A little quickie....

... project, that is! After all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I was craving the chance to felt something (other than a birdhouse) that would incorporate all that I find satisfying in felting.

That means lots of experimenting, unpredictability, texture, color, and a little bit of "magic" added to the mix. This scarflet (mini scarf) fit the bill.

I used a bit of silk chiffon that I had hand-dyed and didn't particularly love the result enough to invest in a large shawl, so I cut it into a smaller piece and began grabbing colorful bits of merino, soft, hand-dyed milk fiber, a bit of angelina, and baby alpaca. I decided to leave the edges unfinished, rough and ruffled.

Since this was going to be a short scarf , it needed a pin and I wanted to use a complementary color that would stand out from the scarf itself. I felted a flower pin and added a turquoise bead for the center.

P.S. Welcome to the new visitors and followers to the blog! If you didn't notice in the comments, I've decided to extend the giveaway until Friday at noon!

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Fiber Friday

Felted Pillows

Even when my time is short, I love taking pictures. A friend suggested that I participate in Wordless Wednesdays (photos only, no words), and it occurred to me that this would be a great way to keep up blogging without having to spend a lot of time or thought in composing an entry (hence, the recent frog and water lily photo).
I've decided to begin Fiber Friday as well, where I post either works in progress or recently completed projects. Sometimes I may not explain much about the product, but feel free to comment or ask questions! I've recently been making pillows from felt, and am having a lot of fun with it. (By the way, you can check out our upcoming felting class schedule here- they're filling up quickly!)

I was just going to show the above pillow in progress and complete, but really liked the image of swirls on this one and it led me to playing around with the design in PhotoShop. Which effect do you like best?

Pillow in Progress
PointillismMezzotint
Stained Glass (my favorite)Palette Knife
Mosaic

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Cheerful

Some random things have me feeling full of cheer on this Friday, such as....
Finding time to dye fiber and try new things with felting. This is a pillow that I hand-felted from merino and then added some stitching (you can find more photos in my Etsy shop).A healthy new cria born yesterday to Accoyo Princess, a beautiful light fawn male.
The fact that the woodpecker that had been beating it's beak on our house and studio has found new places to put his pecker!
New artwork that arrived from an Etsy artist I recently discovered, Valentina. (I've added her blog to my favorites list, too!)
The first daffodil to bloom on the farm....And knowing that it will soon be joined by hundreds of friends. Pin It Now!

Feeling Fibery

This morning I was working with some roving I dyed yesterday, and felt a zen-like trance come over me while I was feeling fine fibers running through my fingers.
The colors and tactile experience in my quiet studio were mesmerizing.

Reality hit, and I realized it was time to go feed my famished, fretting fuzzy friends who gifted me their fleeces.SSF Peruvian Midas

What's with the F's all of a sudden? Oh... it is February! Pin It Now!

Color to the Rescue

 Our Kentucky landscape gets a bit blah this time of year- above is a picture I took from the studio window on Monday....

And then yesterday....The snow always seems to brighten the hills and my mood, but it's easy to see why I want to work with bright colors at these times.  Here's some of the roving that I just had processed at Ohio Valley, already hand-dyed, and the resulting handspun yarn.

Valentine colors seem to be attracting me right now, I wonder why?

 

I've even nearly finished a new hat knit with handspun from last week's batch of roving.

 

The studio is absolutely bursting with brightness. And that doesn't even include the valentine fabric and felt surprises.... more on those to come.

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