Currently Reading

A is for Alibi - B is For Burgular by Sue Grafton 

This author is working her way through the alphabet, the next in the series being C is for Corpse so you get the drift.  The central character, Kinsey Millhone is a Private Detective, a straight talking divorcee who lives in a fifteen foot room and drives a beat-up old car; the books detail multi layered adventures, each story following fleshing out the character (I know this because I've already started B is for Burglar...!) - 'A' being the first book the character and the writing is a bit unformed but I can see myself tearing through the whole alphabet over the coming weeks and months - 'A' is enjoyable, a bit on the light side but it has possibilities (which are borne out in the next letter of the alphabet) and this one comes with a surprise ending which I won't spoil for you.   

Scarves and Wraps - 25 Gorgeous Designs by Jill Denton

I've realised that felting is seasonal - I have the most gorgeous pile of felting wools in my work-room (a.k.a. the spare bedroom) but I haven't once had the urge to do anything with them since the sun started shining (though now its raining constanly maybe I will do something...) - I've found that hot weather is not conducive to sweating over a great long piece of wool - and the physical process of felting is just that, physical - its hard work, and no-one wants to be panting over a sheet of wool in the summer, it just does not seem right somehow.
Having said that, its the most perfect time of year for learning, and this book offers lots of inspiration to the felter - I've not been doing it long and so I'll take any help I can get - I look at the work of others and wonder 'how did they do that'.  Each chapter develops work around a different 'natural' theme - lots to go on, maybe a bit light on in-depth techniques though that is easily worked round by looking up anthing you might need on the internet - Jill Denton also has a nice website, which can be found here.

Wideacre by Phillipa Gregory - sometimes when reading something you become mesmerised, but not necessarily in a good way - a bit, I imagine, like coming across a snake and being too scared to move.  Not that this book scared me, but I came away from reading it feeling thoroughly grubby and as though my soul had been slightly damaged.  This sounds amazing as the result of reading a book but the central character somehow does this to you; imagine Scarlett O'Hara on acid, and you've got Beatrice Lacey, the 'heroine' of this piece.  Its not that I don't recommend the book, but it should come with a health warning; murder, incest, you name it, its in here; riveting - certainly, entertaining - possibly, but dark, dark, dark - most definitely.

Love and Louis XIV: The Women in the Life of the Sun King by Antonia Fraser - this is one you are going to love, it is incredibly evocative and brings to life this most astonishing King of France; not only does it do this to perfection, but it also does the same for the women in his life; mistresses and wives, mothers and daughters - this book explores the relationships between The Sun King and his women, including Louis XIV's mistresses, Louise de La Valliere, Athenais de Montespan, and the puritanical Madame de Maintenon, but also the wider story of his relationships with women in general, including his mother Anne of Austria, his sisters-in-law who were Duchesses d'Orleans in succession, his illegitimate daughters, and Adelaide, the child-wife of his grandson; highly recommended, Antonia Fraser never disapppoints.  

Oceanic Felted Wrap

This is 'Oceanic', one of my latest creations.   I've used a hand-dyed Merino wool and silk blend (70/30%) with a ribbon border which has almost ruched the edges - I'm going to experiment with more ribbon on other pieces - I like how it has turned out but its so different to how I imagined it - the wool felted beautifully but I imagined it would be lighter in colour than it has turned out - I know what I saw when I laid it out, but when it felted it seemed to be 'concentrated' somehow - its very soft.  This one took around 6 and a half hours to make. 

Soft Silk and Merino Wrap

This one has so much silk in it and is beautifully soft; the colours are a bit of a departure for me but the deep dark berry colours work well with the shiny gold silk; its also a fairly thin piece which means it will have warmth without bulk.   This took around 7 hours to make and will form part of the wrap and scarf collection on the site when I get round to it.  

Joy Felted Scarf

Here's a thing.   I thought I'd make a stripy layered scarf in merino wool, silk and collected fibres, which is fine as the idea goes.   And I thought I knew better than anyone else.  

When I felt a scarf I lay down about four separate layers of wool which, once I start working them, intermesh - wool has these microscopic scales or spines which latch on to each other - so the scales, the water and soap, the movement of the hands over the wool and eventually later on in the process, the hot water then the cold cause the wool to felt.  
And despite my having read how important it was to layer wool rather than lay 'strata' I really wanted a stripy scarf.   So can you imagine what happens when you just lay stripes?  Yep, there's very little intermeshing and the scarf is basically a series of strips, some of them joined (by luck more than judgement) and there are a lot of holes in the 'joins' where they didn't quite make it.  
Now I could tell you that's the design, and actually it does have some interesting elements to it, but I ended up doing a lot of silk embroidery to this piece to make sure it was completely sound (it was, but holes bother me) - I guess this is part of the learning process. 

Another Felted Wrap, piles of pink...

Just finished this piece - its Merino wool and silk and its large and soft, soft soft.  Took around 7 hours to complete and I am soooo tempted to keep this, but no, it will go in the pile for the website.   I adore the colours - can't quite decide - is it pink? peach? blue? yellow? ochre?   A wrap of many colours, then.  The feel of these pieces is beautiful - I can't get over how tactile the wool is.    One thing I didn't expect as a result of working with so much water and soap (albeit olive oil soap) is how soft my hands are after felting - and wow, my nails grow like mad too - must be something good in it then!

'Gentle' Felted Scarf

This is more of a conventional scarf size and shape rather than the huge wraps I've been making recently - its so contemplative making up these pieces, and although I struggle to listen to music whilst I am making jewellery, I can do that or even listen to audio books whilst I am felting, must be a different brain process!   Made with merino wool, silk, cashmere and collected fibres. 

New Wrap!!

My latest felted wrap - made from Merino Wool and Silk - as with many felted projects, each side is different  - always a source of astonishment to me - it depends what colours I layer in (I can see that would be obvious now I think about it), I get so excited as I am making it because I never quite know exactly how its going to turn out, which is half the fun....

Citrus Wrap, Spring and Baa-Lambs.....

It's Springtime...

Its my favourite time of year....

As usual, there's lots happening...

I'm absorbed in this whole felting thing,  I'm planning on doing some pieces for the site eventually, but as we are now coming into spring and summer (hopefully!!!) I think I've got a bit of time on this.

Shown is a wrap sized piece made from Merino wools and silk in citrus colours - no, not that picture below, those are daffodils.

I've found the wool from various sheep breeds is very different - I like using Merino which is what much

Aquamarine...

This is today's creative effort - an aquamarine coloured Merino and Shetland wools with heaps of silk!  As aquamarine is my birthstone, I laid this one out yesterday and finished it off today - each one takes from around 5 - 7 hours so doing the whole lot in one session is a bit of a tall order...this is so soft and lovely I have to keep stroking it...its almost as good as my kitty cat Mia...

Another Felted Scarf

Here's another one I made!!  This was a mothers day gift and my Mother In Law Simone loved it.  100% Merino wool, graduated colours, little dark purple and fuchsia 'roses'....

How I Felt

OK, missing in action again...but I promise there are things happening.  Firstly, you know when you get overwhelmed with so much needing doing that you do none of it?  Well, yep, that's the way it feels like...I'm working through a big list of stuff following the trade fairs, the purchases of tons of new stock, all the new jewellery I've made and the