Mason bear closeup
A wee escape into the Highlands for some knitting

A wee escape into the Highlands for some knitting

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If you’re reading this post, there’s a good chance you have at least one crafty friend group; whether yours meets up for felting, crocheting, summoning the Gods of Wool under the full moon (wait, that last one might be just me…) or a bit of everything, it’s good to get together with like-minded people and share an activity in joyful companionship.

This past weekend, I met up with 3 friends for some light travelling and knitting. We rented an AirBnB in the Highlands and departed on Thursday for 3 days of crafting and castle-visiting fun.

Our first stop was Glamis Castle. This is a castle dating back to 1372, with rather lovely gardens. Sadly we’re not allowed to take pictures inside due to it still being the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne’s residence, so I shall only be able to regale you a few whimsical images of the outdoors.

First, witches!

The 3 Macbeth witches, weathered wood sculpture
Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble

The back of one of Macbeth's witches wood sculpture

I was mesmerised by these sculptures, the weathering and liveliness of the faces, the texture… Surely this could inspire a felted artwork?

I’m terrible at taking photos of the “big picture” but love details. Here are a couple.

This needs to be a yarn colourway…
Buzz buzz
What a lovely concept.

The following day we went to Crathes Castle, this one in the capable hands of the National Trust for Scotland. Again, marvellous gardens, and this time I was allowed to photograph the inside, but if you know me, you won’t be surprised I forgot to… apart from one little detail that I’ll show below.

Is this a thistle? Regardless, it’s gorgeous!
Well. There’s really no need to comment on this plant, is there?…
Facing the wrong side…
What a marvellous fuzzy plant. It almost seems made up…
I really want to know how a tree is crowned champion. Also, this is the best tree because it’s Portuguese (and guess half my nationality!)

I think my captions really er, capture my thoughts on these images (hover with your mouse to read them!), but I do need to point out my outrage when I saw that the spinning wheel was facing the wrong side. WHY do I see this all the time in exhibits? Yes, I had to tell the people responsible. Yes, if I lived near I’d go back in a few week’s time and check up on the status of this scandalous situation. Yes, I am aware most people wouldn’t care.

Finally, you’ll be delighted to know I do have knitting photos to share!

I went to the Highlands full of hope and with a sense of endless time, and of course was perfectly convinced I’d knit and finish all three of the projects I took with me. The truth is, I hyper fixated on just one and that’s what I have to show you.

Meet Mason Bear.

Half-finished knitted bear

This is an adorable knitted bear pattern that I’ve made a few times already, and until recently never kept one. That’s been corrected, but this guy was meant for a friend who is going through some challenges and I thought could use a pick-me-up.
Although the pattern is meant to be knit flat, a few simple adjustments make it perfect for knitting in the round, and this means you can purl a lot less and stuff him as you go along. Very convenient, if slightly menacing-sounding.

Now renamed Timothy, this bear took a brave bus ride during the busy Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and is now living his best life in a place where he will be loved.

Tell me about your retreats! How many have you taken part in? Are they “official” or are they just with friends?

Purple and Gold Nuno Felted Scarf
New Online Class!

New Online Class!

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Do you want to learn about nuno felting, adding fabric to your wool to create a wonderful piece of textured cloth? My new online class is an affordable and easy way to learn about nuno felting. Registration begins tomorrow (August 10, 2026) and the first session will begin August 21, 2026. Click here to find more information.

Nuno Felted Scarf with Prefelt Leaves

You will learn the basics of nuno felting, creating samples first and then working into scarves and a nuno felted “painting”. The course has four weeks of PDF and video instruction and two weeks of further instructor interaction. You don’t need to be present at any specific time over the six week course.

Manipulated silk roses nuno felted to background

You will also learn other ways to use fabric and paper in your wet felting. There is even a bonus PDF with dyeing information and resources so that you can dye your own fabric to create beautiful nuno felted pieces. Click on the link below to register and read all about the class.

Nuno Felting – Fiber + Fabric

Other online classes available:

3D Multi-Part Resist

Hanging Felted Spiral

The finished pod

Wet Felting a 3D Pod

Wet Felting for Beginners

Small Spiral Attempt 2

Small Spiral Attempt 2

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After the last less than successful attempt at making a small spiral, I thought I would try some prefelt. Here is the link to the last attempt. Small spiral fail

I have 2 kinds of prefelt. One is thin and almost transparent. The other is thick, and you can peel it into two layers if you want to.

I cut 3 circles from both types of prefelt. I also cut holes in the centres and a slit. You can really see the difference in thickness in this picture of the circles stacked together.

The green is very thin, so I just overlapped the ends of each circle and gave it a few jabs with my felting needle to hold it in place

The white is quite thick, so I split the ends, then cut one side off. I then overlapped the ends and needled them a little so they would stay in place.

I wet them and inserted the resists between the layers.

Then I tubbed them both for 5 min on each side.

5 min on each side seemed to be enough. They were stuck together and feeling more solid. They had shrunk a tiny bit.

I gently rolled them in my hands so they would full. I kept checking them. I didn’t want to turn them into felt balls or snakes.

They both had good shrinkage. I was worried about the hole in the centre getting too big, but they stayed about the same ratio to the outside circle.

 

They both turned out quite well.

 

I let them dry flat, and they hang about the same dry as wet. If I weighted them, they would stretch longer, but I like them like this.

My plan had been to add them to a beaded stick keychain like the ones with the sheep.

When I tried to add them to a beeded stick, they wanted to stick in between the beads, making it hard to get a nice spiral. I may try them without the beads, but I am wondering if I got some of just the keychain end part; they might just hang free with maybe a curly lock on the end.

Multi colored nuno felt background with trees and autumn foliage
Transitions

Transitions

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I had a wonderful sales month at the 4 Ravens Gallery in Missoula and sold four pieces in the space of 30 days! Yay, happy dance and then… I suddenly realized that the gallery only had 2 small pieces left. I needed more work and it’s summertime and I don’t want to miss the tourist season.

Multi colored nuno felt background with tree shapes placed.

I found I had a multicolored piece of nuno felt big enough to split into two pieces. You can see the edge of the second piece on the right. My trees always seem to sell quickly so of course, more trees it is. I found a piece of handdyed fabric that I had used as “matte” fabric and it was perfect for making tree trunks. I worked out a configuration of trunks that I liked.

Multi colored nuno felt background with tree shapes stitched and auditioning different leaf types with cheesecloth.

Then I hand stitched the trunks in place and tried out some cheesecloth as foliage. I had created a piece before with cheesecloth and tried that idea on the left. It looked too Dr. Seuss in these colors. So I chopped up smaller pieces and thought that would work better.

Multi colored nuno felt background with trees and beginning of placement of leaves and undergrowth.

So I added more, spread the pieces out a bit and added some cheesecloth to the foreground for undergrowth.

Multi colored nuno felt background with trees and foliage.

Here it is before I stitched it all down. The cheesecloth moves around easily so it changes as I stitch but hopefully, that makes it more organic and less regular.

Multi colored nuno felt background with trees and autumn foliage

Here is the piece after all the stitching is complete. The funny thing I noticed is that there are several areas that look like shadows in the foreground from the tree trunks. They weren’t planned but I guess I must have noticed them subconsciously, as they seem to work perfectly. I’m calling this one Transitions.

I dyed a piece of muslin in dark burnt orange for the “matte” fabric, laced it to a backing and took it to the framers.

Framed nuno felted landscape with autumn forest

Here’s the piece framed. I have worked on two other pieces and traded around some pieces that I had at a gallery in Kalispell, so I will have 5 pieces to take to Missoula in a week or so.

Cover Page for Nuno Felting Online Class

In other exciting news, I have a new online class that will be starting on August 21st. Click here to learn more about the class.

Putting text into textiles

Putting text into textiles

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In March I attended a workshop, with the above title, given by a visiting tutor Jo Yeates (see – instagram@made52).

01
01a Examples of Jo’s teaching samples
01b

The idea was to hand-stitch a layered fabric collage featuring text which could be stitched, stencilled, stamped, written typed etc. To this we could add stitching, lace, buttons and ephemera to embellish. It could be a favourite word, a person’s name, a special place or a short phrase.

As you will have read many times before, I am incapable of going to a workshop ‘blind’.  So having done my research, I decided that for me, who never uses text in her textile work, the perfect word would be ‘FAMILY’. My reasoning….I’ve always wanted to set up a dedicated wall of significant memorable photos and in the near future I will have that opportunity.

What came out of my thinking was that you have a family tree related to ancestry and heritage – yes, I want to include a couple of historical photos on my wall.  Additionally, to me, family means the grounded roots and the growth of branches finding their own way….or am I being too philosophical here 🤔

 

With this in mind, I finessed my research online to explore the various ways one could write the word, that would spark my imagination – thank you to the originators of the text examples I studied and show below.

02 Text samples

Once we got going at the workshop, I fiddled with how I would undertake my writing.

 

Once we got going at the workshop, I fiddled with how I would undertake my writing.
03 Experimenting with my writing

Decades ago, I embroidered an initial letter on a piece of fabric by couching some piping cord down and then ‘wrapping’ a variety of beads around the cord. It was very effective. Although I recently found it, I forgot to photograph it and it has once again disappeared into the depths….so I will leave it to your imagination.

I thought about this construction for my ‘F’ but decided that it would be too deep especially as a certain Scandinavian store no longer sells the small, shallow (2.5 deep internally) Ribba frames that we have all loved for so long. the deeper ones yes, but not the shallower ones….😭   Instead I need to find a ‘forgiving’ ordinary frame!

Again, for the beading I had found some inspiring work online, sadly the author was not given – thank you to whomever you are.

An aside….Each time I gather research work for any workshop I file it. Over the years I have gained quite a bulging file to which I refer time and again to trigger inspiration. I’m sure I’m not alone.

04 Beading inspiration

Using a piece of our old sofa cover fabric (it keeps coming in useful!) and knowing the size I wanted the finished piece to be (the square of paper) I aligned the fabric pattern to suit my word and started adding the collage pieces before writing.

05 Aligning the pattern to suit collage placement and my word
06 Collage pieces added ready to stitch in place and word written
07 Stitching commenced

Stitching completed and the beading commenced it was all too soon the end of the workshop and time for the show and tell. There were many beautiful items produced (below is just a flavour) and I hope they all find a good home.

08-12 Work produced by some other members of my textile group

I had started the beading at the workshop, and you can see how it will, hopefully, look when matted. But, by the time I got home, I wasn’t totally happy, so I unpicked it and eventually started again with a better mix of beads.

13 At the end of the workshop within a paper mount
14 With the beading changed

I learned that my chosen word is unsurprisingly a popular choice generally (I was the only one in our group) although using it to announce a storyboard of photos seemed unique. There will be fun to come!

The piece is now potentially complete and awaiting stretching (my method using a sewing machine and mountboard), however I am prevaricating for two reasons – 1. I need to locate a suitable 23 x 23cm (9 x 9in) shallow box frame and 2. I think I need to emphasize the ‘amily’ a little more so that it can be seen from a about 1.5m away….

15 Unframed due to indecision

….do let me know your thoughts.

Door stop installed
New door stop

New door stop

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Our cottage now has a robotic vacuum, which means we no longer spend half our visit sucking up dead bugs. Technology wins again. Of course, the little machine has a habit of wedging itself into the most improbable places. The bathroom has been a repeat trouble spot, so we started propping the door shut with a brick whenever we leave. That worked—until the brick and the robot teamed up to scuff the door. My husband’s solution was to wrap the brick in duct tape, giving our makeshift doorstop a slightly more “gentle” finish.

Having finally identified the problem, I decided we needed a doorstop with a bit more padding. So I brought home a fresh brick to turn into our upgraded, cottage‑friendly version. I dug out my punch‑needle supplies and got to work. Step one was making a template: using the brick itself, I traced the top and each of the sides so I’d have the exact dimensions to cover it properly.

Next, I had to settle on a design. I ended up sketching a grid and decided to fill it with random blocks of colour. With that plan in mind, I dug through my yarn stash and pulled out a skein of Lion Brand Respun. Since the yarn shifts colours, I wound it into separate balls, snipping each shade apart as I went. That left me with tidy little piles of red, orange, yellow, green, and blue to work with. I also grabbed a ball of black yarn that was roughly the same thickness to round out the palette.

With my design sorted out, it was time to test my new frame—a rotating model from The Needleworks Shop  that I snagged back in November from a Facebook destash group. Once the Monk’s cloth was mounted, I could finally start punching. Since we’re looking at the back side of the work, the texture isn’t visible yet, but the layout is. I filled in the black squares first, then began adding the colours at random. My goal was simply to spread everything out evenly and avoid having two neighbouring squares in the same shade.

With the punching finished, I took the piece off the frame and flipped it over. The front was a wild tangle of yarn tails—messy enough that it was hard to see the actual design underneath. It was time to start trimming everything down and reveal how the pattern really turned out.

With the punching done, I set the piece aside for the night. I was pretty pleased with myself—drawing the design, winding the yarn, and punching the whole thing in a single evening felt like a solid win. The next day, I pulled out my brick and tested how the cover fit. That first attempt at folding it over the brick was surprisingly encouraging; everything seemed to line up just the way I’d hoped.

Wrapped around the brick to test fit
Wrapped around the brick to test fit

I dug out my sewing supplies and started stitching up the corners. Sewing around a brick turned out to be a bit awkward, but with some patience I managed to get all four corners secured. I used black thread so it would blend in with the punched design and disappear into the background.

With the corners finished, it was time to tackle the bottom. As you can see from the photos, sewing the corners left quite a bit of excess Monk’s cloth to deal with. I experimented with a few different folding options until I found one that looked tidy. Then I trimmed away the extra fabric so I wouldn’t end up with a big lump on the underside of the doorstop. Using white thread, I stitched the flaps down. The sewing isn’t especially neat, but it’s solid and functional—and that’s good enough for me.

A few days later, I brought the finished doorstop up to the cottage and swapped it in for the old duct‑taped brick. Here it is in its new home, doing its job and looking far more cheerful than its predecessor. I’m genuinely pleased with how it turned out, and I’ll probably make another one at some point. Small projects like this are such a fun way to experiment and build confidence in my skills.

Door stop installed
Door stop installed

 

 

 

More Circle Play

More Circle Play

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Come play and design with me…

In an earlier blogpost, I mentioned I had purchased a Flower Stitch Foot for my sewing machine. https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/12/30/flower-stitch-foot/. I haven’t had much time to play with it since I purchased it and I was a bit disappointed that it only made smaller circles, closer to 1” in diameter.

I was recently at a quilt retreat with my sister and she was working on a wall hanging that involved making 6” individual fabric circles. Her little gadget was called a Circular Embroidery Attachment. It got me thinking that I could machine stitch bigger circles onto fabric using my machine’s decorative stitches and could then integrate my smaller Flower Stitch Foot circles into the mix somehow. I watched a couple of YouTube videos on using this new attachment and got a few good pointers.

Circular Sewing Machine Attachment at Amber Toney blog

I took a 16” x 16” square of cotton lawn fabric and fused some ShapeFlex101 to it. I set the attachment to go as large as it would go. (10 ½”). I questioned my choice of stabilizer on the sample piece but I may want to do some hand stitching on this so I don’t want it to be too stiff.

I decided to begin with a straight stitch. I had to really watch and handle the sample to keep it from buckling. One YouTube tip said that your machine is trying to sew forward, not in a circular motion so your fabric may try to buckle. I also wasn’t sure if the end of the circle would match the beginning of the circle. (It was close). Probably if I had used a stronger stabilizer than the SF101, these two things might not have been an issue.

White Fabric attached to circle attachment

Then I thought I would try adding 4 circles to the inside of the big circle to see how finicky the tool was. I divided the sample into quarters and tried to find the centers for my attachment pin.

Circle divided into 4 sections and adding circles within each section

I used a compass and thought I did a good job, but once I stitched all four of them, I see they all overlapped. So much for precision…in hindsight I should have done this step differently.

The four quarter circles machine stitched.

Next, I thought I would try using some decorative stitches. I also decided that I would use a triatic color scheme of green, yellow and red violet. Starting off I thought I would focus more on the red violet color. I’m having difficulty getting the beginning and ending of the circle to line up. Hopefully that won’t be too noticeable as I progress.

Using a decorative machine stitch on the quarter circles

I was attracted to the diamond shape in the middle so next I decided to stitch out from that as my middle point.

decorative machine stitching in the center of the 4 quarter shapes

Wow, that yellow sure took over! I’ll keep going in circles with a variety of threads and stitches to see if I can tone that down.

Now I’m kind of liking what is happening with the center circle areas. I changed to my small Flower Stitch foot and tried putting those four small circles into the center area. I thought the first one was perfect. Then I couldn’t get the other 3 to cooperate at all. And look at how the original four circles are standing out saying LOOK AT ME. Some parts of this I like, other parts not so much.

 

 

Next, I tried using some Inktense pencils around the outer rick rack looking circle and in the center. I can’t quit seeing those 4 red violet circles…time to do some unstitching I think to see if I can get my eyes to focus on the other circle.

adding green inktense pencil to two areas

 

Outer stitches and center circles removed. Interesting…I’m feeling it calm down a bit and it is saving itself from being tossed into the waste bin.

circle edges and small center circles removed

Then I added a small velvet circle to the center.

Added a small velvet circle to the middle

Next, I got a bit braver and decided to paint some more areas with the Inktense pencils. I painted the inside circle and around the outside circle with red violet, next to the red violet rick rack in hopes of eliminating any white fabric once I cut it away from the white fabric. I intend to applique it to a different background fabric. Very carefully, I cut the whole circle out and fused some Wonder Under to it. Amazingly it was laying pretty flat!

circle cut out and pinkish paint added to center area

It still seems too white to me.

Time to try out some background possibilities to see if that will help give me some direction to go with this. It’s amazing the ideas that crop up with all the different background colors.

circle on green fabric  

Well, that was fun! I decided to go with the two tone piece at the end. Now to play with some added elements.
I cut out some ½” and ¾” circles with fusible on the back of them.

circle on multi colored background with small circle elements added

Still too much white for me so I decided to do some more painting. This time I used some textile paint, red and white and watered down quite a bit. I had no idea how the threads (cotton, rayon and polyester) or the fabric would react to the paint. I was worried about it running. I very carefully painted one circle round at a time and the threads did not pick up the paint. Yay! I left some white showing. I can always paint it later.

added more pink paint to the circle center

Now I need to decide how big I want it to be upon completion. The one above is 18” x 22”. I’m leaning towards this size versus the cropped size in the next photo. I think it recedes better on the larger size.
I may still add other elements to it before I quilt it. I may do some hand stitching, too.

same as previous photo but a cropped version of it

It has been a challenging, fun experiment using my large circle attachment and working with the triadic pallet of green, yellow and red-violet. I think that the four circles that were giving me such grief in the beginning ended up bringing some interest and movement to the final circle. I was happy to be able to use a piece from my painted fabric stash as the background. And I can add this piece to my series of full moon quilts.
Thanks for playing along with me! I’ll try to remember to show you the finished piece in a future blogpost.

Happy Creating!
Tesi Vaara

The Curious Case of Percy the Purple Piggy

The Curious Case of Percy the Purple Piggy

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One of the unexpected joys of moving to New Zealand has been discovering fibre retreats.

For some reason, they seemed to be relatively rare in the UK, and when they did happen they were often centred around a tutor-led, multi-day course. They were wonderful, but by the time you added tuition, accommodation and travel, they weren’t exactly budget-friendly.

New Zealand seems to have embraced a different philosophy and I absolutely love it.

Here in Auckland we’ve been lucky enough to have at least 4 fibre retreats every year. Rather than everyone working on the same, tutor-guided project, they’re more like a creative escape. We spend two or three days away together, sharing accommodation, meals and ideas, while everyone works on their own projects.

The best part? Inspiration is wonderfully contagious.

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Someone will usually demonstrate a technique, that others will then add their own interpretation to, someone will try a different fibre, another will change the resist or shape and someone else will scale it up… and before long half the room is experimenting with the same idea, each taking it in a completely different direction.

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It’s impossible to come home without learning something new. This is a post I wrote after a previous retreat that perfectly demonstrates how everyone will take the same idea and take it in so many different directions my mind boggles.

Of course, retreats aren’t just about making things. They’re about uninterrupted creativity, glasses of wine, home-made cakes, solving each other’s problems, enabling each other’s fibre purchases (“Go on, you know you need it!”), and those conversations that only make sense to fellow fibre enthusiasts.

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Sadly, at our last Auckland Felters retreat we received some disappointing news. Bella Rakha, the retreat centre we’ve called home for years, has been sold, and the new owners won’t be hiring it out.

Our March retreat was our last one there 🙁

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The extensive collection of works made at our last AFF retreat

Finding a replacement is proving much harder than any of us imagined. It turns out we are (mostly) well behaved but rather particular guests.

We need a large hall with hard floors (water and carpet are not natural companions!), comfortable single or twin-share bedrooms rather than bunk rooms, somewhere to prepare or reheat shared meals and enough space for up to 20 felters to spread out with what can only be described as a completely reasonable amount of wool and equipment. 😉

So far we’ve discovered that most venues can offer either the accommodation or the workshop space but rarely both.

I have been contacting boarding schools to see whether they’d hire out their facilities during the holidays. So far… no luck.

Fortunately, Lyndal, one of our AFF members who makes the 1.5 hour journey from Hamilton to Auckland for our regular meetings and retreats, came to the rescue. She found a lovely venue closer to her home and very generously organised a weekend away.

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It cost a little more than Bella Rakha, but the facilities were wonderful. Bright workspaces, comfortable rooms… and, perhaps most excitingly for a group of wet felters, a laundry complete with spin dryers and tumble dryers right next to the hall! Luxury indeed.

Sadly, it’s probably a little too far south to become our permanent home, as it would mean a three-hour drive each way for members travelling from Auckland’s northern suburbs. Some of whom can only attend retreats as day visitors due to family commitments.

Still, every retreat produces at least one memorable story…

This time, mine involved a boring, green plastic mailbox.

I’d decided to make a cover for our rural letterbox in the shape of a purple tabby cat. Everything was progressing beautifully until I fitted the felt over the postbox and discovered I’d positioned the ears incorrectly.

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They were so far apart that my elegant feline looked less like a cat and more like… well… something more porcine.

After a few moments of artistic denial, I accepted the reality.

My purrfect, pampered purple pussy became a pig.

A very cheerful, glittering, purple pig. He looks like he is ready go dancing!

We called him Percy, Percy the Purple Piggy 🙂

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Mr TB sporting traditional Kiwi footwear while installing a worried looking Percy, “Where are you going with that screwdriver?!!”

Even though he isn’t what I imagined when I started this make, I love him to bits and Jaq’s idea to add an ear tag for the house number was inspired!

Perhaps that’s another lesson retreats teach us. Sometimes the best creations aren’t the ones you planned—they’re the ones that happen after you’ve made a mistake and decided to embrace it.

Can You Help?

The search for a new Auckland retreat venue continues.

Do you know of somewhere within an hour’s drive of central Auckland that might suit a group of enthusiastic fibre artists?

We’re looking for:

  • a large hall with hard floors
  • at least 10 single or twin-share bedrooms
  • kitchen or meal facilities
  • somewhere affordable enough to keep retreats accessible

If you know of a retreat centre, boarding school, scout camp, church facility or hidden gem that might fit the bill, we’d love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or send us a message.

Who knows—you might help us find the next home for many more weekends of creativity, friendship… and the occasional accidental purple pig.

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Summer Fiber Prep has started for 2026

Summer Fiber Prep has started for 2026

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July 17 2026 (how did that arrive so quickly?) I am just back from my Doctor’s appointment (I passed my blood work and am good for another 6 month! still not quite back to normal but moving in the correct direction.) its summer so let’s do some summer things! Ok, so how many fleeces have I collected…. and now need to wash?

Fleece 1 for 2026:

A couple months ago I went south of Ottawa to the town of Spencerville, (it has a very photogenic mill you saw in a post a few years ago as well as a lovely small fiber festival).

brick low building with dubble glass doors and name "Drummond Building" in Spencerville Ontario Canada.1.1) fabulous parking space rite by the door of the event!  We were a bit early.

It was a small but well done event, lots of variety in booths and lots of shopping. From fiber to Yarn to finished products as well as fiber prep and weaving equipment.

5 photos of booths and close ups of the sale in spencervill3 20261.2) a few shots of the sale 2026.

One of the booths had some very nice looking fleeces. I took a few photos there and then kept on with the photo documentation, definitely planning to come back for one of the fleeces.

open bags of various fleeces , close up of 2 bags and th name of the booth 1.3) The Sweet Sheep Co. booth full of bags of fleeces.

I am sure you have already guessed it was an Icelandic cross with lovely shades of tog from white to cream to grey. The thel also had lovely variations. Unfortunately as I returned to buy it, someone had spotted this fine fleece and had the bag in hand, and was BUYING IT!!! I was so disappointed. Oh well, maybe I will get next year’s sheering?

2 people in booth with bags of fleece 1.4) shopping Oops, missed the fleece I had  wanted.

Seeing my obvious disappointment, the vender said she had a smiler Icelandic cross under the table…. It was bigger…. So I stopped the photography, percussed it and added it to the walker! (Ann ran it out to Glenn who was possibly snoozing in the car. Thanks Ann!) It was a much bigger fleece as you will see further down. That should keep me busy this summer.

 

OOPS Fleece #2, 3 and 4:

The local Ottawa Guild was contacted by a sheep farm outside of Ottawa wondering if we wanted their fleeces. They are primarily razed for meat but were described as having good fleeces and some were “not white”. Jean got the message and drove out to pick up the fleeces from the “organic sheep”. They arrived the afternoon of a guild social and we emptied one of the multiple feed  bag stuffed with what we thought was a fleece each,  onto a table to see what the fleeces looked like.  we found there were three fleeces in the first bag. I re-bagged them in clear plastic, so they could be seen, and admired, more easily. I selected two brown fleeces that night,  then the next week picked a black and white fleece which was particularly soft.

1.5 (fleeces in feed bags at studio), 1.6 (photos of the top of 4 of the feed bags showing fleece), 1.7 (the 2 dark brownish fleeces i chose) Organic sheep fleeces Jean picked up for the guild. (There are still a few bags left!)

hand washed samples from one of the dark fleeces also a bit sample of spinning in the greese1.8) sampling one of the fleeces, quick hand wash and mostly dry and sample spin the grease.

I left the two dark fleeces in the side yard, they looked reasonably serkerted, and took the multi-colour fleece to the cottage. Glenn got the 6’ folding table set up on the deck and I spread out the fleece to evaluate.

2.1) Third fleece from the guild it is multi coloured but mostly white and off white. top photo fleece in clear bag, lower foto fleece on table2.1) Third fleece from the guild it is multi coloured but mostly white and off white.

This particular fleece would be called lightly skirted. I did find quite a bit of second cuts, that’s short bits that the sheerer cut a bit high then neatened up the sheep with a second pass of the sheers. I pulled out the second cuts, any vegi matter and a few lumpy brown bits.

  2.2) spread out on the table you can see the fleece is multi-coloured 2.2) spread out on the table you can see the fleece is multi-coloured

3 photos top and to Left close up of fleece, to right purple bucket with wast fibers, and VM2.3) close up of parts of the fleece and bucket of rejected bits

some of the second cuts were longer than i usualy see2.4) second cuts some were longer than i usually see

 2.5) picking and sorting fleece on 6’ table 2 bags of similare fiber are sitting on adjacent chair2.5) picking and sorting fleece on 6’ table

I was sorting the fleece while shaking sections, picking out VM (veggie-matter) and short cuts. Then bagging similar sections of fiber, into clear bags. The local chipmunks and squires will have extra warm homes this coming winter. the Phoebe who had its nest in the corner of the deck was not quite as excited about me using the deck.

small brown song bird called a phoebe sitting on a wooden railing2.6) phoebe on the deck railing

I hit a much cleaner section and was starting to think the fleece wasn’t quite as filled with hay and burrs as I had thought then I noticed the ground…. What a mess! I am just over half way through the fleece. I will keep working on it over the next few weekends when we get down to the cottage (there is a lot of work to do there but this will make a nice brake).

showing deck floor, lots of bits of wool and VM which have escaped the overflowing purple bucket. this is not all the fleece done. 2.7) the deck is a bit of a mess.

I was going to add the fleece bits to the garden, (it will hold water, suppress weeds unless the weed seeds are in the dirty wool, and help feed the plants, well the butt end wool  anyways), but there are quite a few burrs in there. since I don’t want burr plant popping up next year I think the most of the purple bucket will be garbage.

After shaking and picking the next step is a soak in the stock tank to wash it. But I have only 2 small bags of fiber from this fleece well picked and sorted, so I think I will switch to the Icelandic Cross from Spencerville.

 

Stock tank:

You have seen this part before, the 75gallon stock tank is usually used to water livestock, but it makes a great bath to wash fleeces. The larger sizes have a drain to make changing water easier. (they go on sale at the local princess auto so watch there flyers if you are looking for one, you might get lucky and find a second hand one on line.)

3.1) the Black 75 gallon stock tank from Princess Auto, I have added a hose and shut off valve to the drain.3.1) the 75 gallon stock tank from Princess Auto, I have added a hose and shut off valve to the drain.

I have added a hose extension and shut off valve so I can empty most of the water, then tip out the last bit. Other than the first wash (which tends to have a lot of weed seeds and soap.) the rinse water can be used on the flower boxes along the side yard. if the water is quite clean i can reuse it for the next soap batch.

3.2) five strainer buckets soaking in stock tank.3.2) I picked, shook, and pulled out a few burrs from the fleece, and separated the first part of it into five strainer buckets.

3.3) close up of the edge of 2 stainer baskets and very dirty water.3.3) after letting it soak for most of the day the water was very brown.

I found a few spots with Sheep Dandruff but most of the fleece so far looks good.

Once the fleece had soaked and released a lot of the dirt, I lifted each strainer basket, resting it on the edge of the stock tank, and let most of the dirty water drip out.

some of the strainers hanging from hooks along the side yard trellus3.4) once its reasonably less drippy, each was hung up by the side garden.

The first batch of was returned to the stock tank to rinse.  (They were hung up to drip while the water was changed). after the first rinse the soap seem to have left, that was a surprise it usually takes 2 rinses,  so on to the drying racks.

ikea floding drying rack in white mettl and plastic coated wire3.5) I have been using Ikea’s folding laundry drying racks.  

a second smaller wier rack hanging under cover in the side yard3.6) I also put the overflow fiber on the upper drying rack which also dried well.

CLose up of 2 photos of fleece. one sitting on my hand to show the length of staple3.7) here are close ups of the fleece after washing

 

the first batch washed and mostly dry:

This is defiantly part Icelandic, with a dual coat. The tog is quite soft and there is a bit of black kemp-like fiber in arias.

fleece in sunlight showing bits of the kemp within the fiber (black courser hairs but still not too course in this particular fleece)3.8) I may use this part to spin part of the weft for an Icelandic blanket (with tufts of tog).

I am working on washing the second set of strainer baskets. The amount I have left will be 3 or 4 more strainer baskets to finish the fleece off.  so its likely 13 or 14 baskets to wash this one fleece. Oh the tag on the bag said “Icelandic X” 5.20 lbs, “Midnight #44302”.

 

I had better get back to work and switch the second set of strainer baskets while its sunny and not raining. The weather continues to be hot, but occasionally we are getting cooler nights. We have seen signs of the smoke from the forest fires well north of us. The sky spent a day being yellow and we have smelt the smoke as it drifts across the city. I hope they can get it all under control, then out soon. I hope also that the weather is being kind to you and you can do some outside fiber prep.

rhubarb is sprouting new baby leaves in large pot by front door. 4) what odd weather, the rhubarb is starting again in one of its 3 pots?!

Felted bag class

Felted bag class

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Last time you saw the bag I was making, as a sample for this class. The class was at https://www.forestcovefarm.ca/. It was lovely. It was outside, and it was quite hot, but not as hot as the next week. There were a couple of pop-up tents and lots of trees for shade. There is also their store that is air-conditioned, so we could cool down if needed.

Most of the pictures are quite blurry. I am having trouble with my camera not focusing. Near the end of the day, I did find out that if I zoomed out to .9 it would focus, so the final shots are better. I have been to the Apple store, and they are ordering me a new camera.

It was a great group, with a wide range in ages from late teens to retired.

Adding the colour to the ropes took longer than expected, but I was glad I made the cores for them.

Corinne sent me a few pictures of the day, so here I am teaching.

Here are the blurry shots of everyone’s bags before felting.

I seem to have missed one. There should be 8.

Last night Corinne from Forest Cove sent me a few pictures. She had a shot of the bag I missed.

 

After much rubbing and rolling and them all thinking nothing was happening, I had them check the bags against the resists, and they were very surprised at how much they had shrunk. This gave some more energy, and they were able to finish the fulling. I only managed 3 pictures of the finished bag. Everyone was in a hurry to pop into the store and get cool and do some shopping.

The grey and purple one was much better in person. And I suspect that the purple will show much more when it is dry. I am hoping some people will send me pictures of thier dry and finished bags. They had to add the handles after they were dry. I did get one, but my email seems to have eaten it. I sent them home with instructions on blocking them and drying them and some tips on blocking them more with a steam iron if they want to.

Everyone seemed happy, so I am happy. I think I will switch to a bag with a slit handle next time, as the rope handle took longer than expected. By my next blog post, I should have a new camera in my phone. Hopefully that means I will take better pictures.