The Before Pictures

Here are the before pictures of the three bowls that need to be fulled.
They do look a bit strange at this stage. They don't hold their shape very well until they have been fulled. When they shrink, the fabric becomes much more dense. Some yarns work better than others though. I've made a few bowls that continue to be a bit floppy even after fulling. It's disappointing when that happens, but it's a learning experience. The brown and green one has Lamb's pride and Araucania Nature Wool. The pink and blue bowls are made with Ella Rae yarn.

Knitting complete

I finished the knitting portion of another bowl. Now that I have three projects (I think) ready for the fulling process, I'll do the fulling this week. I'll try to post before and after pictures.
The bowl I just finished has rouching all along the sides. It is done in greens and browns.
Another bowl ready for the washer has a blue ruffly "skirt" along the bottom, which is supposed to look like a puddle of water leaking out from the side of the bowl. I attached a little i-cord coming out the side of the bowl to look like the water pouring out of the side into the puddle. I'm optimistic that it will be attractive when finished, but after all, it is an experiment. Keep your fingers crossed.
The third bowl is pink and burgundy, with little antennas all along the top. It's more silly looking than the others.
I may have a couple of other things I need to send through the fulling process, but I can't for the life of me remember what they are, and tonight I am at my folks house so I'll have to look tomorrow.

July goals

Looking back at my goals for June, I see that I got amost none of them done. I'll have to chalk it up to the kids being home for summer and having a totally crazy schedule with all their activities. July is also busy with family stuff, but here are my optimistic goals for July:

• Design a piece for TLDdesign Center and Gallery's student show in December


• Produce 5 knitted and fulled vessels including items from June that need completing


• Produce 1 wet felted piece


• Visit SEMVA


• Take the Felt Vessels class by Sharon Costello class at Midwest Felting Symposium


• Frame a my felted fish piece


• Frame my broken crayons piece

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July!
We had a pretty layed back holiday. I wound some balls of yarn from some hanks I got at a second hand store. They were all labeled 100% wool, but since all wool is not created equal, I also knitted some small swatches to make sure the wool will felt. I haven't run them through the washer yet.
At noon, we had a picnic in a park. I had a lovely afternoon nap. We spent time this evening shooting off fireworks and lighting sparklers.

Find and Refine

Crossings at Carnegie is having an exhibition called Find and Refine. I submitted 3 bowls to the show. They were made by recycling a wool sweater. After I felted them in the washing machine, I embellished them with matalic yarn. The metalic yarn really made them pop.

June's goals

My goal for June was to complete 3 projects. I didn't quite make it. I started my third project today, and my first 2 aren't quite finished. The first one is ready to be fulled/felted. The second one is almost ready. I have to tweak some things before it goes in the washer.
The third one is on the needles. I'm using Nicky Epstein's Knitting Beyond the Edge as inspiration. I have read her new book Knitting Never Felt Better, but it had to go back to the library. I will get my own copy. Nicky is one of the authors I get the most inspiration from. I especially liked her shibori ideas...felting around small objects to give the felted project another dimension. One of my goals for the summer is to use the shibori technique in a project.
The Midwest Felting Symposium is coming up in a few weeks. I will be taking a 2 day class: Felt Vessels: Exploring Images and Forms taught by Sharon Costello.