A flurry of felted things

I suppose this felted Christmas tree is really a prototype. I've often seen sewn and felted trees in that simple conical shape, so I tried to add my own spin by knitting and felting it in three pieces which are then sewn together. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately depending on your point of view) this makes the overall piece a bit uneven in shape - thought you could also say it is 'organic'. I keep changing my mind about whether I like it or not, I think maybe overall the cone needs to widen a little bit faster.

I had made the pieces weeks ago, and was spurred to sew it up and decorate it just a week or so before Christmas, when my friend told me that she didn't have a tree this year, and I thought she might just have room (mentally, physically, spiritually?) for a little one. Oh, once again I didn't measure, but it might be something in the order of 16cm high.

After I finished it, I showed it to K and he annoyed me greatly by suggesting that the tips of each layer should not be sewn down. This meant I basically had to resew all of it, But then it made me happy because he was right, I think it did look better. Funnily enough in photos I think the first option might look better, but in real life we really did prefer it as it is below.


A couple of weeks before I finished work before Christmas, a colleague asked me if I could make a felted fruit bowl. She and her daughter had seen a felt bowl somewhere that the daughter loved, particularly the idea of a centrepiece that wouldn't scratch her table. She had missed buying it, and then heard that I might be able to make something similar.

This is a nice thing to happen, but makes me nervous. I was at pains to point out that what they saw was most likely made with traditional feltmaking techniques, likely to be a firmer fabric than I tend to get with knitting-and-felting. We looked photos of other bowls I've made and talked about the kind of shapes I thought were feasible, as well as the kind of colours her daughter did and didn't like.

Personally, I wouldn't be inclined to use a felt bowl for fruit, simply because I often enough leave something sitting a bit too long and end up with a sticky mess to clean up. But the felt is fully washable.

My first try (the one at the back) came out a bit small for a fruit bowl - so then I sized up....A LOT, as it turned out. It's one of the biggest pieces I've made for felting. (Keep in mind, they shrink down to almost half the knitted size). I didn't measure either, but the wooden bowl next to it is about 21cm in diameter.

I took both to show her and she decided to take both, the smaller one for her other daughter to use for jewellery.



And in the lead up to Christmas I also made a few more pears for some family members who had gaps in their collections.