Needle Felting with Lynda and Lindago

My friend Lynda invited me to participate in a new felting class she's developing. She discovered that Lindago Alpaca Farm near in Neenah owns a needle felting machine, and they rent time on it to other people.   This has totally revolutionized her felting production, as the needle felting machine can shorten the hands-on felting time dramatically.  

She set the class up so that we'd each make-and-take a felted scarf that could be finished in just a couple of hours.  The photo above is my scarf as I laid it out -- painting with dyed wool.  I used my usual color pallet - blues and purples with a touch of green.   She also had some dyed locks which I used as embellishments. 

She started the morning by showing us what was possible -- with some of her own beautiful woven and felted works.  Some with inclusions like beads or silk and ribbons ...  Neat and inspiring stuff!

We painted with wool on a cheesecloth base (also dyed) which gave the pieces structure and stability.

 My scarf in it's entirity, laid out next to Karla's.

 This is how it looked after having run through the needle felter.  You can kind of see the lines of the needles ans they punched through methodically.

 The feeder tray for the needle felter also has a light box to help you judge the density of the fiber you're feeding through.

 Here it is on the other side, where the different layers have been felted into a single layer of fabric.
We ran each scarf through the machine 3 times in total.  2 times with the top up, then 1 time with the back side up. 

 After the needle-felting come the finishing with wet-felting.  Lynda brought out an old bamboo curtain.  We laid out our scarves (now wet with water and Dawn dish soap) on the bamboo. Then we rolled up and began agitating it.  This was so much nicer and shorter than I remember wet-felting before --which took hours!  This was 10 minutes tops.  Made all the easier and more fun with work songs -- kind of like that scene from Outlander where they were waulking the tweed ...

 More wet-felting with the Ladies.

 Lynda leads us through the process / technique

 This finished scarves.  It never ceases to amaze me that a class-full of students given the same assignment will all come up with very different final products.

I still want to add some beads for bling and glitz.  Lynda showed us how to add beads as a felter would, by string the beads on a woolen yarn, then laying it on the felted fabric, then using a needle felting tool to push it into the fabric.  This needs to be wet-felted to secure it. But so much easier than stitching them in one at a time!

 

Karla with a dyed Merino Wool roving, worn as a feather boa -- to go with the python boa she wore a few months ago at the ren fair when she was checking out the snakes on display!  She looks much more relaxed here!

Goat Milk and Honey Soap

Goat Milk and Honey with Clover Flower Scent.  Hmmmhh!

A new batch of soap.

This is the same recipe as the old goat milk and honey soap with oatmeal.  I left out the oatmeal this time, since it's been settling out in the last few batches.

I was surprised to see that I had not previously listed the recipe for this goat milk soap on Sweet Leaf Notebook, so here it is :

Goat Milk Soap - The KEEPER Recipe

21 oz olive oil

14 oz coconut oil

9 oz palm oil

6 oz Red Devil Lye

16.5 oz Goat Milk (or buttermilk), frozen *

1/2 cup ground oatmeal (optional)

2 T. raw honey

Carefully mix the milk and lye in a glass or plastic container. Allow to cool to 92 degrees (It may smell like ammonia if the milk was not frozen.)

Stir in the refined oatmeal and honey.

Mix well.

Warm fats to 92 degrees and slowly add to milk mixture.

Mix for 15 minutes, or until thick like honey; Pour into prepared molds.

Let set for 24-48 hours.

Cut into bars and air cure for 4 - 6 weeks.

Note : The finished soap has a sweet caramelly sweet smell.  Wonderful and worth braving the ammonia smell in the making. 

*  Freeze the goat milk in a zip-lock bag--flat.  When frozen, break it into chunks and put in a lye-proof container.  Immediately add lye.  It will totally melt in about 10 minutes -- WITHOUT smelling like ammonia and burning the milk.

Woollee Winder : My New Toy

I've been thinking about this purchase for more than a year ...  been trying to convince myself that I didn't really need The Woolee Winder, that the hooks on my old flyer work just fine ...  And then I went and put in the order.  So much for disposable income!

It has these gears that run the loop up and down the flier arm, allowing the yarn to fill the bobbin evenly.  It does take a little getting used to. I had to loosen the brake considerably to avoid taking up too much wool too fast.

I think it will be great for plying.

Here's a shot of the old bobbins, wound with the old system of hooks.  It fills the bobbin very unevenly.  It hasn't really been a problem, but it does show a dramatic difference between the old system and the new Woollee Winder.

Here's a close-up of the newly plied yarn. Alpaca is a dream to spin!

I decided I needed to finish spinning this batch of alpaca roving on the old system for the sake of consistency.  Then I can use the Woolee Winder with abandon!

Ailin Learns to Sew

My little niece Ailin is 10 years old.  This summer I am teaching her how to sew.  It's a great reason to pull out my Singer Featherweight to give it a workout.  A great and simple machine to learn on as it only does straight stitch -- and it does it very well.  It's not a fussy machine.

Ailin wanted to make a dress as her first project, but I convinced her that this little origami bag to hold her new sewing kit would be a better beginner project.  It's all straight lines, and gives her a chance to get used to the machine, the foot pedal, gives her a chance to develop hand-eye coordination, sewing speed, keeping the sewing line where you want it ...  remembering to back-stitch at the start and end of a line. 

Skills Ailin worked on with this project :
   *  Pinning edges together
   *  Not running over pins while sewing
   * Sewing in a straight line
   * Top stitching
   * Starting and stopping - securing the start and end of a line of sewing
   * Hand-eye coordination
   * Controlling the foot pedal and sewing speed
   * Ironing Fabric
   * Pressing Seams / Setting Seams
   * Sewing on a Button
   * Feeding ribbon through for a draw string

Since this won't be her regular machine, I did not make her learn to thread the machine, or fill a bobbin.  We've got to save something for next time!

She's a quick learner!  She picked out the coordinating fat quarters, learned about pressing / ironing fabric.

 Auntis Michele (me) with AIlin and her finished Origami Bag

I remember my first sewing project was a little orange sundress with a yellow jacket.  I spent most of my time picking out bad stitches because I was probably too young to really control and coordinate the foot pedal (under the table and out-of-site) with guiding the fabric along the sewing line with my hands.   That was in a 4-H class to begin with.

Later on Gramma Pickles and my mom helped me learn to sew ...  This is the only picture I have of sewing with my Gramma.  Wish I had more ...

Now it's my turn to teach the young ones.

It was a productive afternoon!

Skye in Black and White

Skye (as in Scotland) in black and white.

This photo is from our most recent trip to The Misty Isle in July 2017. 

This treatment with SilverEffects emphasizes the ever-changing and dramatic skies of the land so aptly named for all that drama!  I was going for an Ansel Adams look ...  Not quite there ... but I'll keep it!

Unfortunately, I didn't save a copy and lost the original in the processing of this, or I'd show you the before shot.  Suffice it to say, there was a lot of beautiful green in the foreground.   The only thing missing is the "Hilan Coo!"