Elizabeth said...

mr. frog is fantastic and so is your post.

Anonymous said...

adventures in crafting, with passion and humor! how cute is he? you may need to take this show on the road............

Corrine said...

not to be anonymous, by the way have you ever tried rug hooking? strips of wool, framed and stretched fabric, sharp implement/

julochka said...

lizzi-oh no, scissors...enough said.

e - thank you.

anonymous - thank you.

corrine - i did, years ago, when i was a kid. it seems like such a 70s thing to do. which probably means it's back! :-)

Char said...

i do a version of felting when i make my christmas stockings but nothing just out of the chaos. hats off to you!

Lisa at lil fish studios said...

A book huh? :) Perhaps...

Totally dig the feet on this guy.

mrs mediocrity said...

Oh, ouch, your finger!
He is so cute though, he really does have some character.

Pia K said...

cute! evert got a felt relative in denmark now:)

i signed up for a felting class some years ago, unfortunately i was ill when it was time and after that i haven't felt (oh no pun) like signing up again. it should be reasonably easy to read and trial by error learn on your own i'd imagine. i saw some incredibly cute death cap stools on martha stewart some years ago, needlefelted and to die for (no no pun here either). i'd love to create stuff like that. i'm guessing i should start with a shawl or something similar instead...