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.

Scrabble, sunset and Spot the cat

We had a family dinner the day after Boxing Day and eldest nephew had an opportunity stay out a bit later after his younger siblings went home to bed, to play Scrabble with his great grandmother and aunts. (Love these bits of informal family time)

Scrabble, however, was interrupted for a while when we noticed that the sunset was amazing, and had to run outside for a better look. And then we were joined by a neighbourhood cat that I've met once before: "Spot," the most friendly, dog-like cat ever.

Pear 'seconds' for sale

Does anyone want a pear or two? These are going for $15 each, two smaller ones for $10 each. They're 'seconds' only in the sense that they are a bit different size or shape from the ones I regularly sell though CraftACT. Some are a bit smaller that usual, yet a bit too big for Christmas decorations. And three of them were older models I made years ago, when the shape used to be much fatter. I actually took the stuffing out of these and re-felted them, as I have changed my method since then and could get a better result. (I used to felt them already stuffed).

Leave a comment, email me or message me on Instagram if you're interested. I'm also always happy to talk about special orders, and there is still a little time before Christmas.

Good but not as intended

Years ago I made a yellow and pink striped felted *thing* which was intended to be an interestingly shaped purse/pouch for a friend's birthday but turned out to be something else entirely.

The shape reminded me of a tissue box cover, if a bit flattened. I didn't know what to do with it. It was some time later that the tissue box association lead me to stuffing it with handkerchiefs to keep handy downstairs. I know the more normal practice would be to keep your hankies somewhere in the vicinity of your underwear drawer. (Though tissue boxes tend to be kept in various household spots.) I try to avoid using tissues and at times I find it much more convenient to have a fresh supply of hankies kept somewhere more handy.

And no, I don't iron my snot-rags nor much else!) though we did learn to iron as kids by ironing all the family's hankies into neat folded rectangles.  

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I never thought of the hanky holder as something that anyone else would want. But when my sister spotted it she loved the idea and wanted one for her household. Luckily I had taken notes back when I thought I was inventing that cool new purse shape, so it was good to have a use for those (though I probably could have figured out the shape and size without too much trouble).

Flower appreciation, nighttime

Last year I was a little bit jaded about Canberra's annual flower festival, Floriade - though I did, for various reasons, go back three times! This year I tried Nightfest for the first time. For this you have to buy a ticket (except for a brief experiment years ago, Floride - during the day - is always free) and it seemed less crowded than the times I went last year, which was a big plus.

It might seem strange to go to see flowers in the dark, and for a garden lover I wouldn't recommend it as an alternative to a daytime visit, but gosh they do some beautiful things with lighting and sound and performances.



This pair, the Walks of Art, were costumed as Monet's "Field of poppies," and Van Gogh's "Starry night" and "Sunflowers." My photos don't capture all the details, they were amazing.






Strings on Fire - a circus / fire tricks / sorta cabaret act.





This display/act was the highlight of the night and I don't know what it was called. It was a light show set to music and quite magical. Lots of people in a tree-lined dark space with these amazing inflatable lamps overhead. The music varied from dance to classical. Of course every person was trying to take photos with phones and cameras. I actually went back a second time just to experience it without trying to get any more photos.

Another brick (Chadwick) in the wall

I recently knit this Chadwick shawl, my third so far, as a special favour for my Mum to give to a dear friend. (Around the same time I requested she make something I really wanted to give my friend - so it was a perfect swap). It's a great pattern and luckily, I often don't mind repeats. Though I am keen to branch out to another Stephen West pattern or two - more on that later.

I put both of them together for the photoshoot.



Mum's friend had fallen in love with her Chadwick and wanted similar colours.



With careful weighing I determined that the leftover amount of the orange Ella Rae lace merino from before, though it looked tiny, would be sufficient for 'Colour B' - last time it was 'Colour A'. The dark purplish colour was some Grignasco Bambi which had been in my stash for years. I think I had the urge to put it with the orange when I made Mum's, but the colour wasn't right for her. I do really like these colours together. And I was delighted to be able to make the shawl from wool I already had.

Queen. Live. I have seen.

It's really hard to know what to say about this.



The tour with Adam Lambert seems to be getting glowing reviews, for the most part.

 Queen, in any form, had not been to Australia since 1985 - just couple of years before I started to become a fan.

If I was to be objective I would say their show/tour is rather a strange thing

it felt a little disjointed at a couple of points (or maybe that was just me coming apart)

also, wonderful.

(here is the set list from last Saturday. Dragon Attack was the surprise gem, also '39. Everything was good.)
but I am not objective
I am a massive fan
I was totally star-struck
I cried
(I was so glad to be there by myself and not give any thought to what a companion might be thinking of the show)
Freddie would have been 68 today. I can't wrap my brain around that.

Some influential books

This has been going around Facebook, a request/challenge to list the ten books that have influenced you the most. It's interesting to think about what has 'influenced' me and what that might mean. I'm not going to overthink it too much or I'll be here for weeks, but I've tried to avoid including books that are simply favourite reads. And yes I can count and I know I've ended up with two lists of eight. I don't like to do exactly what I'm told.

Childhood/teenage (when we we very young...)

What Katy Did, Susan Coolidge. Our copy was old and it might have been one of the books that Mum had acquired second-hand when she was much younger. And now I think about it (and have checked out a few reviews and synopses), gosh it was so preachy and moralising! Perhaps it should be called 'The Taming of the Tomboy'. I don't think I'll be suggesting this one to my niece. I've included this more as an example of many quite old books I read which included words, places and situations that were hard to understand. I remember often reading and rereading books that had these little mysterious bits in them that I couldn't solve (or sometimes misunderstood), and it sort of made them a bit magical. That's why I think it's sad that they translate books like Harry Potter into American English. That's a missed opportunity to learn about cultural differences, and preserve a bit of mystery.

Edited after more thought:
I've thought a bit more about this - considering the Harry Potter series were books that got a lot of people of all ages reading, some who otherwise didn't read much, perhaps there is a place for this sort of thing. One person's fun challenge could easily be another's insurmountable barrier. And I know lots of keen literary types in North America just made sure they ordered the British versions.

Boy, Roald Dahl. One of those ones everyone at school was talking about. I doubt anyone who read this has ever forgotten the scene where he had his tonsils removed in the dentist's chair, brutally, without any anaesthetic. Lots of blood. Harsh times.

Playing Beattie Bow, Ruth Park. With a girl from the present being drawn into the past it was so exciting. I also remember the spooky feeling of present day Sydney (specifically the Rocks district) being lightly overlaid over the past - probably more from the movie, which I remember Grandma taking me and my sisters to. In the movie Abigail was played a bit older and the romance side was more prominent.

The Changeover, Margaret Mahy. Teen supernatural romance, but nothing like Twilight. I think. I maintain that it was much more classy.

Z for Zachariah, Paul Beadle. I can't remember if this is any good but it gave me a taste for post-apocalyptic survival stories. (later favourites include the heartbreaking A Canticle for Leibowitz, The Stand, The Passage, Wool...I could go on)

Forever, Judy Blume. Another one of those books everyone at school was talking about! Educational. Mm hmm.

Swords and Crowns and Rings, Ruth Park. Beautiful, epic, heartbreaking, tragic and romantic story, dealing with tolerance and intolerance.

Either Christine or Cujo would have been my first Stephen King, the first of many scary books I have adored. It's a bit strange as I never liked/tolerated scary movies or TV shows as a kid/teenager. Throughout childhood I was terrified of Dr Who, even the sound of the theme music. I think my visualisation skills aren't that strong, so I don't scare myself too much when reading. And I am drawn to supernatural and other quirky stories. (I still read King, and these days a good example of quirky/scary stuff I love is Phil Rickman's Merrily Watkins series.)

Later on (now we are six grown up?)

Animal Farm, George Orwell. Sure, it's one we all probably had to "do" at school. I don't think I've read it since, but I plan to pick up this as well as 1984, again soon. And it turns  out to be one of those 'how the world works' books. The punchline, 'all pigs are equal, but some are more equal than others' comes to mind so often. I may be over simplifying but I don't think it's just about communism or any particular political structures, but about human nature. We humans have to keep on grouping ourselves and defining who doesn't belong and isn't as good.

My traitor's heart, Rian Malan. The Power of One triggered a fascination with South African apartheid, then I came across this devastating book, where Malan uncovers many horrible things and tries to come to terms with his heritage. It used to seem easy to feel morally superior to the Boers and at one stage every Hollywood movie seemed to have a bad guy with an Afrikaans accent. But since then I've learned more about our own white settlement history (not least via the TV series First Australians) and can see the bigger pattern.

Guns, germs and steel, Jared Diamond. - a real a-ha moment, big picture of how and why 'civilisation' started and spread unevenly through the world.

The Gold Coast, Kim Stanley Robinson. In the opening scene, the characters travel on a highway system with linked driverless cars, and the idea has always stayed with me. The future takes so much longer to arrive than to imagine.

Death: the high cost of living, Neil Gaiman, Chris Bachalo, Mark Buckingham, Dave McKean. Intro to reading comics and intro to Neil Gaiman too.

Wonder Woman, George Perez, Len Wein, Greg Potter. Their run on the comic relaunched the character in 1987, and although I started collecting in the mid 90's, I also bought a lot of back issues. The look and feel and storytelling of this period of Wonder Woman (the first few issues are collected in a trade paperback called 'Gods and Mortals') is the best. How comics should be.

The Mirror of her dreams/A man rides through (Mordant's need), Stephen Donaldson. The first fantasy novels I was able to get into and it was thanks to the device of the main character starting out in the recognisable real/modern world and being pulled into the fantasy world. No idea if I would like it if I read it now, I haven't read Donaldson's other work but have been put off much more recently by hearing just how unlikeable Thomas Covenant is. A bit later on, I got deeply into Guy Gavriel Kay's Fionvar Tapestry which also used a similar device bridging the 'real' world and the fantasy one.

Electric Eden, Rob Young. Right time, right place - a growing interest in folk music of many kinds, a trip to the UK, and there was this book, on the shop shelf, calling to me. So much in it, I loved exploring all the connections as he casts a very wide net. I must reread it soon. Also probably find something along similar lines based in the US. (Any suggestions?)

I can't imagine this will be the last time I knit penguins

A friend asked for a hat in these colours, with no stipulations about the design. At first I thought just something striped or maybe a simple, non-cutesy motif. You know, a non-embarassing all-purpose bloke-suitable beanie. But for various reasons, once I thought of penguins, it had to be a penguin hat! The overall look was somewhat inspired by this penguins galore hat, but the penguins I preferred came from the snowflake penguin hat by Ikumi Kayama, though I modified them to make them a bit fatter. (They still aren't the fat penguins they really should be.)

After these photos were taken, I learned that the hat was a little bit short, so I took it back and ripped back from the crown to where I had started the decreases, to add a few more rows there. With no pics you'll have to take my word for it, but it worked out better because it meant I could finish the penguins before starting the decreases.
   

The Homemade Exchange is alive!

Check out The Homemade Exchange! The online exhibition went live with all the final art works last Friday.  My sister, Demelza Sherwood came up with and executed this wonderful idea and I was thrilled she asked me to be part of it.

Each participant was asked to provide a photo of a 'domestic setting without people.' Demelza then redistributed the photos, each one to be used as inspiration for a piece of creative work in any medium. The picture up top is the one I submitted - my first idea didn't work well and I ended up racing around the house one sunny morning, close to the deadline, looking for something interesting. Those pencils have lived on my windowsill for ages. I really should get them down and draw with them some time.

Above is the delicious image I received back, which came from the lovely Stephanie Hicks. Lots of inspiring texture, and I do love a nice stone wall.

And this is my (untitled) vessel in response. I made a square sided vessel in pieces and appliqued the stones/bricks on separately. All the pieces were just lightly felted before being sewn together, and then I felted the whole piece thoroughly.

A couple of in-progress shots below - after sewing together and before final felting. It was only after I finished felting and was contemplating how to photograph it, that I decided to turn it out the other way and have the applique on the inside. I just liked it much better that way.

The Homemade Exchange is part of Craft Victoria's Craft Cubed festival and will be available online until 31 August. The participants are located in Switzerland, Israel, Canada and Australia, and as Demelza explains in her Craft Cubed interview, she was inspired by the experience of sharing images in Instagram and wanted an exhibition idea that would be a playful collaboration, and also manageable for friends living overseas to join in. 

I loved being part of this, along with a lot of really talented artists and makers, including sister Emma and Rozalie Sherwood too. The absolute best part was late at night on Thursday when I finally got to see all the work in place. I love seeing the different ways people took something from the original photo, whether it was colour, composition, subject matter, or even using the photo itself as source material, and made something extraordinary. The works are so diverse and yet it seems to belong together.