Versatility of Felt

The other day I finally found a tiny bit of time in the studio for some felting. I really need to be spending more time there, as I need lots of new items for my booth at the Francisco's Farm Art Festival in June. So.... I got to work.

First I made a flat piece of felt that incorporates cotton scrim, alpaca, fine merino, locks of our sheep's fiber, and silk. (I would later add some stone buttons). The piece is especially thin and transparent, you'll soon see why!

I love the various textures of this particular piece, it's why I love felting so much.

After some trimming and stitching, the flat piece was turned into this:

These are always difficult to photograph, but I hope you get the drift! I can hardly wait to do the next one.....

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Hunting... or Finding?

It was kind of funny, two different family members called yesterday for advice on hunting for morel mushrooms and a cousin was talking about it on Facebook. I think it's probably prime time in Ohio, but in this part of Kentucky I believe the time has passed for morels. Perhaps I've made it sound easier than it is, as the timing is of great importance (they only last for a few days before shriveling up or being eaten by wild animals) and just being in the right place to find them is critical- there is definitely a lot of luck involved!

We have found morels on only a fraction of our farm's wooded areas, and there doesn't seem to be a common denominator with the the two areas they've been discovered, other than that there is plenty of shade. If you read what the experts say, you'll see a diversity of opinions about what kinds of trees to look under, etc.

A grey morel, the best tasting (we only find a few of these here)

The morels we found this year were in about the 2nd week of April, which is almost always when we have found them. It has been an exceptionally wet spring, as it was during the banner year for morels that we had two years ago (last year we didn't find ANY).

So, my best advice is to take your time and enjoy the woods. There is something very relaxing about getting out into nature, especially in the springtime when so much new life is happening before your eyes.

Your eyes will become trained to spot the shape of a morel, but don't dismiss everything else you see on the forest floor (can you spot the two small morels in the picture above?).

There is so much beauty in the shapes, textures, and colors you'll see.

Even the lichens are beautiful if you take the time to look.

The "morel" of the story? If you're REALLY lucky, you'll fill the sink with these (small morels from this year's harvest). If not, well you'll have been lucky anyway... just to get out and enjoy nature. My next foraging experience? We're going to forage nettles this week, stay tuned!

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All over the place!

If this blog seems to hop all over the place, it's because that's how life has been lately! We did get to Florida for spring break, the first time my husband has ever gotten away for the whole time with the kids. Siesta Key is as beautiful as I remember, and hadn't changed a whole lot in the 25 or more years since I'd been there.

We also enjoyed an afternoon at Venice Beach, looking for fossilized shark's teeth. I found two small ones, the kids mostly enjoyed the sand and surf. They got along GREAT on this trip and handled the long drive there perfectly, too. It made for a very pleasant time.

This is who we saw on one long walk on Siesta Beach! He drew a crowd, as you might expect.

The sunset also drew an enthusiastic crowd. There's just something awe-inspiring about watching that huge burning orb drop into the ocean before your eyes, even though it occurs every single day.

I also got to see a long-lost friend from the neighborhood where we lived when I was in junior high and high school. We've been writing for the past year or so, our lives having gone very different directions. It was great to see him and introduce him to the family.

There has been a LOT going on at the farm, will post about our new cria and hope to have lambs as well in the next few days so check back soon!

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Springtime Hodge and Podge

The choir trip with my son's school to Orlando was a lot better than I thought it might be and (with the help of a little Tylenol PM) I actually was able to sleep on the bus! Universal Studios was really nice (minus the super-loud music and sound effects and commercialism), and it was fun to see the kids perform, but I was predictably thrilled to return to the tranquility of Seldom Scene Farm. Hogwarts was by far my favorite part, but there's tons of magic going on right here with spring on the rise.

We're waiting on our first alpaca crias to arrive any time, very exciting! Also, our daughter's ewe is due to lamb soon but since we're going to be gone we've left her at our friend Dianne's place to deliver (thanks again, Dianne!). We are completely addicted to her new Lamb Cam (live barn views via the internet), and will be anxious to pick out our own lambs "on TV" when they get here and watch them bounce around on the screen before we can see them in person.

The other babies on the farm are these chicks which are being added to our egg-laying flock. We had the sweetest group of girl scouts come for a llama trek recently; they enjoyed playing with the chicks almost as much as they liked the llamas.

Fiber activity has been scarce, although I have continued to pick up the needles and work on my Tea Leaves Cardigan which I'm hoping to complete while there's still some cool weather around. I've made more felted birdhouses, but forgot to photograph them before they were shipped to Wyoming and taken to Damselfly Gallery in Midway.

Another piece of news is that we have decided to sell one of our premier alpaca studs, El Nino's Accoyo Michelangelo, at the AOBA National Auction in Denver in May. We had fun doing some photography and video with him the other day (of course the dogs wanted to get in on the action). He's a very cooperative, charismatic and photogenic alpaca, so it made the process a lot of fun!

We have a dusting of snow on the daffodils today after near record high temperatures this week. That is the epitome of March in Kentucky, it's definitely going out like a lion. I hope that you're enjoying at least some signs of spring where you are!

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Learning from Mistakes

It's never fun to have to throw out a messed-up felting project (at least with knitting, you can unravel the yarn!), but I suppose I can say that it's how one improves. Last week one day I had a block of time to make the first of Mirian's slippers. I chose her favorite colors and decided to make them slightly thicker and to use only wool, no alpaca. The alpaca in mine feels incredibly soft, however it is not holding in the rest of the felt very well. Although I love alpaca, it's not well-suited for felting that will take a lot of hard wear.

I traced a pattern for the resist and made it larger to account for shrinkage.... but not enough shrinkage! I guess that using more merino (which shrinks a lot) and not using alpaca (which barely shrinks) made it shrink significantly more. After trying to make this fit Mirian's foot (it felt like I was trying to get Cinderella's stepsister's foot into the glass slipper!), I gave up and started over.

The new slippers made from a larger resist turned out great! I had hoped to photograph them with the leather already sewn on, but I've not been able to whittle out even that little bit of time this week.

I did do a bit of dyeing, carding and spinning this past week, just wish I could have done more!

A friend told me that alpaca couldn't be spun into coils, one had to use merino, so of course I had to try- I love the result.

I'm off to the Southern Select Alpaca Show in Tennessee this weekend, then I'm chaperoning my son's choir trip to Orlando for 5 days! I'm beginning to forsee a time when our daughter will be back in school next year and I'll have larger blocks of time for fiber work again, trying hard not to wish the time away!

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