Woolybuns

Ahhh The Satisfaction

Even better weather day today than yesterday.  Natura pet food recall expansion rescheduled some of my outdoor plans for today because of course the brand new bag I bought yesterday and opened this morning is on the list of potentially contaminated foods, and the wee little dogs need food that won't kill them.  After taking care of that, I spent a good part of the day outside on yard clean up, including some time in the rabbitry.  The tiny terriers do not like being left behind, so I set up a puppy ex-pen for them near where I was working.  The rabbits might not enjoy the silly sounds of playful pups, but I did.  

It doesn't seem like I got a lot done.  Raked part of the front yard, raked the aisle between the two rows of rabbit hutches, and cleared under one hutch.  I'm good with that though.  I have to work slowly and carefully to not inflame tissues that still remember the massive snow clean up, but it is progress.  Just as with knitting a sweater or eating an elephant, slow but steady progress will get the job done.   This sort of work may not sound fun to you, and honestly, it isn't to me, either.   But unlike poor old Mick and the Rolling Stones, I can get satisfaction, a lot of it, in doing this work.  Maybe a lot of it is the chemistry of physical exertion.  Or the life affirming knowledge that the old broad can still wield  a mean pitchfork, wrastle that big ol' wheelbarrow, and still walk the next day.  And you just can't discount the value of looking at those foofy faces in the hutches and the satisfaction of knowing you are taking care of them. 

My Good Friday

Good Friday means one thing to a lot of people but to me, today, it is simply a Glorious Spring Day.  Sun, blue skies ,some cloud, warmer temperatures with an occasional breeze.  My kinda day.  After morning routine (tea, get the dogs out, get the dogs petted), I headed to the barn to visit with CC.   I would have liked to longe her but there's a horse who spends his days in the riding ring while trying to fit him into the herd.  I don't think it's going to work because they've been trying for months and nothing has improved.  I could move him into a paddock but that still leaves the riding ring with a fair amount of horse poop and left over hay, not ideal for working in.  But I did spend some time helping with stall cleaning, then just stood and watched the herd.  You don't have to ride a horse to enjoy them.  Often times just being with her is enough.  The barn manager joined me at the fence and one of her horses, Dakota, came looking for some lovin'.  Doesn't he have a beautiful eye?

 

When I came home, one of my gardens called out.  The crocus are blooming!  Sadly, they were still partly covered in leftover dead leaves so  I dragged out rake and wheelbarrow and cleared some winter detritius.  I do love me some crocus.   And doesn't it feel good to garden in early spring!  Annual renewal.  Clears the cobwebs out of the mind and primes desire for More Gardens.  

But before I can play with gardens, there are annual spring chores in the rabbitry.  Taking care of responsibilities makes the play all the more sweet. 

 

 

 

A Speedy Spinner I Ain't

Waaaay back in September, I started spinning some blue angora foof from Bibbi.  I now - finally - have a plied skein.   I finished the single back in January and started winding it onto my ball winder to ply from both ends.  My ball winder is set up but not in a fully useful way and things got a bit off track.  Lop sided center pull balls of singles are a disaster to ply so I ended up winding a lot of the single back onto the bobbin so I could try again.   And in the effort to rewind on the ball winder, my single broke.  It looked like about half was on the ball winder and half on the bobbin.  But.   I do not like left over singles, Sam I Am, not in a box, not with a fox, not in my house and certainly not with a mouse.   So I put the now two singles in time out, and that tied up my ball winder, which was also in time out for its role in the break.  But I needed my ball winder a couple days ago, so pulled the bunny foof off and finally plied that half.  Ooo la la!  About 2 1/2 ounces of sumptious softness.   I don't think I will ever get tired of spinning bunny foof!   Which is good because since I first started this skein, Bibbi has given me another full coat with yet another ready to harvest soon.  I think I have a full sweater's worth of foof from her now, if I wanted a pure angora sweater.   I don't, but I'm thinking a pure angora shawl would be deliciously delightful to snuggle up in on these cold winter nights.  Guess I better get back to spinning. 

Well... It's Felt

But I'm not sure the piece I worked on at Diane's will become a vest.  Early on in the felting, Diane and I discussed the quality of the wool I was working with.  It's merino but it's not fine merino, has a bit of rough texture to it for merino.  It didn't really want to felt easily the way good merino does.   I was having trouble getting the embellishments to felt in.  Here at home, I decided to concentrate on just one spot to see what I could accomplish and how long it would take for success.  After 20 minutes, it ... was... felting... but I decided it wasn't going to be worth the effort to make it nuno felt and I didn't want to lose the silk under the wool.  I peeled the wool off in two sections, layed out one piece on some bubble wrap and wet felted it.  The other piece is not as intact and I'm not sure I can put it back together enough for yardage to sew a vest.   And I'm not sure I want to even if I can.  There is enough that I could easily make a cat bed for Fiona.  I'll be thinking on it.   

Felt Fun

Sometimes I am very lucky.  Yesterday was one of those times.  In the course of raising angora rabbits, I meet a lot of people, many of whom stay in touch.   Diane of Felt Inspiration is one of them and yesterday, she treated me to a day of felt fun in her studio.   In preparation, I gathered up a big variety of my felting fibers because my process begins with only the vaguest idea, generally something as simple as "I want to make a vest."  No clue what I want it to look like or even what colors I want in it, just I want to make a vest.  I've never made a vest and it is a very different process from the felt I usually make: mittens, hats and scarves.  Because I have and love angora fiber, I make my mittens and hats with 50% angora and 50% merino, and the scarves have varying amounts of angora in them.  Angora felts differently from wool, much faster and I can be somewhat carefully rough with it.  Diane offered to supervise me through the vest process.  One really fun side benefit is Diane worked on a couple of her own felt projects - lamp shades - while keeping an eye on me and my vest.   I apparently did not get any photos of those lovely lampshades and that was silly.  They are beautiful.  Perhaps (nudge, nudge Diane!!) she will post photos of them on her blog.

I did get photos (with Diane's permission - always ask an artist if taking and sharing a photo is ok) of some of Diane's work.  One piece in particular just grabbed my heart, a landscape piece hanging on her door while she mulls her next step with it.  Is this not gorgeous?  Both the piece and the fabulous felter creating it.   She also has a wonderful wall o'work in progress. 

Step one in designing a felt vest is making a pattern for it.  It's not quite the same as a sewing pattern, although you can base your felting pattern on a sewing pattern.  Diane took her pattern material and measured it against me to come up with a sort of spongebobsquarepants rectangle around which we (step 2) basted some silk fabric.  Step three is layer the base wool over the silk.  My vest is likely to be a bit heavy as I am an impatient felter and hate this part of the process.  With mittens and hats and often even with scarves, I start with fiber batts.  Much faster than layering thin tufts of roving, and it works for the mittens and hats.  Probably not the best approach for the vest, though so that is Important Lesson One I learned yesterday.  Once the base wool is down, then it is time to embellish and layout the design.  What I want from this vest is to learn the process, to learn what goes where and how things line up, so I wasn't really invested in the design aspect and ended up just sort of throwing color at the wool.  Not sure I like it but time will tell.  Once that was done, Diane introduced me to a new to me tool, one I'd seen before but never used and kind of short sightedly ignored.  Wow!  What a great thing this squirt bulb is!  I feel a field trip to the felting supply store coming on.   I sprinkled away with many a good goofy grin plastered on my face.  Nuthin' like a good tool to add a bit of joy to life, eh?  Once all that is done, the actual felting begins.  I had only enough time to put a bit of skin on the piece, and then bundle the wet pile o'wool into a bag to work on here at home.  

I learned a lot yesterday.  Yes, I have several books here at home that I can and do read, but truly, there is so much more to glean from a friendly felter.  Diane is an amazing felter and if you ever have a chance to take one of her workshops, I highly recommend you take advantage of that chance.  I know I will be a better felt artist for my time with her and that just does wonders for one's soul.  Thank you, Diane!