Safety First

I have been doing stuff. Only most of it is not blog worthy.

I went to see a talk by Pam de Groot at The Foundry Centre in St. Charles  just this side of St. Louis on Sunday. She is a 'famous' felt maker and she is teaching a couple of intense workshops there this week. I like her work, but she is not a good public speaker, being unable or unwilling to project her voice in a small space. I learned a few things anyway.

There is also a felt maker in one of the upstairs studios, and through her, I have sent in my membership to the St. Louis Weavers' Guild. They have recently formed a felt study group, and she invited me to attend. Her work was lovely; delicate silk and wool nuno pieces with interesting design and use of color.

I made the large bag I wrote about in my last post, which turned out to be denim blue. A learning experience, that. It's a bigger project than I am comfortable doing just now, and a lot of work for a piece that didn't turn our entirely as planned. Oh well. I will think of it as a very large sample.

I ended up tucking those little feet to the inside, which was an improvement. It is not stiff enough across the top to hold its shape, and I am wondering if I should add something there - make it a 'design feature.' The rabbit turned out okay, but the handles I ended up cutting down and adding a rope strap. I made the flap separate and felted it on later, maybe too much later because it was a bear and it doesn't look very polished.

So. I wanted to do a little something totally not felting for a few days. Can I tell you how much I don't like Martha Stewart? This was a knitting and weaving loom I found at the Art Center, a donation. Not that well made, the instructions are poor, and it costs too much for what it is. On the other hand, it has been pleasant enough to sit and rather mindlessly weave a bunch of mug rugs, or cup carpets out of old bits of my handspun wool. They end up between 5 and 6" square when filled, depending. I think I will stop at 20.

I've been feeling kind of beat lately, and it seems that there are too many things tugging at my sleeve, all at once. I need to put on pants and walk the dogs right now.