Funky Felt

I've posted couple of stages in this "variety" project. The base for these pieces is felt/fulled woollen fabric made from this little jumper. It was originally an average adult size, but after several hot machine washes in the company of a towel or two it's an itty bitty thing. I love the handle of the fabric. It's felted enough to be quite stable, but still has a bit of drape. And because it was a good quality wool to start with, it's nice and soft. I occasionally buy wool-felt for projects, but I much prefer this kind.

Meet the Washing Machine

I've featured various textile tools in this blog in the past. I wouldn't particularly have thought of my washing machine as a textile tool, but really it's a very important one. When my washing machine died recently I was in the middle of washing the sizing out of several metres of white homespun ready for a dyeing day. Then when I went to choose a new machine, I found that the features I need to deal with my dyeing and spinning are more advanced than what I would need just to do laundry for myself.

Here's what I ended up with:I've never had a front-loader before. Let's face it, I've never had a new washing machine before! But I can dial up a deep rinse option on this one--good for washing out dyes--and I can set the spin speed as low as I like--good for spinning out my wool without felting it. I can also set the water temperature. So I think I've covered all my bases. And it does also wash clothes:).

Da Da Da! Damask!

The picture is complete!Do I sound excited about that? It's been a bit of a marathon. I'm pretty pleased with how it looks and I'm glad to have it out of the way. I still need to do a couple more exercises on this warp. I didn't get the beat right in the first patterns we did--it seems like ages ago. I'm hoping I can get that done today. Then tomorrow the wonderful Robyn will help me get the warp for the next exercise on a loom at the Guild. We're starting double weave on Saturday and there's no way I'll be caught up in time, so I'm going to do the Summer and Winter block weave in my "spare time" while moving ahead with the rest of the class.

Meanwhile, I haven't made much progress on the unpacking since the weekend and there's still spinning and dyeing waiting for my attention. I did find my white homespun, but my washing machine died while I was washing it to prepare for dyeing. That means buying a new washing machine is now on my list of urgent tasks. It's been a heavy few weeks. So, I'll try to remember to smile at my fantasy bird done in damask and tackle one thing at a time.