Feltsky shmeltsky

The test flower did not want to felt no matter how hot the water got and how much rubbing I did. THEN after all that agitating and becoming agitated I stumbled upon the label from that skein of stubborn yarn. It turns out that it is mostly acrylic- like 85% and the rest is wool. The label also states that the yarn is machine washable. I. AM. A. GENIUS!

I did get some really nice purple yarn made of 85% lambs wool, 15% mohair which does felt nicely. Since I cannot get a good photograph of this yarn's delicious purpleness you will have to believe me when I say it is a very rich purple.. "Regal Purple" is what it's called. It will make the perfect body for Moobar. Moobar will be introduced to you next time since this computer has zero space for anymore photos. :(

Ciao for now.

A test piece to felt

I told my mum about my idea to felt the crown of my cap and she suggested I make a flower from the same yarn to test out the felting process. Good idea mom! Here is the start of my flower.

I wish

I shop at a feed store that is right next door to this building. Everytime I look at this unit I wish I could have it for a studio. Oh the things I could do here... weld, work on ceramics, fix a motorcycle, paint. Maybe one day I can have such a place.

Two weeks ago

Two weeks ago when the sun used to shine and it didn't rain morning, noon, and night I drove out to meet a friend at the stables where she was going to work with yearling horses. I was a little early for our meeting so I drove down the road away from the stables to explore. I found this old section of a cemetery that had stones dating as far back as 1877 and beyond. There were many headstones marking the graves of young children aged 5 months, or a few years. I found many headstones with my name on them- a popular name in the 18th 19th centuries it would seem.

"In memory of.. William"
"Gone Home... Harriet"
not my name.

This stone marks a young child's grave. Dated 1877.

May they all rest in peace.

Constructive fidgeting

I guess I've found an outlet for my nervous energy- or whatever you want to call it.. instead of twiddling my thumbs in the car I tried crochet. Guess what? It works!

I started another cap out of this white lambswool/ acrylic blend. I used two different size hooks for the cap and the edge was made using a 3rd hook. First, the cap: the crown of the cap is really a loose weave- so much so that I think I will felt it to give it a more solid look/ texture.
The middle part to the end is tighter looking and I may leave it un-felted. The bottom edge is an experiment made with a cotton crochet thread.

Just about to close the border here, and the purple needle has the beginning loose tail where I added the orange thread when I started the scalloped edge. I tied a loop with the needle and left it about the same size as my crochet stitches.

I combined the beginning loop with the last two stitches of my ending border stitch. This is the last loop that I pulled through and made the knot with. Exciting!
Like watching ice melt.

Oh hi! Here it is. It fits, and I just may go out in public with it.
During the multiple-self-portrait-with-crochet-hat photo shoot, the EVIL squirrel empire was plotting against me again!!

Look.. caught in the act! This was try number 2. Try #3 is the orange line marking the trajectory that a squirrel body flew through the air -THREE feet away from the bird feeder, and from a standstill. It jumped. And missed. Ha!
What isn't clear in this picture is that the bottom of the feeder on the left side is about 4 1/2 feet off the ground- so that was quite a jump! Score: Me-2, Squirrel- 1.