Three scarves, Three days

Yesterday was the first day of Chad Alice Hagen's Scarf Bonanza workshop. Sponsored by the Weaver's Guild of Minnesota, it is being held at the Textile Center in Minneapolis. Chad is a great teacher and will also be at the Midwest Felting Symposium this summer if you want to take a workshop from her.
The first scarf we made the Airy Fairy Scarf. I will take photos and post them soon (promises, promises!). She gave us some of her own hand dyed fiber to choose from, and everyone's scarf came out nicely. She gave us lots of ideas for variations on the scarf, too. Today we will be doing some dying. Come back soon, and check for pictures.

January felting plans

Happy New Year. I am back from holiday travels, the kids start back to school Monday, and I am suffering from a serious lack of felting. I couldn't do any actual felting today, but I spent some time trying to plan out some goals for 2009, and I looked at the calendar to get a feel for what is coming up.

• January 24th I am teaching Basic 3D wet felting at Crossings in Zumbrota.
• January 22, I am getting together with another Minnesota feltmaker for a day of felting fun. Feltmaking for me is usually a solitary occupation, so I am looking foward to working with someone for a change. This young lady makes hats using Churro-Navaho wool.
• February 7th I am taking a class by Jill Lynn at The Fiber Studio in Minneapolis called Fusion Collage Scarf.
• March13-15 I am taking a scarf workshop by Chad Alice Hagen.

Speaking of Ms. Hagen, the grapevine has it that she will be teaching at the Midwest Felting Symposium in July. Jean Hicks is also said to be teaching there. I can't wait until the schedule is posted.

Our camera started giving us a memory card error of some sort, so it has been sent off for a repair. I hope it comes back soon. Blogging without pictures, even my poor ones, is not nearly as much fun for you readers. And my sitemeter tells me that people have been stopping by from all over the globe. Hello to all of you! I hope you enjoy yourself when you stop by here. Please feel free to comment. It is fun for me to hear from you.

My goals for the week are:

• prepare for the class I'm teaching
• finish needle felting a bowl I've started
• make one scarf using the ultra fine merino I ordered before Christmas

A Felter's Goals

I've been in sort of a funk this week. I haven't done any felting at all. For show and tell, I have a vessel I finished a few weeks ago. I don't think I posted it before.

This week I've been thinking about:

• how to better market my work


• how to improve my work


• what do I want to accomplish in the long run

One of my long term goals is to study under as many good felt makers as possible. So toward that goal, I am taking a workshop in March done by Chad Alice Hagen. She will be teaching Handfelted Scarf Bonanza, a workshop sponsored by the Weavers Guild of Minnesota. Here is the description from their website.

Hand Felted Scarf Bonanza with Chad Alice Hagen

It's fun, instructive, enlightening, creative, and useful! Join us for a full three days of making three very different hand felted scarves. You will learn to hand dye merino fleece, layout and hand felt the famous Airy Fairy Scarf. Then experience using very fine Australian needle punch batts to make the ultra fabulous Bubble Boa Scarf, and last but not at all least - dye, stitch and overdye the incredibly artistic Bark Scarf using the Japanese Mokume resist process.

793 Friday, Saturday, & Sunday, March 13, 14, 15: 9:00am-4:00pm Level: MultiTuition: $345/$285 members Materials Fee: $35 Dye Lab Fee: $45

Another opportunity in 2009 is the Midwest Felting Symposium. I am eagerly waiting to see the class and instructor list. Also, Pat Spark will be teaching in Iowa in June at the Midwest Weavers Conference.

Another of my goals has to do with proficiency. I want to be able to make a wider variety of felted items very well, and to become familiar with using different types of wool and other fibers. I am still a "young" felt maker, and I know I can learn a lot from those with experience.

So here is a challenge for you. Name one goal you have and what action you will take to achieve that goal in 2009. Be brave. Send it to the comments section so we can all encourage you.

Now here is a picture of the cutest little Santa ever seen:

The Great Felting Escape

Saturday was a great day. I escaped to Minneapolis by myself for a nuno scarf class at The Fiber Studio. I'll post a picture of my scarf as soon as I can. Kris Post gave a wonderful class, all very comfortable and relaxed. It was very much like hanging out with old friends for the afternoon.
Of course, I loaded up on supplies while I was there. I bought a few extra silk scarves so I can make a few more nuno style, some merino top, and some Harrisville fleece in several colors. And before I went to class, I stopped at Needlework Unlimited Outlet, conveniently located only a few miles from The Fiber Studio. All the yarn at this outlet is at least 50% off, so, of course, I had to load up. In my defense, I used one of the yarns in my nuno scarf class, and I used some more today as a needle felted embellishment to one of my large vessels.
I came back charged with energy, so Sunday, I felted three small vessels and some Christmas balls. In the evening, I helped Child #1 finish a machine needle felted scarf he'd started. He did a good job on it, and wants to sell it.
Today I made two scarves. One has lace and merino/silk, and for the other I used some of the superfine white Optim merino with some gold mesh fabric.
Pictures later. I seem to be having a hard time getting those photos taken. The best time is when Child #6 is napping, but that is the best time to do many other things, as well. Today Child #5 got sick at school, so I had to turn around and go back almost immediately after dropping her off. She'd been unusually whiny, so I should have known something was up. In addition, DH had to leave unexpectedly on a business trip, so I had some extra chauffeuring to do today that he usually takes care of. It was a busy day, and sometimes these unusual turn of events throw me for a loop. I must still be psyched up from the weekend, because today I just rode the wave and enjoyed the ride.

Nuno Scarf class

Today's the day! I'm going up to Minneapolis for a nuno (laminated) scarf class at The Fiber Studio. Kris Post is the instructor. I believe I met her at the Midwest Felting Symposium. I am looking forward to it. Though I've tried nuno on my own once or twice, I have felt unsure about it. I will be happy to have some instruction.

This past week I did some finishing work (beading, needle felting) on some vessels, and started some scarves. As usual I am trying to be organized, plan out what needs to be done and finish things before I start new ones.

No pictures this time, but if my nuno scarf comes out well, I'll post it.

Happy Saturday!