Koru Lounge for cats

I finally got Baa Baa's fleeces washed and carded so I can felt with them.  Being a Romney (or Romney cross) the fleece is coarser than the merino I've worked with before so I wanted to do a project with it whereby the result wasn't too critical.  I wanted to check the amount of shrinkage I was likely to get and basically how it would work.

As it turns out, it shrinks less than the merino, but felts up into a firm felt.  It is definitely harder to felt with.  I had to do some very firm rubbing and it seemed to be "fluffier" than merino but perhaps I needed to work it more.  Rolling it was very physical and I got tired and sore. 

My choice of project was a pod/cave for Mum's cats. I made a huge resist shaped like a tear so I could do some concentric folds at one end and I made a tail to attach to it.

Mr8 decided it should be called the Koru Lounge for cats.

Here's Tiger inspecting the new accommodation.

It got his seal of approval.

Further inspection was required by Midge.

I left it the plain cream of the wool itself, but I might try dying the next one.  I only used 2 layers of wool for this one - more layers would be better for firmness but a lot harder to work!  Perhaps a smaller version next time.

New Look 6000 again & Simplicity 2675

Mine is made from a wool crepe, Miss5 is a corduroy that my mum sewed mostly and I finished off. Miss5 chose the fabric and insisted on the Hello Kitty stockings ;-)

I like the dressiness of this pattern. I was able to use some black textured fabric I got free from a seamstress who was shutting up shop for the collar. I really wanted a larger silver button feature but couldn't find one as big as I liked. Might have to go searching on Felt (felt.co.nz) for a brooch.



Also made some hand warmers for Hannah on request.

 

June? There was a month called June?

If there was such a month it went by so busily there was no time or inclination for blogging!  So no #blogjune for me.  Now at least I have taken a week off for school holidays and can breathe a little even though I haven't quite achieved all the craft things I wanted to do!

Have done some baking though.

Anyway, June... what happened?  Pies were made and consumed - excuse the phone photo but that's all I took. It's a Squab and Apple pie but instead of the alleged squab you use lamb instead. This one was particularly good.

I went to the Love Vintage and Retro market and scored 2 metal pie tins (one seen above), a dress pattern and a orange Tupperware jug with the top that seals on - the one with a star burst pattern underneath on the top.  I'm using it for felting because the start burst pattern is an excellent tool for rubbing the wool!

The children are doing fine at school.  Mr8 has started piano lessons which he seems to enjoy. Miss5 got graded for her yellow belt in karate and passed.  She isn't wearing it in the photo because they ran out of belts in her size and she had to wait until they sent hers to the dojo.

I read some books.  These are the ones that are recorded on my reading history but I've read more via the Overdrive ebook provider through Auckland Libraries and some from work.

The painted lady / Maeve Haran.
Sixteen-year-old Frances Stuart arrives at the Restoration court to find her innocence and beauty are highly-prized commodities, envied by the women and desired by the men. Before long, King Charles II falls passionately in love with her and will stop at nothing to make her his mistress. But Frances is no conventional court beauty.~ from the blurb. Lovely writing, interesting story.


The man who broke into Auschwitz / Denis Avey with Rob Broomby.
The extraordinary true story of a British soldier who marched willingly into the notorious concentration camp, Buna-Monowitz, known as Auschwitz III.~ from the blurb. Worth reading to get a perspective not often written about.

The skin map / Stephen R. Lawhead.
When Kit Livingstone learns that Britain's "ley lines" are not legends but pathways to other worlds, he's determined to find a map tattooed on a piece of skin in order to travel to the dangerous realms. But are the intricate codes more than they seem--can they really begin a quest to regain paradise? ~from the blurb. Am enjoying getting into sci-fi again after a long break.  This one is a nice mixture of alternative history, sci-fi and adventure/quest.

The cat's table / Michael Ondaatje.
"In the early 1950s, an eleven-year-old boy boards a huge liner bound for England - a 'castle that was to cross the sea'. At mealtimes, he is placed at the lowly 'Cat's Table' with an eccentric group of grown-ups and two other boys, Cassius and Ramadhin. As the ship makes its way across the Indian Ocean, through the Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, the boys become involved in the worlds and stories of the adults around them, tumbling from one adventure and delicious discovery to another, 'bursting all over the place like freed mercury'. And at night, the boys spy on a shackled prisoner - his crime and fate a galvanizing mystery that will haunt them forever. As the narrative moves from the decks and holds of the ship and the boy's adult years, it tells a spellbinding story about the difference between the magical openness of childhood and the burdens of earned understanding - about a life-long journey that began unexpectedly with a spectacular sea voyage, when all on board were 'free of the realities of the earth'."-- Publisher description. Recommended by the uber-boss of our unit at work.  Can't say I really "got" it.  It was interesting writing and a great vingnette of ship life and the characters involved.

The moon maze game / Larry Niven and Steven Barnes.
 Offered a dream job escorting a teenage heir on a fabulous moon role-playing vacation, Scotty Griffin, a personal security specialist, becomes embroiled in a violent reality game involving armed terrorists, psychological tests, and a large audience.~ from the blurb. Good old sci-fi yarn set on the moon.

In love and war : Kiwi soldiers' romantic encounters in wartime Italy / Susan Jacobs.
Non-fiction. It was interesting to read about the experience of the NZ soldiers and their romances in Italy and those who brought their girls back to NZ.

Here's a skirt I sewed (Symplicity 2411).  I really like this pattern but I think I should have used the view without the pleat in the front for this particular fabric (brown denim).

 

Yesterday I made some hand warmers. My felting teacher had given me the instructions ages ago but I hadn't yet made some. It was a bit of an experiment since I had to remember what she had said based on the diagram she'd drawn for me. The purple ones I made via her instructions. I ended up having to sew in a gusset for them to fit over my arms since they turned out so long.The sewn seams add a nice feature to them though.

The teal ones I made using a resist and in some ways I prefer that method for the simple reason I don't have to sew anything but it does mean more work to shape them and there is less room for mistakes in the fitting.  They are a bit thicker though - I must have laid out the wool a bit more generously and this means they are a bit less flexible.  Will need to watch that.  Still, they are going to my sister and she will appreciate their warmth.

 

Hoping to get some more felting done before I go back to work next week! But now, the fire needs to be lit... it's a foggy, grey day and I'm cold.

Naturally dyed flowers

Naturally dyed flowers, a photo by pdugmore2001 on Flickr.

In preparation for BioBlitz. All (with the exception of one) dyed with New Zealand lichens of varying kinds.

In which I felt a Nyan cat hat

One of the young librarians at work is participating in Shave so I decided to make her a hat to cover her head in the cooler weather coming up.

Because we often joke about internet memes, I decided to make a hat based on one of them.  Nyan cat seemed to be one with a lot of scope. 

I made a rainbow pre-felt first.  This was my first attempt at pre-felt so I was a bit nervous about getting it right.  I used the resist I made for my head size with the idea that both J and I have large heads.

I made Nyan cat out of Fimo.  I had originally thought of making it as a button but I forgot to make holes before baking the polymer clay so it ended up as a brooch.

I used some roving Mum had got for me in Rotorua - I'm not sure what sort it it, it appears to have a longer fibre length than merino, but it felts in a very similar way.

The fibre felted nice and thick so the structural folds hold beautifully.

J liked it very much!

First day of spring!

And I'm at home with a bad cold.  Still, gives me some time to update the old blog.

On the weekend I did some more felting.  The wool I used was some dyed merino from a Felt member  Lynn to make this scarf.

A lattice style scarf (close up)



Modelled by moi - I'm tossing up whether or not to felt some flowers to add to it.


And another...






The other thing I tried was some dyeing with lichens. On our southern holiday I picked up some handfuls of lichens that had fallen onto the path.  I had a rather ancient book from the library Natural wool dyes and recipes by Ann Milner which has instructions for dyeing with this plant (and many others). Most natural dyes are quite muted colours so my expectations weren't high.  But I was pleasantly surprised with the nice tan colour that resulted.  I'm not totally sure of the lichen species as they are quite hard to identify without a flora, and even with one it can be tricky!  But I think the one I used comes from the The original colour is the cream on the bottom right.  Not entirely sure of the specific lichen name but I think it's one of the Pseudocyphellaria sp.



Now for some exciting news!


I have been fortunate to secure funding to attend a library conference in Wellington 29 Oct-2 Nov where I'll be presenting two posters.  A while back Beverley commented that should this occur, she'd like to do a felting class with me to learn to make these scarfs etc.  So, we've begun the arrangements for the class. 

It will be held 29th Oct - most likely at CraftHouse.  My plane gets in at 8am so I am hoping to get started 9.00am-9.30am or so.  Do you think I'll get my pool noodle I use for rolling felt into the overhead locker?  Hmmm...

There will be a cost for the class (something like $30), and I will make up some kits for participants to purchase should they wish it.  I'll also be providing a list of required materials and suitable vendors for participants who'd rather sort out their own.  Some sample scarfs will be heading down to Beverley for display purposes too.

It should be fun!  I don't claim to be an expert in felting but it is a forgiving medium and I am confident we can make something beautiful together.

Maybe I will see some of you there?

Blogging, every day of June

Last year, a group of us decided to blog every day of June. This is a heads up to say we're doing it again this year, though some days I'll be blogging over at The Room of Infinite Diligence about library related stuff.

Over the weekend I made two nuno scarves for two different people.

"Blue skies and flowers"


"Breath of winter"


You can click through to my Flickr to see the details if you're interested.

I also made some booties for Miss4. I liked how these turned out but it was a learning experience for me. There were 4 layers of wool in this project which I found difficult to work with in terms of feeling the resist and eliminating seams. I ended up with a ridge along the edges of the resist because the merino inner felted a bit faster than the outer. I managed to work it out a bit but not entirely. Shrinking the boots to Miss4's feet was hard work but fortunately she was willing to sit there and let me use her feet as the "last". She was giggling away as I was rubbing the soles - I think it tickled a bit.  I sewed some leather on as soles to help prevent slipping.



I found a place online that sells vintage kimono silks (www.cherryblossom.co.nz ).  I ordered some remnants. They arrived the other day - I'm excited to try them out as embellishment for felting, but also think they will work for card making and scrapbooking. 

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. 



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.



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.



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



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.



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



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



I also made one for my Mum.


Close up of the silk chiffon embedded in the scarf.

Hoping to attempt some 3D stuff soon.

Sundry happenings & February/March Reading Round Up

The auctions have finished and we raised a total of $6229! Wow! All credit to Louise who has tirelessly co-ordinated the whole event. All of my donations sold and I have to say the person who won the felted bag got a bargain since they retail for rather more than the final bid! :-) But that is okay.

And oh.. Japan. No words. :-(

In other news:
I have 2 raw fleeces that I'm sorting at present.  They are going up north to be washed and carded but the person who is doing this requires them to be de-seeded and sorted.  It's a stinky, messy job.



Miss 4 stuck a piece of lego up her nose last Sunday which necessitated a visit to A&E after trying to blow it out was unsuccessful.  Fortunately for her it was a single, flat, round piece and not a square one with sharp edges.  Mr 7 was concerned that a) his lego would be returned to him and b) it would be clean. 

We have been enjoying watermelons from the garden. We've had 8 in total.



Recently the US National Archives uploaded a collection of photos to the Flickr Commons of women from the Civil War era.  I loved looking through them. I wondered about their stories.  Some of them are ordinary looking, others stunningly beautiful.  Their clothes are amazing.




The other thing I wonder... how on earth did they do their hair!?





Many of the photos are un-named with minimal information.  This, and the fact my kids have been looking through their scrapbook albums have motivated me to get back into doing a layout after a long hiatus.




Nothing amazing - I need to find my groove again.
The good thing about the oncoming winter is that scrapbooking fits well with being inside on wet days :)

Reading Round Up

The bookseller's daughter / Pam Rosenthal.
um... didn't finish it. It started off okay and then the characters were jumping into the sack at every opportunity. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a prude and like a bit of the old horizontal mambo in stories, but oh boy... this one made me roll my eyes.

Medicus and the disappearing dancing girls / Ruth Downie.
Caveat emptor : a novel of the Roman Empire / Ruth Downie.
Crime stories set in Roman Britain. I like.

Back when we were grownups : a novel / by Anne Tyler.
Beck Davitch looks back on her thirty-year marriage to Joe and her role as a mother and manager of the Open Arms, wondering if she is living the life she was meant to live and reconsidering her dedication to the family business.~ from the blurb
This was good. I think we've all at some time wondered what life would be like if we'd taken a different pathway. I liked how the book ended up too.

Life of Pi : a novel / Yann Martel.
Pi and his family, who own a zoo, decide to emigrate from India. On the way, tragedy strikes and the ship is sunk. Pi finds himself in a life boat with a hyena, a zebra, a tiger and an orangutan. He manages to keep his wits as the food chain establishes itself. ~from the blurb
This one won the Booker prize for fiction in 2002 and I think deservedly so. The blurb makes the story sound fantastical but when you actually read it, it does in the end seem plausible. Some thought provoking themes run through the novel.

As always, Julia : the letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto : food, friendship, and the making of a masterpiece / selected and edited by Joan Reardon.
I've read Julie and Julia and seen the film of same. (I liked the film better funnily enough). This book is a selection of letters between Julia and Avis, the woman who managed to get Julia's cookbook published. I really like this book. The development of friendship between two feisty, intelligent woman is heart warming and uplifting.

The last lecture / Randy Pausch, with Jeffrey Zaslow.
Based on the extraordinary final lecture by Carnegie Mellon University professor Pausch, given after he discovered he had pancreatic cancer, this moving book goes beyond the now-famous lecture to inspire readers to live each day with purpose and joy.~ from the blurb
There has been a lot of people who've liked this book. I found it just a bit on the OTT side of things. It's not that I disagreed with what the author was writing but perhaps the manner of it. Oh well.

Water for elephants : a novel / Sara Gruen.
Set in the circus world circa 1932. When Jacob Jankowski, orphaned and adrift, jumps onto a passing train, he enters a world of freaks, drifters, and misfits, a second-rate circus struggling to survive during the Great Depression, making one-night stands in town after endless town. A veterinary student who almost earned his degree, Jacob is put in charge of caring for the circus menagerie. It is there that he meets Marlena, the beautiful young star of the equestrian act, who is married to August, the charismatic but twisted animal trainer. He also meets Rosie, an elephant who seems untrainable until he discovers a way to reach her. ~from the blurb.
The story is interwoven with Jacob as an old man telling the story. Some of it is sad but I really liked this book. Again, like the Life of Pi, some thought provoking themes running through it. Some have said it mirrors the story of Jacob in the Bible. Not sure I can see the connections myself.

Charity auction: Red Cross funding for Christchurch Earthquake Relief

This weekend I've been busy.  Louise has organised a charity auction on Facebook to raise money to give to the Red Cross in response to the devastating earthquake in Christchurch.  So these are the things I'm donating to the auction.  If you are interested in bidding on them, you can join the group.  If you aren't a Facebook member but still want to bid, email Louise and see if there is some way you can nominate a proxy (or something).

Donation 1









Donation 2 (three jars of this so three opportunities to win)




Donation 3




Donation 4




Donation 5




Donation 6 - Kisses for Christchurch: Nuno felted merino wool on polyester chiffon wrap



DH's relatives from that area appear to be safe though I haven't heard about how their houses etc have fared. It seems our friends down there are alive but some have lost material things. One family has lost their house & pets and they have evacuated to here in Auckland to one our other friend's who lives locally.

It has been a strange sort of time since the earthquake happened. On the one hand, we've had to keep on about our daily business, but myself and others I've spoken to have found it hard to focus on anything in particular. The news coverage has been extensive but I've had to step away from it at times just to keep myself on an even keel. It has been so touching to hear of people, organisations and countries contributing to helping those affected.

[for the believers]... On Sunday, someone mentioned Psalm 46 which I found encouraging and restorative:

God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
etc...
(New International Version, ©2010)

I don't find it profitable to ask why these things happen or make dire predictions about the meaning of natural events. We live in a world governed by physical laws like gravity, plate tectonics and so on so it is inevitable that we'll see this stuff occur. But it is a strength to me to know there is grace and peace within these experiences.[/for the believers]