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| Just a few of the wool projects on display |
A short while ago, my friend Lucy and I took a little jaunt out of town to join a group of ladies for what they call "Wool Day." These gals recently developed a love for wool work and this informal group meets several times a year to get together and work on projects, share ideas and skills, etc. It is not limited to wool work as some are doing punchneedle, cross stitch, knitting etc. Some bring muffins to go with the morning coffee, and others bring lunch for all. There is a good deal of laughter and fun, and some even accomplish some work! It was a yummy day all around!
I was practicing my punchneedle skills which are definitely still at the beginner level, but really enjoyed just going around the room to see what everyone was working on. There are some very talented ladies in this group!
There were lots of finished projects on display for inspiration, and several gals were happily giving demos... I had never seen this slick AccuQuilt machine cutting wool pennies. Quick and easy, and all exactly the same. Almost made me want to try doing a penny rug....
Linda M gave us a wet felting demo, felting a cake of soap. This is not a great photo, but it shows Linda wrapping layers of wool fiber around the cake of soap.
Then it will be placed in a piece of pantihose, wet with water and rubbed against a surface to felt the fibers.
One kind soul was even willing to shed her knee highs for the cause! lol (You rock, Sue H!)
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| Kathy's dryer balls |
Kathy B joined Linda in teaching Lucy and I how to make wool dryer balls. I had done machine felting with silk fiber before, but never dry felting by hand. We started by winding wool roving into a tight ball. Next we covered it with more wool fibre to "smooth" the surface, felting it in with a barbed needle. The repeated jabs of the barbed needle tangle and compact the wool fibres. Then we created our sunflowers, by laying on the yellow and brown fibres and much more jabbing of the felting needle. The final step is to put the dryer ball in a length of pantyhose, or a knee high, and toss it into a hot water load of laundry, then into the dryer. The hot water and then the dryer shrinks and compacts the ball. It was fun to try something new... Will I make these for everyone on my Christmas list? Probably not, but glad I tried it!
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| Sue's beautiful wool appliqué |
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| Doreen's punchneedle chickadees in progress |
Thanks Kathy B for organizing this great day and including Lucy and I.
Peace,
Linda
"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong." ~ Joseph C. Pearce
6 comments:
Oh - that's interesting! We don't have much tradition of working with wool here, unless you count knitting and crocheting, of course. Last year I attended a very interesting exhibition of hooked rugs at the Textile Museum of Canada in Toronto, one of my favourite places to visit.
Always fun to broaden your skill set and being exposed to new (old) ideas. This would make a great program for the Guild.
Looks like very much fun. Lovely projects! :)
Dryer balls are a good thing... Mine are not as cute as these! But they really do work at cutting down dryer time and electricity costs.
I think this would be a great way to spend the day getting a chance to see the different crafty things being done and see the processes. I love to look at needlepunch but can't get the hang on it. sometimes you just KNOW when to give up, lol.
xx, Carol
What a great fun class, full of different and interesting crafts. No wool crafts going on here apart from the usual knitting or crochet.
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