Saturday, May 14, 2011

Weekends with felt

With this autumnal weather it seems appropriate to be thinking of warm woolly things.

I picked up some alpaca wool the other day and decided to try it layered with some of the merino wool.  It is a different texture to the merino.  Not sure if it's clear in this picture, but the fibre in the lower left is the alpaca wool, the darker in the top right is merino.  To me, the merino feels fluffier but with shorter fibre length.  The alpaca is lovely and soft and has a longer fibre length. 

Close up of the alpaca and wool fibres

I purchased the alpaca wool from Craftworld. I really love this marketing ploy - a photo of the alpaca from which the fibre came from! Very sweet.

The alpaca the fibre came from

I started with the merino layer. I wanted to see if the wool "prickle factor" would be decreased if I mixed the fibre. Not sure that it does but I've yet to try felting just the alpaca. Merino's prickle factor isn't too bad for me but others find it uncomfortable.

Merino layer

Here it is with the alpaca layer. The rovings for the alpaca were very fine.

Alpaca layer with yarn embellishment

I found felting the two fibres wasn't as simple as using solely merino. It took a while for the alpaca to felt and fuse with the merino. In fact I was starting to get concerned that I might have two separate layers happening. But after working on some areas more vigorously it did finally merge. The alpaca fibre did seem to make the over all effect more fluffy than I expected. I think it would be better if the two were carded together rather than placed in layers perhaps.

Here is DH modeling it for me. I gave it to my Dad since he wears scarves. I like the embellishment on this one - simple but effective. It reminds me of stones that you see on the beach or some streams that have stripes of different minerals in them.

Himself modelling my scarf

Then I decided to make MIL a scarf for mother's day. Here it is laid out before wetting.

Mother's Day scarf for MIL

And after being felted. With a felt flower on a pin for decoration. So tempting to keep it for myself.

Scarf for MIL for Mother's Day

I also made one for my Mum.
Mother's Day scarf for my mum

Close up of the silk chiffon embedded in the scarf.
Details of scarf
Hoping to attempt some 3D stuff soon.

6 comments:

  1. I love them Penny especially the grey one, it's so simple but so effective.
    I'm really glad we've finally had some cold weather and I can contemplate wearing my scarf, it's just been too stinking hot here before.

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  2. Very nice - I like the pink and white one

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  3. wow that was interesting to see your process on merging the two fibres....so would you do it again? or just stick to one? I love how you know where the alpaca wool came from - so cute that photo.

    I will confess I like them all, as grey is one of my base colours and the pink and white is a gorgeous combo as is navy and pink. I bet all were well received too.

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  4. Very, very nice! Hey ... I reckon we could use a 'Penny felting class' taught here in Wellington ... what'cha reckon?

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  5. I second Beverley's comment. And. I'd attend!

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  6. They all look wonderful Penny. You are very clever - so how's your arms after a workout like that? :-) Bet you don't have to do weights at the gym hehee

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