full of it
Man, this project seems to have taken for ever, but at last this morning I gave my friend Clare (her baby is now 3 months old) a set of fulled (aka felted, but technically fulled) wool baby blocks
I'm really pleased with how they turned out -soft and squishy, bright and colourful -but not in the mass produced boring primary colours way. Something a bit more interesting and shaded. The fact that they went down very well with the giftee is even more satisfying, and makes the frustrations of the process a paler memory.
The Vital Statistics:
What: 6.5cm stuffed felted wool blocks
Yarn: 8ply feltable (fullable?) pure wools such as Panda Woolbale and Lincraft Cosy Wool.
Needles: just whipped up on a knitting machine to a fairly loose tension.
Process and comments:
Frustrations of the process? This wasn't something I was expecting. It seemed like such a simple idea. "Why on earth hasn't everyone made some of these?" I'd wondered.
But that was before I'd spent a couple of afternoons, back bent over Mr Bond cranking out stocking stitch pelts (in the end I found it easier to machine knit standing up rather than sitting down). I didn't totally hate the machine knitting- don't get me wrong- but it was just the first step of what seemed like a really long process to create something so simple.
Next were the traumas of machine felting. My first batch (on the right in the photo) I didn't press first, so the rolled edges stayed rolled, and felted into nice fat sausage edges instead of a nice wide expanse of fulled fabric. Thankfully I'm a quick learner and I usually hedge my bets, so the second batch were steam pressed first and yielded a larger quantity of usable material.
And then there was the cutting. This involved another couple of Sunday afternoons' craft time- crouched over the cutting mat with roller cutter and spare blades, making silly cutting mistakes and producing what seemed like great quantities of wastage. I loathe creating waste. I like efficiency. I like getting the most possible bang for my buck and my effort, and the wastage of what felt ;) like limited resources really annoyed me.
However, playing with the neatly cut squares, putting together little sets of colours (planning them all out carefully after making one test block to see that the stitching and stuffing were going to work) was fun and improved my mood no end. I should mention that the colours were really more luck than anything else- it's hard to find good cheap feltable colour selections during summer down here! I raided a few Sincraft and Scrag-fight stores for Cosy Wool and Panda Woolbale in bright colours, but trying to avoid the primaries -aside from Red of course. Red is essential. And a dash of Blue for some balance to the warmth of the other colours.
The blocks were blanket stitched together with stranded embroidery threads (three strands) in close matching shades, and stuffed with polyester fill to a nice squishy level. I've recommended hand washing them to my friend, noting that they'll cope fine with hot water. The stitching has been perfect TV watching crafting in the evenings. I still have about a dozen more to piece together... they'll be going out as gifts to other friends, and Mr Bond will be going back to live with the Guru, who has some other quick (?) craft projects lined up for him.
But having spotted Judy's Shibori experiments (via Moth Heaven), recalling Alison's shibori work, and eyeing off strange felted creations (amongst other things) at Velvet Boutique, I'm inspired to whip out the machine for one more run before I return it to it's gracious owner. I just need to find some time for a quick trip to Marta's first...
**speaking of Marta's, if you're seeking the pattern for the slubby wool cardigan I knitted, as featured in Knitscene, you can now get it here
I'm really pleased with how they turned out -soft and squishy, bright and colourful -but not in the mass produced boring primary colours way. Something a bit more interesting and shaded. The fact that they went down very well with the giftee is even more satisfying, and makes the frustrations of the process a paler memory.
The Vital Statistics:
What: 6.5cm stuffed felted wool blocks
Yarn: 8ply feltable (fullable?) pure wools such as Panda Woolbale and Lincraft Cosy Wool.
Needles: just whipped up on a knitting machine to a fairly loose tension.
Process and comments:
Frustrations of the process? This wasn't something I was expecting. It seemed like such a simple idea. "Why on earth hasn't everyone made some of these?" I'd wondered.
But that was before I'd spent a couple of afternoons, back bent over Mr Bond cranking out stocking stitch pelts (in the end I found it easier to machine knit standing up rather than sitting down). I didn't totally hate the machine knitting- don't get me wrong- but it was just the first step of what seemed like a really long process to create something so simple.
Next were the traumas of machine felting. My first batch (on the right in the photo) I didn't press first, so the rolled edges stayed rolled, and felted into nice fat sausage edges instead of a nice wide expanse of fulled fabric. Thankfully I'm a quick learner and I usually hedge my bets, so the second batch were steam pressed first and yielded a larger quantity of usable material.
And then there was the cutting. This involved another couple of Sunday afternoons' craft time- crouched over the cutting mat with roller cutter and spare blades, making silly cutting mistakes and producing what seemed like great quantities of wastage. I loathe creating waste. I like efficiency. I like getting the most possible bang for my buck and my effort, and the wastage of what felt ;) like limited resources really annoyed me.
However, playing with the neatly cut squares, putting together little sets of colours (planning them all out carefully after making one test block to see that the stitching and stuffing were going to work) was fun and improved my mood no end. I should mention that the colours were really more luck than anything else- it's hard to find good cheap feltable colour selections during summer down here! I raided a few Sincraft and Scrag-fight stores for Cosy Wool and Panda Woolbale in bright colours, but trying to avoid the primaries -aside from Red of course. Red is essential. And a dash of Blue for some balance to the warmth of the other colours.
The blocks were blanket stitched together with stranded embroidery threads (three strands) in close matching shades, and stuffed with polyester fill to a nice squishy level. I've recommended hand washing them to my friend, noting that they'll cope fine with hot water. The stitching has been perfect TV watching crafting in the evenings. I still have about a dozen more to piece together... they'll be going out as gifts to other friends, and Mr Bond will be going back to live with the Guru, who has some other quick (?) craft projects lined up for him.
But having spotted Judy's Shibori experiments (via Moth Heaven), recalling Alison's shibori work, and eyeing off strange felted creations (amongst other things) at Velvet Boutique, I'm inspired to whip out the machine for one more run before I return it to it's gracious owner. I just need to find some time for a quick trip to Marta's first...
**speaking of Marta's, if you're seeking the pattern for the slubby wool cardigan I knitted, as featured in Knitscene, you can now get it here
posted by Clementine's Shoes at 2:11 PM
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