Sunday, October 31, 2010

Felted Soap Class

Yesterday the guild sponsored a class on making felted soaps with Lynn Williams of Lynn's Texas Fibers. We had a great time, and actually came up with some cute soaps to take home. This is a great gift idea with the holidays coming up and my aunt has already commissioned me to make some party favors for her! You just take a bar of soap, pat wet fiber around it, and decorate as desired. But there is a LOT of patting involved. Most of us had planned to hang around for the afternoon class, but were "patted out" by lunchtime! Below are the three soaps that I finished, and you can see more photos here.

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After fortifying ourselves at BJ's Brewhouse, Roddie and I headed over to Sugarland Yarn Company since I hadn't been there before. Plus, they were having a big halloween "boo bag" sale. Not that that influenced us in any way! We were actually pretty good and resisted most of the impulse buys. I found some nice grey alpaca for a new cardigan to replace one that was unintentionally knitted in superwash yarn, which I hate. And I bought some really pretty yarn for a baby gift. All in all, a very fun and fibery day.

First Yarn from the Peacock

Thanks to being able to spend a whole day spinning at WC Mercantile recently, I was able to finish my first yarn spun on my little Peacock wheel. It's a little rustic looking, but by the time I finished all 8oz of fiber, I was getting pretty comfortable. And I was able to treadle with either foot. The left was definitely more clumsy for a while. The fiber is handpainted BFL superwash (blue-faced leicester combed top). I bought it on my first trip to Yarnorama in Paige, TX. The colorway is called "Remembering Bozo". I thought it would make good mittens for the boys, but the red blended a lot with the white so it's kinda girly. So now I don't know what I'll do with it. I forgot to take photos of the fiber before I started, but here's the finished product.

1st yarn from Peacock wheel