Thursday 23 October 2008

Odour of Wet Dog

You may have guessed by the title that I am at the felting stage of my Knitting Bag. Actually the correct technical term is "Fulling". Apparently if you knit something then felt it, the term is fulling, felting is done with unspun wool. As I have knit my wool up, and then wacked it in the washing machine, I am fulling, but be honest, how many of you would have known what I was talking about if I said I had been fulling today?

I put it in the washing machine for around 30 mins in all, checking every 10 mins or so. I added an old pair of corduroy trousers to agitate, and also to see if any dye would run and be caught by the cord. I am planning on using part of the cord for bag lining and also may use the pockets on the bag for additional interest. I thought if the dye ran, it would bring the cord and the wool fabrics together. The cord was cream but it appears to have caught some of the purple and pink. It will be easier to see the dye when the fabric is dry.

The pieces of wool are looking really interesting, and my favourite is the Elle Merino brights which is gorgeous.

I can't wait for the pieces to dry so I can start to make up my bag, it feels like it has taken months to get to this stage. I will show pictures when I begin to make it up.

I have also finally started to crochet my friend's baby blanket. I was originally going to do a shell pattern, but it felt far too warm for a Spring baby so I have decided to do a "V-Stitch" pattern instead, with two strands, one of each colour. This will give a variegated appearance which adds interest.














This is such an easy stitch, done with an enormous hook and it is growing like mad. This will be finished very early. That will be a first for me, after years of doing cross stitch samplers for friends' babies, which are always late, (the sampler, not the baby) a knit or crochet gift may actually be received around the time of the birth.

As well as all my knitting and crocheting I am now back at college after the long summer break and can finally get back in the ceramics studio.

I got back the piece I made at the Summer School, which has come out ok, but would have been better, if I had not had to rush the last few stages of the building. This is a problem with working within fixed time-scales, you have to rush things. I am not very pleased with the glazing, which is only applied inside the columns. It is patchy, because the glaze hasn't been applied thickly enough. Applying by brush is always tricky but I couldn't see how to dip the piece so that only the inside got covered when there are holes in the walls.

I had originally intended to use white slip to get a nice even finish inside the cylinders. This couldn't be done because of the rush at the end of the summer school. Despite these flaws, I think with the tea lights inside the columns and the lights down low, the flickering of the candles will give an interesting contrast between the outside and inside of the piece.

I will be doing more glazing over the next few weeks, so lets hope that those pieces come out a little more as intended.

1 comment:

  1. Your felting is done, now I want to see the bag, love the colours. Your tea light holder is wonderful, the light will look fabulous flickering through the holes.

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