I’ve been really busy lately doing things that I used to do but put aside for one reason or another. As usual, one thing led to another, I am also now knitting and crocheting and working on new paintings! It all started when I was checking out my stash of wool that I had stored in the basement. There is a lot of it. I decided I should really begin using it so I decided to begin felting again. It was easy to set up a space to work, because I already had the supplies. I found directions for an interesting scarf in the book Fabulous Felted Scarves by Chad Alice Hagen and Jorie Johnson. Here is a detail of the finished scarf:
It didn’t turn out too badly for a first try. I haven’t worked with felt for probably about 10 years. Surfing on Amazon serendipitously led me to another book, Intertwined, by Lexi Boeger. This is a book about spinning “art yarns”. The pictures in the book showed the most beautiful handspun yarns! Since I have tons of wool, and 3 spinning wheels, I decided to get back into spinning too. After all, I can use the yarn I spin in the felt that I make.
This is the first wheel I got, it is very old but stills spins great. Below is the yarn winding reel I bought at the same time. Both the wheel and the reel are from the 18th century(I think). I also have an great wheel, probably from the early 18th century. It will take some practice before I can use that one. It’s nice to use tools that have such a history-wish I knew more about them.
The reel is holding my first spun yarn in around 9 years. I’m starting spinning lessons tomorrow night to update my skills.
I have so much new work that I’m going to break it up into several posts, so more to come.
