Jan – Felting and Fiber Studio

Needle Felted Nametags (and another picture felting workshop)

February 28, 2026 Jan Comments 10 comments

Since last we chatted, I have been busy.

I ran another needle felted landscape workshop for the local guild. How did I not notice it was scheduled on Valentine’s Day (?). I also forgot to take progress pictures as the students worked. I did remind them to take photos, since it is helpful to see your image digitally. Seeing the picture in a digital format, helps your brain focus and actually see what you’re working on, rather than saying yes, that green blob is a tree. You can also look at your picture in a mirror or rotate the image to help see spatial relationships (negative space) and proportions more clearly.

1.1) the students and their pictures

1.2 post-class debris (this is not the studio where I usually teach)

1.3) Display of 2-D and 3-D needle felting (Shark boy and the mer-pets volunteered this time), you can just see the front book is my early birthday present.

1.4) My new book, an early birthday gift from Glenn. it looks very good, but i will get a chance to start reading it after I get this posted.

Now on to what I have been working on:

I have misplaced, or possibly lost, my nametag sheep, with the magnet. I think the seatbelt knocked it off when I got out of the car. So, I may still find it when the snow melts! Which means I went into the guild social to work on the library without a name tag. I felt naked, even though I was well covered in my late mother-in-law’s apron and I even had clothes underneath it. I need a new nametag.

I do want to keep the sheep theme, so let’s do a little Google image search and see if I can find inspiration. I also checked the computer and found an old Word document with 29 pages of sheep pictures. I added it to the new 3 pages focused on Swaledales, Icelandic and “Other” like Badger faced Shetlands.

2.1) Some of the images I had collected

Then I narrowed the images down to 4 that I particularly liked. I inverted the images, so I could pick a left or right-leaning sheep (not political, just position on the tag).

2.2) Flipped pictures to see both direction options

You may have seen photos of the booth selling 100% wool at Twist Fibre Festival (in Quebec last August). The felt comes in lots of different sizes. You can see the large role behind the Field & Fleece sign. The ground felt I chose was the Garden Felt for Seed propagation rolls “Snailes”, which you can see on the shelf by the plants.

3.1 Felt selling booth at Twist 2025 (Quebec, Canada)

I have not tried to use it for its intended purpose, but it makes a good ground felt for name tags! It’s 100% wool but has a bit of VM still included. The fibre is coarser, than the fine Merino 100% wool felt, but it’s also cheaper. the Garden felt doses have Kemp, (you can pick out quite a bit of the Kemp, if you are really board and want to.) If this sounds intriguing, for name tags or pictures, or you want to try planting seeds in a wool snail, the company is called “WoolGrown Company” and can be found on Facebook or online http://www.woolgrowncompany.com).

3.2) Seed Snail, add good soil, then roll up and add seeds. From Wool Grown Company (Canada)

3.3) Seed snail with sprouted Seeds From Wool Grown Company (Canada)

Since the felt is meant for garden applications, it’s a good idea to check and remove any VM (Veggie-Matter) found on the surface. I purchased a few rolls. I wound up with a thin one and a couple of wider ones, as well as a piece from the main large roll. If I put a few pieces of the narrow one together, so I can add one of the sheep pictures.

There are two ways that I have enlarged a piece of background felt that is not large enough for the image I want to create (or I got distracted and ran out of background before I ran out of ideas). One is to just add wool off the side of the ground, needle felting it to create more background to work on. (You saw this happen on the moose Christmas card from a couple years ago.)

The second option is butting 2 pieces of wool felt together and using wool carded roving, like a glue-staple, laid across the butted edges to join the two pieces together. (i am sure that is clear as mud so let me try saying that with diagrams and photos!)

4.1 Attaching two pieces of ground felt

You could try pre-felt instead of loose wool as a backing to join the wool felt pieces but the loose fiber works quite well. I found that pins run parallel to the join held the 2 pieces closer together while I worked vertically. Be careful not to work over the pins!

4.2) Attaching two pieces of felt together

To join two pieces of ground felt together, start by abutting the pieces, use pins to hold them adjacent, then lay fibre perpendicular across the join. Work vertically fist, to adhere the fibre to the background. Then switch to an oblique angle to pull the pieces closer together.
Turn over the joined pieces to show the backside. On the back, you will see the fibre extending through the felt ground (similar to the effect seen with a reverse needle). Use a clover or fake clover punch tool to lock these elevated fibres into the felt (this is usually the side you will decide is the good side)

4.3) flip to the reverse side, and needle felt flat

You can see a small gap, but if you are adding fibre for your picture to the backing, it will disappear, and the joint will become even stronger. (I trimmed the edges to make it a better rectangle after the photo.)

4.4) looking at the joins

Now we have a wool felt base to work on, let’s pick the first sheep inspiration. I decided to use the Template technique. You have seen that before here. The sheep had his or her head tipped a bit to the side, so I decided to tip it a bit further. I also used a piece from the wider seed snails for my first name tag.

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5.1-5.6) first sheep name tag

3 images for the next nametag 6.1) One down, what should I choose next?

6.2) The image has been transferred, and I crawled into bed to watch a murder mystery

NB: (I am not felting while watching the TV, I am felting during commercials (which I am not watching), so there will be less likelihood of blood dripping on the coverlet. That said, it’s not the best place to work; you don’t want to find a nice, sharp, pointy, felting needle as you roll over in bed! I only dropped my needle once and did find it before it found me!)

6.3) The background is obliterating the registration line

Note the outline of the image (the rectangle). I used it to keep the registration as I trimmed and added the image. I could not find my extra-fine point marker (Sharpie), so there is a bit of distortion by line width, but I tried to adjust for that. The registration line will disappear into the background, so I am not worried about it. If you are working on a lighter background, you can use a lighter colour of Sharpie (yes Sharpies now come in quite a few colours).

I am mostly using the short staple fibre, called Maori, which is a mix with Corriedale wool. It is a bit stiffer in texture than merino. Maori, can be needle felted to a very firm surface which will ware well for a nametag. it also works well with a Watercolour technique; using thin wisps, or washes of colour in layers, above a base colour.)

6.4) moved back to my horribly messy desk in the office. (I will tear the room apart and fix it……eventually….. maybe later.)

6.5) Colour in progress, and there is something odd about the angle of the lower jaw. Checking it with the face section. It is sometimes helpful to keep the pieces you have cut out as you transfer the image.

Ok, that is 2 options, lets try one more. I need some samples for the nametag workshop I was requested to do for the local guild. (It’s nice to know the names of other guild members. I can’t blame not-remembering names on 7 hours of anaesthetic forever, can I?)

I tried a variation on template transfer this time. I was able to find a small pad of transparent stickies (like the yellow ones, but clear and feel a bit plastic-y). i traced the image and then cut out the outline. I could then position the sheep wherever I wanted it.

7.1) A variation on the template method of transferring an image.

Name tag number 3 has me thinking more 2 and a half-D again…. ok it’s really 3-D in spots…. So I have trouble keeping pictures flat. Well, I am particularly good at being dyslexic, which suggests that I do see the world in 3-d and struggle with mere 2-d concepts (b/d/p/q are the same shape, some have turned the other direction, others have fallen over, but they are all balls with sticks stuck to the side of them!!! Really, I don’t see why it’s not obvious to the rest of you <grin>. If I must, I will bow to the greater number of you who see a difference. Let’s not discuss the horrors of E shapes and U shapes, thinking they are other numbers of letters!!) That said, I again fell off the wagon and decided that ears and horns and a head would be better if it had more space, so off the background they leapt. (I apologize for the brief rant about letters…they are troublesome still.)

7.2) no that’s not antennae, they will be horns shortly.

I could not find where I had put my swax (from Sarafina fibre arts) –it makes the wire sticky so the wool wraps easily. Well, comparatively easier. I also could not remember where I had put my tacky sewing glue. I will have to either go through all my teaching boxes or buy another bottle. So I proceeded without them.

You may have noticed from the fabric behind the wool mat (in its freezer Ziploc bag) that I have again retreated to the bedroom to watch Midsummer Murderers and felt during commercials.

7.3) first horn wrapped about to start the second

7.4) body added and starting to lay in the background

7.5) Remember to check back with your inspiration and reassess as you go. You don’t have to be identical to your inspiration. It’s the same as landscapes; you are the God of your landscape, you can move trees, or make them thinner, or just remove them if you don’t like them.

7.6) I have added eyes, but am now considering adding tiny beads for the eyes. I will put it aside and consider eyes again later.

If you get stuck, and are not sure what needs to be tweaked (you tried the mirror, digital image and inverting the image and reference), or if you’re not sure it is really done, you may want to go ask friends. This can be online, or if you are lucky, you can wander off to a guild social. I took the nametags into the social to get Ann’s opinion. I also wanted to decide which one I wanted to add a name to first.

8.1) taking the 3 name tags to the guild social

She liked them, but thought I should try a different theme, other than just sheep. I have other, non-sheep images collected and ready to try next, so we agree.

My husband had kindly stopped at the dollar store to pick up a roll of “Black satin ribbon”. When I opened the roll it was dark green velvet. It was very nice, but did not go with the tone of black I had used on the name tag. Second try at a different Dollerama, he returned with 6yrds of black satin ribbon. The ribbon is to make a necklace for the name tag. I sewed down one end and measured out extra length, using a pin to secure the other end. Once i have decided the length that is comfortable to take on and off i will sew down the other side or i may decide to add velcro to make it easyer to put on and off.

For the letters, I used fibre that looked pin-drafted, possibly merino. The section I have feels slightly felted. It was very easy to work with, even more so than the yarn I have used before.

8.2) The green and black ribbons and unspun fiber I used to finish the name tag

Tools and fibre for this project:

If you were curious about what needles I was using, you can see the two single needles in the wool pad. On the left is a Spiral, also called a Twisted (Triangle) 42-333 , this one has a purple shank. On the Right is an uncoloured T38-333. I also used the fake blue clover tool, which is full of T-40’s (the real green one is smoother and less noisy, but it’s somewhere in the boxes of workshop supplies).

The wire was the 18inch black unlabeled(no gauge) floral wire from Dallerama. I suspect it is around a 20-22 Gauge it was strong enough to hold the horns in position.

The fibre I used were small amounts of carded short-staple Maori (a Corriedale mix) and a bit of off-white core wool from World of Wool. I was working with sandwich baggies of mixed colours. Greys black and a blue, the white/beige and yellow (both from the chickadees), a mix of browns (from the Moose bags), pastel colours mix from Fibercraft and some brighter greens and yellows from The Olive Sparrow. These were all small baggies of fibre, most of which I had previously mixed for other projects and did not use. The short crimpy locks were from a sheep pin project, and some of the long locks I have been collecting for Mer-person’s hair.

8.3) Some of the baggies of fibre I was working from.

If you don’t want to start a big project or are looking for one that is small and portable, you might consider making a name tag. They are lots of fun, you can have more than one and people remember you if you remember to wear it!

Guild program: how you started, first pieces & tips

January 8, 2026 Jan Comments 11 comments

Welcome to 2026, I hope it will be a better year than 2025 was.

So far this year, I have been busy with the local guild (grant reports data from the library), and considering projects for the new year (including cottage) and shopping options. I will also have to put in an order for more needles soon.

At this time of year, Guild activities, including programs and workshops, can be thwarted by weather or the fear of weather. With presenters thin on the ground for January, the program team had a creative solution for a last-minute program topic. We would interview ourselves and find out a bit more about each other. They had 3 questions to answer.

What was the first fibre pursuit you learned, and who taught you? (Feel free to ignore sewing.)
What was the first full piece you wove, felted, or used your own handspun for? (Bonus points: bring it to show off if you still have it.) Or feel free to tell us about the first-ever piece you made using your very first fibre art.
What is the (or a) most useful fibre-arts related tip that you learned directly from another practitioner?

The weather on Monday had been lightly snowing when I left home, pretty decorative light snow… it kept snowing…… all day. I was alone working on the library until another guild member dropped in to consult the library around 11, but left by 12:30. I was starting to fear that I might be the only one attending the meeting. Much later than usual, we had others brave the snow. There were so few of us that we had the meeting in the studio, rather than the Unitarians’ room. I am sure we were doing quality over quantity! (Those who stayed home were smarter, since it was a slippery, slow, snow-filled drive home.)

It was an interesting meeting. If you are in a guild and need an emergency fill-in for a meeting, with a few tweaks to the questions, this may be helpful for your group, too. I will show you what my answers were.

1) 07-12-2025 Jan Demo, Glengarry Museum

Answers to January program questions (Jan Scott).

What was the first fibre pursuit you learned, and who taught you? (Feel free to ignore sewing.)

– We will not discuss my attempts trying to learn to knit. Mom was patent but it did not go well. My talents then were more in the acquisition of frogs, turtles and snakes, none of which she let me keep.

– ~1982, I started to seriously pursue my interest in fibre/textiles with the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). My goal was to weave, then sew (post-weaving) by hand, my own Icelandic Viking clothing.

– ~1989 I joined the guild, became the librarian and then took my first weaving lessons with Donna Gerrarden in Cumberland (in 1989 or 1990). She had the guild’s old 100-inch loom and the guild table looms in her massive basement.

– One of my strongest memories about learning to weave was not just the magic as cloth formed from mere threads at the fell line, but the sound the heddles made as they jingled at every bump driving back and forth to Cumberland.

What was the first full piece you wove, felted, or used your own handspun for? (Bonus points: bring it to show off if you still have it.) Or feel free to tell us about the first-ever piece you made using your very first fibre art.

Weaving:

– Donna taught me the 4-day beginner weaving workshop, then immediately continued with the 2-day Intermediate Weaving workshop. She then set me off to weave on my own. My first piece was not well met by some of the older weavers in the guild. I was still allergic to wool, so I had woven in cotton. I wanted a drapy hand to the fabric, not a stiff coverlet. I was attracted to pattern but was not sure I wanted the full intensity of that pattern. So I wove, I think it was called Ancient Rose, an overshot pattern, with a light and dark blue cotton, the pattern weft being slub. I set it at 12 EPI, not 24. I was fascinated by the pattern emerging and disappearing as the slub appeared and disappeared. It was exactly the drapy, shawl-like cloth I wanted. (It did not look like a stiff colonial coverlet that overshot is usually used to weave).

2.1) The sample piece was used as a basket cover for demos, one of my felt hats to the Left of the basket

Spinning:

– My first spinning was at an SCA event (war in Pennsylvania). I was still allergic to wool, so I was handed a drop spindle and a handful of cotton. I was not told this might be harder to spin, just “here, spin this”. I had to put a “bit more twist” than the students with wool. I spun it just fine; it was fun, but cotton was not a fibre I wanted to use to make that Viking outfit. When I eventually lost most of my wool reaction, I discovered that “a bit more twist” is very hard to stop doing!

Felting:

– I did my first felting with Maggie Glossip in the early part of the 90’s. It was a small vessel project using a resist in wet felting, then needle felting embellishments on it. I was not as fond of the wetness of wet felting, but the concept was intriguing. I did enjoy the dry felting, but it took a while until I got to try it again.

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2.2–2.4) wet felted Vessel with Needle felted decorations

Others Fiber Arts:

– I have also tried my hand at dyeing, basketry, fibre prep, tapestry, kumihimo, and historical sewing.

What is the (or a) most useful fibre-arts related tip that you learned directly from another practitioner?

Weaving:

– Jack Lane –was a fabulous weaver of tartan coverlets in 3 matching panels. He taught me how to lash on to the front beam rather than tie. And the secret of lay in 3 picks, then beat to start off. Jack was very generous with his knowledge and time to all guild members.

3.1) Jack Lain teaching how to weave a reversing border for a folded hem.

3.2) Jack showing one of his Overshot coverlets (he also did tartan coverlets, three panels wide)

Spinning:

– The most memorable suggestion for spinning came from a twist workshop on art yarn with Esther Rodgers. At one point, we were making beehives in our yarn, and she went around the class enthusiastically declaring, “Shove it up the Orifice!!!” You just don’t hear that every day.

3.3) 08-23-2014 Twist Saturday Art Yarn with Esther Rodgers

3.4) art yarn with Esther close up

Felting:

– Sara Razzulie – online purveyor of info on (mostly sculptural) needle felting and on-line felt-along-s. “Try it”. At the start of the pandemic, I was perfectly happy to stay at home and putter in the garden, watch YouTube and listen to audiobooks. But I also enjoyed the online camaraderie of every live felt-along, including the mermaid Sara made. She did it over quite a few weeks and included wet felting for the tail’s top layer. I like the concept, but wanted a mer-man, so I scaled up her measurements from her mer-woman. Then scaled them down to make Mer-kids. I had to make my own guesses for the mer-pets, “Try it”. I made samples of wire gauges and types to better understand my options. I am still working on my Mer-project, but some parts of the family and pets are done and they had lots of fun playing at the Almonte textile museum during the guild exhibit.

3.5) Sarafina Fiber Art, Mermaid Felt Along 1: Armature, May 9, 2020, keeping us sane during the pandemic.

3.6) The mermaid she made during the felt along.

– Ann McElroy – water can be used carefully so wet felting isn’t as horrible and can be fun, if your vary carful. (though I do feel safer when supervised by Ann)

3.7) Ann McElroy teaching wet felting

3.8- 3.9) careful use of water in wet felting

It was interesting to hear the answers from others. Here are a couple of shots from the meeting. I think there were 15 people who made it through the snow (a couple took over an hour to get in, much, much longer than usual). During the program, we took turns between the Zoom participants and those in the studio. I had Rachel of the Program Team read my answers since I had already written and printed them out.

4.1) OVWSG January Meeting, the Zoom attendees outnumbered the in-person people

4.2-4.3) participating in the studio and online

If you don’t have a local fibre arts guild near you, maybe you can start a group, a get-together at the local library, fibre store, or felt in? It is really nice to have others who get equally excited about fibre and felting!

Now I have to get back to work, I have a workshop on needle felted landscape on Saturday (my calendar was sure it was originally on the following Saturday). Have Fun and Keep Felting!!

My year in review; 2025

December 26, 2025 Jan Comments 8 comments

Belated Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah, and Merry Christmas. I hope you are still enjoying the festive season (hopefully with fibre and felt!)

What in the world did I get done this year? This should be interesting, since most of this year was a blur of post-surgery and anaesthetic recovery (including a few very tiny but powerful pain pills – I have no idea what they were, but I vaguely think they may have been green?), I am extremely curious to see if I actually got anything done this year. If you are curious too, let’s take a look!

January: I was trying to get organised after getting bad medical test results (I was never good at tests) and found out I was going to have another surgery at the end of the month. Then be out of commission for a lest a couple of months afterwards. I focused on getting notes ready for the other librarians to take over running the whole Guild library while I was out of commission. I also taught an inkle weaving workshop and took a workshop on tablet weaving.

A big cheer up was the felt Christmas card from Eleanor. I was not feeling well after diagnostic testing and dreading the impending surgery, so perfect arrival timing!

1.1) Above the card from Eleanor, below was the card I sent to Eleanor

February 1st found me getting a drive home from the hospital rather than going to the Spin-in in Chesterville, Ontario. I have photos of the guild’s February meeting, and a few shots from other guild members of some of the things I missed. I know I was doing things, but I don’t remember any of it.

March was also a write-off. Anaesthetic and my brain are not friends. Luckily, Ann and Ann were running the library.

By April, one of the Librarian Anns had to step away from the library due to illness. I returned to work, a bit early, Glenn dropping me off and picking me up (driving was not an option yet), it was unfortunately shorter than normal hours. I was not really up to speed; it took all day just to keep the library running. I brought in felting to work on if I got my library work done, but no luck.2.1) Moose head and moose landscape bag. At this point, it was still probably a good idea not to be doing a lot of stabbing with sharp objects.

April was not all frustrating and forgotten, I also got a surprise to cheer me up! I was watching Marie from Living felt on YouTube and had been commenting on her videos (not that I remembered doing so shortly after each episode), one of which was her store’s Birthday party. My anaesthetic brain at the time did not remember winning anything, so I was so happy and surprised when one of her deluxe wet felting kits arrived! Thanks, Marie, that really cheered me up! (and I got to try it for workshops much later in the year).

2.2)A surprise from Living Felts on line Birthday party

May arrived, but was still mostly lost in the fog. I seem to have worked on the Library report, and I am pretty sure it was Glenn who drove us down to the fibre festival at Spencerville (south of Ottawa). I have vague memories that I was very sore getting there and back, but it was so nice to get out and see friends and look at shopping.

3.1) Spencerville Fibre Festival

The long weekend in May (Friday to Sunday) was also CanGames and ghelting convention, which I have told you about before. I finally thought it might be safe to try a needle felting project. I may have been a bit premature in trying that. I somehow wound up with 6 fingers on one hand, and my under structure wrapping was not as tight as it should be.

3.2-3.3) Oops, still can’t count!

3.4) I somehow forgot we evicted another garage dweller. He was not impressed.

By June, I was feeling safer to make expensive decisions, but I limited it to one new camera. The old one was over 13 years old and was needing an upgrade. I still don’t really remember much unless I am looking at the photos from what I was up to. (I am glad I took pictures, or I would not remember doing anything!)

4.1) new Nikon bird watching camera with sneaky powerful zoom feature.

4.2) I continued to putter on the Mer-Boyfriend I was creating for the missing Miss Mer.

June 07, we tried to be in two places at once, the Lamsdown Fibre festival and the Dickonson Day Demo. I was doing shopping and photography, so no felting!

4.3) Demo at Dickonson Day

4.4) one of the vendors at Lamsdown

I had been trying to be careful about large perchasess with anesthetic-brain but I had been waiting for a stock tank of about this size to go on sale, so I bought it!

4.5) A 75-gallon stock tank becomes a perfect fleece washing station.

With the addition of a fleece washing station in the side yard/Driveway, I got to work washing my way through the fleeces from the last couple of summers I had not felt up to working on.

4.6) Glenn was very helpful working the spin dryer for me. (It’s an old RV hand washer/spin dryer)

4.7-4.8)the Father’s Day weekend brings a blacksmithing workshop to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum in Dunvegan Onrario (East of Ottawa).

This was a great chance to do some photography of blacksmithing, and do a bit more felting, on the young mer I had started last month.

4.9)There was also a demonstration of finishing a blanket by walking it. (walking is likely spelt differently when applied to a wet blanket thumped repeatedly on a table.)

July continued fleece washing, a bit at a time. I still seem to keep over-exerting myself, but I was feeling so far behind.

5.1) 3 more bins to sort and wash.

5.2) Trying to sort without a skirting table.

This month, I was back to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum to demo felting for them at their Fibre/Textile day.

5.3) 3 of the Mer Family and their pets get out to a demo. It was an extremely hot day, and they seemed happy to be in the shade of the porch.

In August, the guild had a workshop on Cyanotype printing with felt. It was a half-day workshop and ran twice. I took lots of photos, which reminded me of playing with the enlarger in the dark room.

6.1)Cyanoprinting with felt

August is also the time of the very large fibre festival Twist, about an hour away in Quebec. Glenn came with me as my attendant, and I filled in at the guild demo table with the Mer boyfriend I was working on. I missed getting a roll of garden felt, so I went back on Sunday. (We had the comfy duck sandwiches twice this year!)

6.2) I missed out on this size, but got a piece from the big roll

There was more shopping, a bit closer to home, at Stash-it Fibre Festival in Kempville, Ontario (about a half hour south of Ottawa)

6.3) I seem to be focused on fibre acquisition again; I see more fleece washing in my future.

September is Almonte Fiberfest (about half an hour west of the west end of Ottawa). I again did a “few” photos for the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum, who run the event (I hope I remembered to send them!)I am pretty sure I showed you the Booth Birds of a Feather by Catherine

7.1) Birds of a Felter booth, at Almonte FiberFest

A few more fleeces to wash, the stock tank has been helpful, and fall seems to be holding off, so I may get these done before snowfall! One was a lovely but horribly dirty ram Shetland fleece

7.2) big Shetland fleece (looks like he took a mud bath before shearing)

In October, I tried a wet felted Slipper workshop with Ann. I was sure I could make a simple pair of slippers in a day…. No, not quite yet, it seems, but I had lots of fun, stayed reasonably dry and am looking forward to finishing up the slippers when I have another burst of energy.

8.1) Jan’s almost finished slippers at the end of Ann’s Class.

This month, I also spotted a cottage for sale, very close to my brother’s cottage. It had just had a major price drop, which might have potential, so worth taking a look at it. There is also a Quonset hut, on about an acre of land, not too far from that’s for sale too. One is better for spin and felt in’s the other would be better for blacksmithing. At least neither is attached to a piece of protected swamp, which was almost everything I have looked at for the last few years!

8.2) cottage option

October is also the month for KanataCon Board game and Felting convention! They are the gaming convention with the HUGE second-hand game sale where I found a game about alpaca and one about lamas! I also got a lot more work done on the Mer-Boyfriend for Miss Mer.

8.3) Fibre-related board games

8.4) Glenn with the young Mer-sturgeon now with bumps!!

The day after the gaming/felting convention was a new Fibre festival in Merrikville Ontario. It was a nice drive down, fabulous weather for photographing the locks and a bit of good shopping.

8.5) Fall colours and the locks at Merrickville

October was very busy. The day after Merrickville, we jumped in the car and headed for Toronto. We did a couple of shopping stops on the way to Oakville, but made it through all the Toronto Traffic! (Rush hour may be nearly 24 hours long!)

On Tuesday, Glenn and his brother did legal stuff, and I had a lovely day staring at architecture, photography, and felting.

8.6) Happy with his hand upgrade

The next day, we stopped to shop with Monika at the Olive Sparrow on the way back to Ottawa. By the time we made it home, I felt wiped! I think I could have slept for at least a week.

November arrived, and it’s time for the Guild Sale and Exhibition. This event is run by Ann, and I help where I can. I am still noticing I am not back to full steam yet. I usually can photo-document the event as well as run the music and demo felting. Not this year, photos and music were all I could manage. Most of the signage and layouts could be updated from last year, so not as much pre-work either. We had a couple of good felters with booths this year. If you check back in the blog, you will see the photos.

9.1) Ann showing how a drop spindle works (she is wearing her new name tag).

At the end of November, I ran the needle felted landscape workshop. We look at wool in a painterly approach. Ann took this workshop and has been having fun with mist and trees!

9.2) November students and their felt Paintings (it looks like they had fun)

The next day, I got up nice and early and headed back to the guild. This time Ann was teaching, and I was the student. I was oddly tired (as if I had been very busy the day before) even before we started, but it was fun (and dangerous, you could get wet). I was able to get all the rolling done by the end of the class. I still need to do a bit more shaping to finish off, oh, the want of free time!! I am not sure where all the time goes, but I seem to be missing more of it this year than usual!!!

9.3) My odd-shaped black hat in progress. (Can you guess what it will look like?)

It’s finally December, and I’m not sure I was ever going to make it to the end of the year, but I am happy I did. I had a workshop teaching beginning Inkle weaving, with great students again!

9.4) Inkle weaving workshop

Inkle looms make straps, belts, trim, ties, and narrow woven band. It is usually woven where only the warp is showing, and usually the colour order of warping will determine your pattern. There is the option of Pickup (for which there are other better teachers), and I have taught the “inkle Two” class of many of the truly weird things you can weave on an inkle loom, but may or may not want to.

Throughout the past year, with the help of the other librarian, I have continued to volunteer at the guild library. I usually put in over 500 hours each year. I am about to get to the number crunching for the library year end data. (which, considering my lingering deterioration of math skills, may make this more of a challenge this year)

I am glad this year is almost behind me. It was interesting to see what I did, even if I didn’t remember doing it, until I saw the pictures. The heavy fog seemed to go on for more than the first half of the year, with mini fog attacks even up to recently (I will be able to add again any time I want to soon). I am going to try to avoid having any anaesthetic for as long as I can in hopes my spelling improves, and my little bit of math comes back!!

I am optimistic that you are as excited and hopeful about 2026, it’s a pleasant shape, for a number, so I am optimistic. I also have some wet felting to finish and some dry felting to find! Have fun and see you Next Year!!!

Felted hat workshop #6?

December 16, 2025 Jan Comments 6 comments

Felted hat workshop #6? It’s a fun workshop with Ann, so let’s take it again!

Nov. 29 2025, I was busy teaching needle-felted landscape for the Ottawa guild in the studio. As you saw recently, Ann took the workshop and was making an impressive forest with mist. She was also making funny faces as we tried to get a group shot!! (This was the best option, and really is pretty good…. I was so tempted to show you her best silly face!)

1) Most of the students from the felted picture workshop (one had to leave early) (Ann sent a shot of her progress on her picture, but I should let her show you in another post!)

Nov. 30^th2025, Wet Felted Hat workshop. Glenn and I were back in the studio bright and early, but not quite as early as Ann. She had the tables set up and was laying out the tools we would need. I was going to be a student today, and she, the teacher! She had me in the back by the door (out of the way…. I have taken this class a few times before, I think this is hat 6, or was it hat 7? I can make one on my own, but it feels safer to face the water in a group.).

Glenn was there in case I ran out of rolling power, partway through the day. In the meantime, he was working quietly at the back of the room on one of his game boxes (he was building inserts for the game pieces to fit in the box better). He seemed to be having fun and did stay drier than I did.

2) Glenn at the table by the window

3) Ann with a bag of balls of wool

More enthusiastic students arrived, and we wound up with a class of 7 students. With a class size of 6, we usually are done at 4 pm, but adding more students adds more time for everyone to finish. We each chose a wool colour and a hat shape. Like my workshop on the previous day, we had students working on the same topic, but each was quite unique.

4) Sample hat with brim

Ann showed us samples of some basic hat shapes.

5) showing us various types of fibre we can use to augment our hat

She had a full table of fibre to augment our base colour for the hat. (Various formats: of silk, small curly locks, and other fibres.)

6) Drawing out the patterns for each student

She then adjusted the basic pattern for each student’s head size.

She demonstrated 2 ways to pull out thin wisps of staple lengths of fibre.

7.1-7.2- 7.3- 7.4) pulling thin wisps off the combed top, then laying them down like shingles over the resist.

7.5) A second way to pull off a staple length

Our various hats

8) My hat (black, strange shape), side one is done

Ann, helping with dreadlocks to augment this hat. First lay out one side, then the other.

9) helping a student add dreadlocks to her hat

Now time to add the scary water!!

10.1-10.2) adding water and soap to wet the wool

10.3) Gently pushing down, making sure the wool is wet all the way through.

11.) Side one, turn the edges around the resist.

12) My hat is a bit behind the others!

The second side is placed over the resist and wet. Once wet through, flip and wrap edges. Be neat, or you get a Mohawk line on your hat!!!

13.1-13.2) Adding embellishment fibres over wet wool.

13.3) Ann explained about rubbing directions and what happens if you go the wrong way.

The gentle rubbing (caressing the wool begins.) I am a bit behind the others in class, but I will catch up if I keep working!

14) The Tupperware juice container lid works great as a rubbing tool

The water was starting to fight back, I realized as I discovered my apron had dogged to one side, and let my knee take the wet, dripping attack! It was obviously time for the towels to come out, yes pinch test is a success, so on to rolling!

15) Finally, I am rolling my hat!

I am still behind; most of the others are cutting open their felt to expose their resists.

16) Cut a hole to reveal the resist. Then heal the edges.

Once we had shrunk them down partway, we started to try them on. (Ick!! Cold, wet wool hat….where is the dry warmth I remember from my other hats???)

17) trying the hat on.

One had a flat brim developing; you can see some of the hat blocks.

18) Hat block and brim

19) This was a technique I did not favour, but it seemed to be very effective!

I think my weird hat reputation has been surpassed. This one looks like it will be truly intriguing. It’s not finished, I think.

20.1-20.2) vibrant yellow green hat!

21) These two hats are done

5 pm, already?!! I was still working on mine, but the basic shape is done. Next, I will rinse out the soap and do some final shaping. I am going to be run off my feet for the next 2 weeks at least, so maybe I can find time to finish it after that?

22) Packing up the room after the workshop

I was wiped after all that wet felting! As we headed to the car, Glenn agreed that dinner out at the pub, Rose and Crown, in Centerpoint (west end of Ottawa, which used to be Nepean), would be lovely, which it was. Then I fell into bed early. The next day was December 1^st, which was the guild meeting. I was in to the studio early to beat the traffic and set up the library. This month I still have more guild work, including prep for teaching inkle weaving, and then there are blog posts and Christmas! For tonight, heading off to bed to get some extra sleep sounds very exciting. Maybe I will get a real rest in January!

If you have the opportunity to take a workshop with Ann, she is a fun teacher (even if there were no Smarties (candy) in her class!)

2025 OVWSG Guild EXHIBITION PART 2

December 6, 2025 Jan Comments 6 comments

Let’s return to the Glebe Community Centre, in South Central Ottawa, Eastern Ontario, (Canada). We have checked out the vendors, the demo team and the make and take table; let’s go see the 2025 Exhibition.

The 2025 exhibition theme is “Gathered Threads: Made in Canada”. We were showing work by guild members, with Canadian-supplied materials, most were also on Canadian themes.

8.0-8.1) Setting up the Exhibition on Friday night, again a blur of activity

Last year, we had shoppers unsure if the exhibition was a booth or an exhibit (there were signs, but they were small). This year, Ann and her team decided to get a stand-up banner for the Exhibition. It was to be as neutral as possible, so we could use it for many exhibitions to come.

8.2) The new banner for the exhibition that can be reused for future years

8.3-8.5) Let’s join the people who are already looking at the exhibition

8.6) The crowd of people looking at the exhibition is getting bigger.

There is a lot of interest in the Exhibition, let us see if we can sneak past and get a better view?

8.7) A quick shot of the Exhibition before we opened

As you can see, the display was divided into 3 sections: Left Grids, front and back, Centre Table and wall, and Right Grids; Front and Back. The pieces represent a cross-section of the guild. Showing the scope of expertise, from those who have just started their fibre arts fun, to those who have been enjoying fibre and yarn for many years. The Exhibition also shows part of the breadth of interests in the guild, Spinning, Knitting or Crocheted with Handspun, Felting, and various types of weaving from tapestry, colour gamps, to complex weave structures. We have examples of individual projects as well as Guild projects.

While there is a break in the viewers, let’s take a closer look, starting on the Left. Since it’s hard to read the tags in the photos, I have typed out all I could read. The yellow tags indicated the guild has workshops on that technique.

Left Front Grids:

9.0) Left front grids.

9.1) Wild Weaving By Liane. “maple stems, thistles, anemone, False indigo, pearly everlasting and evening primrose are all native to Ontario. Only the dandelion and Curly Havel are not.”

9.2) Fall Foliage by Marie-France. “Rusted materials collected while hiking in Kanata. Rusted Techniques were learned from Maiwa in Vancouver.”

9.3) Woven Basket by Molly. 100% Canadian Dorset Wool, Embroidery Floss sourced locally, a weathered Branch from the woods.

9.4) Blue Handwoven tapestry (Sorry, cannot read tag)

9.6) Foraged Fairy Baskets, by Liane “All materials were grown and or Gathered locally “ There will be a workshop on making these through the guild.

9.7) From Above, by Nicole “A view from above looking down at the Canadian Landscape using materials sourced from multiple Canadian provinces flown over by the artist.”

9.8) Reflections: Morning sky on water by Moira. “This piece stems from my love of dying and weaving with silk and the beautiful colours reflected in Lac Tenpenny in Val-des-Monts, Quebec. This Calm little lake reflects the sky, Sun and Surrounding Forest as the day progresses: it is ever changing”.

9.9) Scarf in Fall Colours, by Bernadette. “Canadian breed Fleece”.

9.10) Summer at King Mountain, by Barbara (description out of focus). This tapestry will be taught as a workshop.

9.11) Maureen’s Vacation 2024, by Jan “guild Member spinning on Canadian guild wheel at Gros Morne Historic Park”

9.12) Crab, By Nicole. This piece is intended to convey the beauty and decay of our Oceans. Using all Canadian-sourced fibres combined with two mass-produced Dollerama Halloween decorations, the crab shows the interplay between our supply lines and sea life.”

9.13) Jellyfish, by Nicole. “Jellyfish Found off the coasts of Canada created with Canadian sourced fibres”.

9.14) Mr. Mer by Jan. “Mr. Mer is a Mer-man or Fish-Person. I started with a YouTube Felt-along (Saraphina Fibrr Arts) for inspiration, but went way off in another direction. I have made a family of Mer-People with family pets. Each is a unique fish. Mr. Mer is based on a Northern Pike, which I saw frequently at my parents’ cottage just outside of Perth, Ontario.” (Mrs. Mer was canoodling with her husband in the project bag, and seems to have snuck into the exhibition. She has Canadian wool and hair from Olive Sparrow and other Canadian suppliers, like her husband. You can see her in the photo at the top of this section.)

Left Back Grids:

10.0) The back of the left grid panels:

10.1) Triangular Shawl, by Francesca and Jean, owned by Ann S. “Front panel woven separately, and the back was created by weaving the warp of one panel as the weft of the second strand by strand. The piece was designed by Francesca Overend, and woven by Jean Down, both of Ottawa. The materials were provided by an Ottawa shop, and is owned by a Canadian.”

10.2) Garden and Field Shawl, by Amanda. “Shawl made with yarn spun from fleeces of various sheep belonging to people I know, and dyed with a variety of plants from the garden or gathered locally. Crochet pattern from a 1970s McCall’s Magazine.”

10.3) Snowflake Scarf, by Kanika. “Quebec Yarn, woven on a Quebec 8 Shaft loom, Canadian Weaver, Glass beads from Canada Bead Supply. The scarf is meant to represent snowflakes, which is very Canadian”

10.4) (upper Right) Shawl, by Ann S. “One of two shawls woven for the wedding of a Canadian by her Canadian Aunt. She had a choice of blue or burgundy and chose the blue. Hence, I kept the burgundy.”

(on Lower Right) Winter Landscape fence with owl, by Jan. “From a Picture of a winter scene found on the internet of a field south of Ottawa. I added the owl.” I teach for the guild, a needle felted landscape workshop.

(On Left) Handspun Eva Shawl, by Carlene. “Local fibre made into a shawl.”

10.5) (On Left) 75^th Anniversary Moose Bag (Glenn’s), by Jan. “This is a Canadian Moose, it was made with fibre from a Canadian Supplier.”

(On Right) 75^th Anniversary Moose Bag (Jan’s), by Jan. “This is a Canadian Moose, it was made with fibre from a Canadian Supplier.”

10.6) Quilted Jacket, by Maureen. “ Quilted Jacket with Homespun Canadian wool arms and edging.”

10.7) 75^th Anniversary Moose Bag Landscape, by Jan. “The theme (of the bag) is a Canadian skein winder (Moose), fibre purchased from a Canadian vendor.”

Centre table and wall:

11.0) Centre Display

11.1) Fireside Blanket, by Karin. “Blanket was woven Double Width, from Canadian wool from a Company, Briggs and Little, 2ply 100% wool. The Red and Orange wool for the warp were hand dyed by Karin Hendriksen. The black for the warp and weft were factory dyed. The colours remind me of sitting wrapped in the blanket by the fireside, reading a book and sipping hot chocolate.”

11.2) Poppies Remember, by Barbara. “Made at one of the guild’s Workshops with Wendo van Esen”

11.3) Lighthouse with Flowers, by Ann. “A lighthouse is iconic from coast to coast, appearing not only on both coasts but on so many lakes between them.”

11.4) Northern Lights, by Ann M. “Northern Lights are an iconic symbol of Canada.”

11.5) Heavy Heart, by Nicole. “Combining fibres from artisans across Canada. The Sculpture brings together the people and places of Canada. And when displayed on a scale as intended, suggests the surprising weight of our collective awareness—the lightest fibres gaining weight and strength when combined.”

11.6) The guild group project, the Parliament Buildings, in various fibre arts techniques.

11.7) Polar Pixies, by Paula. “This piece was made in Canada from Canadian wool processed to roving at a Canadian mill. The yarn was handspun and knitted by a Canadian, too!”

(under the polar Pixies) Nova Scotian Shawl by Jean. “The yarn was dyed with plants collected in the Nova Scotian countryside using yarn from New Brunswick and handspun sheep’s fleece from the Annapolis Valley. The Shawl was woven in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

11.8) Summer Table Runner, by Karin. “The summer colours of this table runner, woven with Canadian made Orlec from Leclerc, was influenced by the colours of my perennial garden.”

Right Front Grids:

12.0) The Right Front grids,

12.1) Remembrance, by Carlene. “The red and black design reminds me of both poppies (remembrance Day) and the Red Dress Project, which seeks to remember the Indigenous Women who have gone missing.”

12.2) (On Right) Canadian Muskox, by Jan. “The Canadian Muskox is a source of one of the most expensive fibres on the planet. We have Canadian Muskox in both the eastern and western Arctic. I made this for the Canadian 150^th anniversary art show. Using Canadian alpaca for the top coat.”

(On Left) Canadian Linen Cloth, by Lisa. “Since taking up weaving, I’ve learned a lot more about textile supply chains, and about how little we still produce in Canada. The rustic weft of this piece is from Taproot Fibre, who are trying to revive Canadian Linen production and produce a small quantity of Nova Scotia grown and spun linen and are, to my knowledge, the only producers of machine spun Canadian grown linen. This piece turned out looser than I wanted it, but it makes a great wrap for fresh bread!”

12.3) OVWSG Sheep to Shawl 2025, by the sheep to shawl team 2025. “Vibrant, glow-in-the-dark shawl produced for the Almonte Fibre Fest Sheep to Shawl Competition by October (Toby) Anderson, Jay Perry, Heather Farrar, and Olivia” (I think this was the first sheep to shawl for all participants; this shawl won Second place!)

12.4) Diamond Jubilee by Ann S. “This piece is a diamond made of 22 columns and 22 rows of twill weaves, creating 284 diamonds to commemorate the 75^th anniversary of the OVWSG.”

12.5) Aurora Borealis Skeins, by Bernadette. “Fibre sourced from a Canadian hand dyer.”

12.6) (Left) Zita’s Yarn, by Wendy. Made from a blend of our dog’s fur, locally raised border lester sheep’s wool and Cotswold hand-dyed by Bernadette Quaide, this skein of yarn was inspired by the Guild’s Summer Fibre Poker Challenge.

(Right) Home Spun Skeins by Maureen. “Hand-spun from Canadian Sourced wool.”

12.7) Scarf by Marianne Heggtveit, owned by Ann.S. “The Weaver, Marianne Heggtveit, is a proud Canadian of Austrian ancestry. She is also proud that Tencel-which is derived from wood pulp, was developed in Austria.”

12.8) Aubergine, by Carlene. “I wove this piece between June 30 and July 7^th 2024, and it was part of my Celebration of Canada Day Holiday time. This piece is a study of the colour purple with many shades and textures incorporated into the work.”

$12.9) (Framed on Right) On the Prowl, by Marie-France. “I live in the Countryside and foxes are regular daily visitors all year round. this art work is based on a photograph I took on my property in Val-due-Monte Qc. I love the 4 seasons in Canada but Autumn is the one that inspires me the most.” (Top Left Yarn) Handspun Yarn - 4 skeins, by MJ. “1 skein of Bluefaced leicester 2 ply gradient from grey to purple to blue. Peach Suffolk yarn 1 skein 3 ply 1 skein 2 ply. 1 skein of fractal spun dorset in various shades of Grey.” (Center basket with yarn) tag not visiable but looks like natural dies on wool.$ 12.9) (Framed on Right) On the Prowl, by Marie-France. “I live in the Countryside, and foxes are regular daily visitors all year round. This artwork is based on a photograph I took on my property in Val-due-Monte, QC. I love the 4 seasons in Canada, but Autumn is the one that inspires me the most.”

(Top Left Yarn) Handspun Yarn – 4 skeins, by MJ. “1 skein of Bluefaced Leicester 2 ply gradient from grey to purple to blue. Peach Suffolk yarn 1 skein 3 ply, 1 skein 2 ply. 1 skein of fractal spun Dorset in various shades of Grey.”

(Centre basket with yarn) tag not visible, but looks like a natural dye on wool, but could be the natural colour.

12.10) Magical Moose Mittens, by Judy. “These Mittens are made from local Shetland wool that I bought raw and then washed and carded. The white is from a sheep called Amber from Karberry Farm. The brown started out as off white fleece from Steve Welch. I dyed it with black walnut hulls that I collected in my neighbourhood. Then spun the wool into yarn and knit the mittens using my own pattern.”

Right Back Grids: We have reached the final part of the exhibit, the back of the right side grids.

13.0) Back of Right Grids.

13.1) We Stand on Guard for Thee, by Carlene. “This piece celebrates the Ceremonial Guard and their bear Skin hats. I created this Piece in 2017 for our Guild art show.”

13.2) Reflections: Evening sky on water by Moira. “This piece stems from my love of dying and weaving with silk and the beautiful colours reflected in Lac Tenpenny in Val-des-Monts, Quebec. This Calm little lake reflects the colours of the sky, Sun and Surrounding Forest in an ever changing tableau. This scarf highlights the colours as the water ripples in the lake and the sun begins to sink below the horizon“

13.3) Walnut Smudge Sweater, by Carlene. “Handspun and naturally dyed”

13.4) Tied On, by Joan. “Made from Silk ribbon bought at a (quintessentially) Canadian yard sale”

13.5) Basket of tea towels

(in front) Rosebud Trellis towel, by Kanika. “Maurice Brassard, a Quebec company, supplied the cotton. The weaver is from Ontario, the Leclerc Fanny Loom is by a Quebec company.”

(In the back) Canada Day Tea Towels, by Wendy “..Memories of Canada Day picnics with friends and family.”

13.6) Scarf with beads, by Kanika. (I did not see a description.)

13.7) Socks, by Maureen. “ Hand-Spun and knitted from Canadian sourced wool.”

13.8) 2 vests and shirts, and a tapestry of foxes with fluffy tails.

(Lower Left Vest) Chiengora Wool Vest 2, by Doreen. Canadian grown, spun, woven and sewn.”

(Upper Right Vest) Chiengora Wool Vest 1, by Doreen. Canadian grown, spun, woven and sewn.”

13.9) Summer and Winter, by Deborah. “Designed and woven by the submitter, handspun yarn spun by my daughter. Inspired by the guild’s Summer Fibre Poker Challenge.”

The Exhibition Team:

It was not an easy job (there is a rumour that getting guild members to fill out a form and drop off their pieces is similar to herding cats.) Wendy and her team got us all organised and put together a very diverse exhibition. Well Done Wendy!!

14.0) Wendy was the head of the Exhibition team and did a fabulous job.

I hope you have enjoyed looking through the exhibition and the OVWSG guild sale from the last post. If you would like to make comments, and you haven’t clicked on the post already, please check the top of the post for the comment button (it is hiding up there).

2025 OVWSG Sale

November 26, 2025 Jan Comments 15 comments

You have probably heard both myself and Ann, chat about the 2025 OVWSG Sale and Exhibition. We continue to have the Guild sale at the Glebe community centre, which started life as a church, changed congregations then became a community centre. It has had some renovations over the years, and this year, there is scaffolding surrounding part of the outside of the building. Other than the challenge of parking, it is a beautiful site.

As with every year, it was a busy time leading up to the sale. You may have noticed I posted for myself and covered for Ann to give her a bit of a break. Ann is not only baking for a local Farmers Market, a Fabulous felter and felting teacher, Guild Librarian, but also the coordinator for the sale, so she is very busy leading up to the sale and then really tired afterwards, but all her hard work was both worth it and appreciated.

You have seen lots of shopping opportunities lately, so this time I would like to show you a bit of the “behind the scenes”, some of the photos from the sale, then in the next post, finish by showing you the Exhibition.

Although Ann and the Guild sales team have been working since shortly after the last sale ended, the largest part of the volunteer teams get to work the week before the sale. On the Monday before the sale, we had gathered all the boxes and display grids in the studio ready to head to the sale on Friday. At 6 pm, we have the set up team at the Glebe, busy marking booth spaces and placing tables in booth spaces. The Team with Pickup trucks, loaded everything and met us at the sale around 6:30 pm.

1.1) The pile of stuff is ready to go, with the black grids just visible behind the folding tables.

1.2) Busy setting up the team, the room and dome is beautiful, but possibly had a leak

As soon as the tables were up, the vendors started bringing in their wares, with the help of the “assist-the-vendors-bring-stuff-in” team. The Guild Co-Op booth, Guild info booth, Make and Take table, the Exhibition and the demo teams were also setting up. We didn’t get to start as early on Friday as previous years (since the room was used as an after school daycare until 6 pm), so it was extra busy!

1.3) the various guild teams bringing in the guilds and vendor stuff (the blur of activity is Ann)

1.4) The booths popping up look like magic! (but it’s actually a lot of work)

I took a few (126) photos Friday night, to both document the guild activity and to create images we could post Friday night to entice shoppers on Saturday morning. (The postings seem to have worked, since Saturday morning was very busy with shoppers!) If you were curious, I took 873 photos in total over the weekend.

2.1) Molly Underhill’s Birch Trees

By this point, it had already been a busy week, and I was extremely tired. As I stood looking at Molly’s lovely trees, I wondered what needle she had used to attach the felt to the birch bark….. (Yes, I needed more sleep!)

2.2) Molly’s Canada goose bag and Glasses cases

2.3) Inge Dam’s Weaving

Besides felt, there were also booths of weaving, handspun yarn and commercially spun and hand died yarns.

The guild booth had the door prizes. When you filled out a questionnaire (it was short), you got a sticker and were entered for the door prize. For those of us whose phones are luddites and don’t recognise QR codes, they had a tablet to fill out the questions.

3.1) info table with survey and QR Code (QR removed since the draw is over!)

3.2) The Door prizes

3.3) Even if you don’t win a door prize, you still get to pick a sticker!

Once you have filled out the survey (this gives us info on where our shoppers are coming from, and a bit of what they were looking for) and picked your sticker, we can take a quick peek at the Guild Demo area.

4.1) Ann helping a new spinner in the demo area

4.2) Weaving and spinning Demos

4.3) Felting Demo (I am looking forward to seeing how this progresses)

The guild also had a “Make and Take” table, which had various small weaving, felting, and sometimes spinning projects to do and take home. This has been fun to see, with lots of younger new people, but also quite a few adults trying their hands too.

2 photos, Make and take table both show people around the table making small projects 3 photos, Make and take table 2 show people of various ages, around the table making small projects the last picure has the signeage from the end of the table explaining the table. 4.4-4.5) Make and take table, the team was busy most of the weekend!

Let’s look at the booth, time for some virtual shopping!!

5.1) The Vendors list and Map, in case you get lost, we will meet at the end near the exhibition

Booths:

Booth 1 is the Guild Co-Op booth, which gives members the opportunity to sell their work when they don’t have enough to have a whole booth.

5.2) These are blankets woven on the Guild’s 100-inch loom. The proceeds will help fund the guild.

5.3) A few of the items in the co-op booth

Booth 2 is Wendo Van Essen. She is a Needle Felter and has needle felted brooches, vegan taxidermy, needle felting kits, and pin cushions.

5.4) Booth 2, Wendo’s Booth

5.5) Booth 3, This is October Knits, a NEW vendor, with hand dyed yarn and fibre.

You may have spotted His colourful braided fibre at a few other events.

5.6) Booth 4, Judy Kavanagh and Don Haines

Spindles, heddles, shuttles, tapestry looms, fibre

5.7) Booth 5, Studio Three Fibre Arts and Unwoven

Booth 5 is a group of weavers, Studio Three Fibre Arts and Unwoven (Jean Down, Roberta Murrant and Deb Templeton), handwoven clothing, accessories, table linens, and fibre art.

5.8) Booth 6, Top of the Whorl

Spindles, spindle bowls, spindle totes and fibre in a variety of formats.

5.9) Booth 7, Wööl, emporium de laine

Hand dyed yarns, books, and notions.

6.1) Booth 8, Luna

Wood yarn bowls, crochet sets and art yarn.

3 photos, Hand spun and died yarn woven and knit, hand spun yarn. shot of part of the booth with people shopping 6.2) Booth 9, Fab Fibre Two (Jean Sharp and Bernadette Quade)

Handspun yarn, fibre, hand knitted and handwoven items

6.3) Booth 10, Handweaving by Janet Whittam

Handwoven garments and accessories, baskets, household linens, rugs

6.4) Booth 11, Strapped for Cash

Handwoven straps and bands, including guitar straps, bag straps, hat bands, key fobs, lanyards, and bracelets.

6.5) Booth 12, WindWeft (NEW this year)

Mohair locks and yarns in natural and hand-dyed colours, mohair/wool blends, handspun and mill-spun yarns, rovings, batts, and handmade wool dolls.

6.6) Booth 13, Inge Dam’s Handwoven Textiles

Handwoven scarves and shawls

6.7) Booth 14, Wayside Weeds and Wool (Amanda Carrigan) Handspun yarn, natural-dyed yarn, handknits, kits and patterns

6.8) Booth 15, Farmer Brown’s

Felted and wool based children’s play materials. Adventure Playmats, Woodland Gnomes and Fairy Houses.

6.9) Booth 16, Weave Me Be

Woven landscape tapestries.

7.1) Booth 17 & 20, Mapi Creations

Hand dyed fibre, Natural Fibre, Felted DIY kit, Felted Fabric, Art Yarn, Interactive Art Batt station

7.2) Booth 18, Maple Weaves

Handwoven wall tapestries and finished handwoven scarves

7.3) Booth 19, Felt by Molly

Felted goods

7.4) Booth 21, Carmen Deschênes, Lise Susin-Horth, Elisabeth Davy

Roving, locks, felted objects, handwovens

7.5) Booth 22, Makeloo Studio

Yarn certified 100% Canadian wool and hand dyed, also certified fibres

Oh my, that was a lot of show in not that big a hall! Maybe we should wander up to Bank Street and pop into a restaurant for lunch? We can meet back here afterwards and look at the Exhibition. If you are not parked in the city lot a block away, don’t forget to move your car when you drop off your purchases; it’s 3-hour street parking in most of the Glebe!

PS Sorry!!! i must not have saved properly, some of the photos were missing they loaded but did not attach, i must not have pushed save correctly!!! i hope this works now!!

Finally Mer-Felting! in Toronto Ontario Canada part 2

November 16, 2025 Jan Comments 9 comments

October 22^nd 2025

As we prepare to head out of Oakville, we were sad to leave. We have so many happy memories, of visiting Glenn’s parents, the years we were walking our giant black barking “cat” through the neighborhood, even a couple times past the hotel we were just in. That was a long time ago. We stopped at his parents Church and visited the memorial garden. It still had flowers even this late in the fall.

7.1) Oakville Memorial garden

Now its time to get on the QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way), the highway that turns into the Gardner Express way….. don’t let the name fool you it was not expressing speed….

As we trudged along in heavy traffic… it’s now well after 10am, the young Mer seems happy smiling out the window and looking at whatever is attracting his attention. Eventually the road turns north and becomes the Don Valley Parkway, still not moving fast but the scenery is now trees with tall building looking down into the valley. We even spotted a subway car crossing under a bridge. It all must be very exciting to a young mer on his first big trip. I had made cryptic notes, and checked with google maps before heading out, so we found the building without difficulty. It looks like an old industrial building that had many loading bays and production area for about 2/3rds of the building and the last part was a 2 story office area. It made me think of an old newspaper or print shop.

Finding The Olive Sparrow

Monika is upstairs, there is a small elevator so we can yet again avoid those evil stairs. Why don’t you join us and see what I found.

Holding the door open you can look past and see some of her felting supplys 8.1 Monika welcomes us to the Olive Sparrow

If you have seen Monika’s booth at various fiber festivals you will remember walls of bags of colour in various fibers, tools, fine theads, needles and other distractions. I was looking for something to help a friends project and I was curious to see what else she may have that she hadn’t shown us at the various sales.

8.2-8.9)the Olive Sparrow, an overwhelming amount of fibers and colours!! I noticed more things in the photos than I saw while there!!

9.1) Glenn found a comfy enough chair to read and nap as we chatted.

I explained what I was looking for today and we found a few options, including some viscose in excellent colours. I had not found more maori short fiber batts locally, so was extremely pleased to see she had all the brown tones I had used to make moose for the moose bags. I found it compacted to a dense even felt.

Monika showed me a piece she was working on. there are lots of ways to transfer and image to felt or fabric ground, but once you start working you can obscure the guide lines. we are both of an age that remember overhead projectors used at school. She had found some of the transparency sheets and had transferred her line drawing to it. so she could use it to check her layout. This is brilliant, it is easier then trying to redraw an outline as you are working or using proportional dividers.

10.1-10.2) line drawing, picture felting on antique linen and reference photo, and using a transparency overlay on the image to check proportions and progress.

I wonder if I could add registration marks, or use pins, magnets, or bulldog clips to keep the transparency from shifting? I have not seen the acetate sheets for overhead projectors, since I was a teen ager, that was a while ago. (I will be doing a search on line!)

Monika also shared a method of blending and storage of the blended fiber she was using. Instead of just hand blending (stacking and separating until the desired colour is achieved. Which works well for small amounts but can be harder to reproduce the same colour each blending, for larger quantities.)

11.1) hand blending

Instead she lay out the colours in thin wisps similar to how you would lay out fiber for wet felting. Then lay wisps of the other colours on top. Alternating thin layers of wisps.

11.2-11.5) blending larger quonties similar to wet felt layout but stacked in thin layers

She then took the line and from one end rolled it up keeping the fibers in the same direction.

11.6) rolling up the fiber keeping the locks parrelell

She then worked from the stack she had just made and repeated the laying out of thin layers as she had just done.

11.7-11.8-11.9) she continued to layer the wisps then rolling until the amount of blending she wanted had been reached

Once she had the colour she had wanted she took a sheet of paper placing the fiber on it, then folded the paper over the fiber. this kept the fiber parallel. she then rolled the paper with fiber inside and labeled it for latter use. If I have been storing blended fiber for later use I tend to lay it into a zip lock bag which I usually label. Storing it in a folded then rolled paper will keep the parallel alignment which is more helpful when making topcoat for a peice.

12.1-12.3) keeping the blended fibers organized and ready to use

I was very impressed with the collection of needles Monika had available. She had be able to get one of the ones I was very curious about, the “teardrop” shaped felting needle. this odd needle has all its barbs on one side. What would a one-barbed-sideded-needle be used for in Industry? It is used then a woven ground fabric, has fiber added to it. the theory is that the teardrop shape will pass through the woven ground fabric without braking the warp or weft threads and embed the fiber to be attached.

I spotted this in the industrial info a few years ago and immediately was curious, would this work for hand needle felting too? But did not think I would get my hands on a sample. Monika had one and liked it, I am looking forward to investigating this odd needle further.

13.1) some of the needles in sets, she also has a broad selection of individual needles available too.

14.1)The young Mer seems happy with my shopping and is being helpful holding my map notes on our way back to the car. (the Mer-Boyfriend is enjoying his improved hands!)

I found viscose in various colours, a mill end and more Maori short staple batts . She also sent me home with small samples of two core wools she was selling. I think the Young Mer enjoyed the shopping trip and visit with Monika! Now its time to head back to the car and start the return to Ottawa. Once we are back there is more to do to get ready for the Guild sale and exhibition.

I hope you have enjoyed the trip to Toronto and got as distracted by the reflected light and shadows on architecture as i did. i hope i can have another shopping trip to Monika’s store (i know she will mail things but its so nice to be able to feel the fiber and have a visit with her!) I promise I will tell you more about the tear drop needles when life gives me a moment to have fun and investigate.

if you would like to leave a comment or say Hi please use the sneeky comment button at the top of the post.

Finally Mer-Felting! in Toronto Ontario Canada part 1

November 14, 2025 Jan Comments 7 comments

Finally Mer-Felting!

Monday, Oct 20^th 2025.

Monday Morning arrived much too early. Instead of my original plan of donning my apron, a cherished reminder of my wonderful mother in law, and heading to the guild to work on the library, Glenn was loading a couple of suitcases and a project box into the car. It’s going to be over the usual 5.5 hour drive, with a brief stop to feed the car and ourselves. We are adding a couple quick shopping detours once we get into the Toronto area (primarily, Board Game Bliss). So maybe it will be quicker if you meet me in Oakville? The hotel has a pool you could wait in, but its hours are limited, and it was really chilly the last time I was in it. (No wet felting in the pool while you wait!!!)

1.11) A map of the edge of Ontario, between Ottawa and Oakville, to give you perspective of where we are going today

It was a long drive down, is it possible that either Ottawa or Toronto have moved farther apart? By the time we got into Oakville, and found a spot to eat dinner, the Pool was closed. So, how about we meet on the Go Train platform just down the street from the hotel, and you can come into Toronto with me, it’s the 8:30 express train. Don’t forget your umbrella, the forecast is rain all day.

Tuesday, October 21st 2025

One of Glenn’s Brothers ( brother #4 of 5 brothers) is joining us today, having flown in from the States. I am sure you will like him, he is a math teacher and thespian. We hiked down from the hotel to the Go station. Oh my! The Go train has a raised platform for wheelchairs and walkers to more easily get on and off the train. The Train worked beautifully and was very comfortable. Unfortunately, when we got to the subway station, the lifts for the subway were not all working, so it took a bit of extra time to find the lifts that were and get back from the detour the helpful transit people had sent us on. Good thing the building we are looking for is not too far from a subway stop. We arrived just in time, instead of early, as Glenn’s brother thought we would be. (Avoiding stairs always takes much longer when using public transit.)

We were going to a posh law office in a very high tower, in a canyon of high towers, reflective glass and old stone buildings.

1.12) Some of the landmarks I could see

There were comfortable couches and snacks by the reception desk, and an open stairway in front of a tall window. This window alcove had 2 chairs and a few plants, and a fantastic view looking, I think, sort of south or southeast. (It was hard to tell on the 16^th floor, all my normal landmarks are at ground level, and I never had a direct view of the sun. Later consultation with the map suggests I was looking west-ish.) The Brothers wandered off to a room on another floor to do legal stuff. (I am not a beneficiary, I am not one of the 5 brothers, so I didn’t go with them. I am just here as Glenn’s Driver, moral support, and to do some felting.) I gave up the too-low comfortable couch for the area under the stairs in front of the window with my box of felting supplies. I checked with the office manager that I would be out of the way there, and the huge window could prove interesting if the rain holds off longer.

1.2) This is a nice office, I don’t want to be underfoot, and the lighting is better over by the window.

1.3) Settling into a corner under the stairs.

1.4) There were some iconic buildings in my view. The Hudsons Bay building, a church(out of shot to the left) and what I finally figured out was old Toronto city hall and New City Hall.

I spotted an odd building that may not have been a building. I have seen a program on a subway system, I think it was Boston, but it could have been New York (both were discussed in the program), they had buildings that kept their facades, but had been gutted to add ventilation systems for the subway tunnels beneath them. I think this may be one of those fake buildings. It looked very interesting. I would love to have had a tour of it!

old brick building with turbines in center of it. 1.5) a shell of a building? 4 massive turbines stick out of the middle of what remains of the stone building.

As I was getting organised to start felting, I noticed I had more than just architecture to watch this morning. I have seen roofers working before, but it’s always from below (not a very enlightening perspective). This was a flat roof, too, so not something I have seen done in person before. This will also give you an idea of the actual zoom on my camera, as I got curious about that, too.

no Zoom

pulling back a bit to see more of the work happeing

Some Zoom

zoomed in to watch the workers aply the rubbery membrain

More Zoom

1.6-1.8) Oh no, now I have made all the guild members very nervous!!!

While they are getting to work, adding plastic sheeting and rubber membranes to the sides, I should get to work too. As much as the Mer-boyfriend wants to do his own abs, I should really give him a hand (ok, literally). I am going to focus on hand and arm musculature today.

I started with forearms and strengthening the wrists. The density of the felt was too soft, and the wire strength was overpowering the wool felt through the full forearm. I want the arias just above and below the wrist to be much firmer so the wire will be persuaded that bending at the wrist is correct, while bending in the forearm is not. If you are making a figure that will only be in one position, this is not as big a consideration. Since I don’t know how they will eventually decide to pose, I want them to have options.

2.1) Diagram of wool density around a joint

Note: if you would like the surface over the joint to have the same superficial density as the surrounding felt, you can use a crown needle or use shallow felting to firm the surface, but leave the under layers less densely felted.

2.2) working on the muscles of the forearms (the extensor group)

2.3) working on the posterior aspect of the upper arm just above the elbow joint

It’s handy to have good myology (Muscles) and osteology (Bones) diagrams for this. If you don’t have an extensive selection of anatomy and myology books, Google can be very helpful with its search “Images” tab. Good research is part of the fun of felting!

Once I had firmed up the arms, I focused on his hands. I have the fingers wrapped and have added the beginnings of the thenar and hypothenar eminence at the base of the palm. The fingers can be tricky or fussy to work on. If you only work from one angle, it will flatten the look of the fingers, so working all the way around the fingers works best. Make sure that your needle has the first barb close to the tip so you don’t have to stab deeply to move the fibre. This is again a good spot to switch to a crown needle; it’s not as fast with only a total of 3 barbs, but it doesn’t need to go as deep to engage the fibres.

2.4-2.5) working around the thumb

the Young Mer takes a brake on top of his project box 2.6) Mer resting and having a break in his project box (needle in lat border of the palm).

I checked in on how the roof repair was going. I was trying to figure out if the gravel part was done or if it was yet to be done.

3.1-3.2) watching roofers lay out plastic on top of the black layer, and wondering if the area with rock is finished or yet to be worked on. Using the zoom, I figured out that the gravel is the top layer.

The reflections are interesting with the stormy sky and landscape reflecting in the glass tower in front of me. The clouds have varying looks of impending downpour pour but so far, no rain has fallen. In the glass tower in front of me, I can see a landscape reflecting what is past the building I am in. As the light shifts and changes, the reflections shift too. It is distracting from my felting, and now I wish I were working on a landscape (don’t tell the young Mer, I will get back to working on him again!)

3.3) Storm clouds and reflections in the glass tower before me.

If you look to the lower right side of the reflected building, you will see the landscape that captivated my attention. I am not sure if it was just the shifting lighting or if it was the segmentation of the image by the window frames. I spotted a brief sliver of light on the fall trees as it passed and disappeared.

3.4) The landscape reflected in the glass with a sunbeam piercing the clouds, highlighting a stretch of trees and houses.

The clouds cleared for a moment, a bit later, but were quickly followed by a thick grey miasma of impending wetness….

3.5-3.6) It was particularly striking with the blue sky reflecting in the glass and the storm rushing in behind the building.

3.7) The storm rushed past, determined to dump water somewhere else since the sky cleared and the reflections of clouds were fabulous

I next turned my attention to the old City hall (the new one is a half-circle tower, not nearly as interesting a building). The old tower and main building are dwarfed by the much taller buildings around it. Unlike the many new reflective towers, this building has ornamentation and detail to look at. I hope you are fascinated by architecture as I am and will be inspired. If not by the architecture, then maybe it will give you thoughts of who would live in a building with such interesting windows and what they should wear? What would the gargoyles look like if they got up and flew off? Or, maybe the patterning around the clock face tower will inspire a vessel or scarf?

4.1- old city hall disappearing into the new building surrounding it

4.2- just peeking over the building, the fabulous fenestration and detailing are just visible,

4.3- Gargoyles!! Oh, the dentils in the roof and repeated under the gargoyle’s ledge! What is that pattern just under the clock? If only I could get closer…

4.5- Oh yes, I can get closer!

4.6)- more patterning on this gable end, the sun with swords, circles with a bar and plain weave?

4.7-In the late afternoon, the sun came out, giving this raking light, creating depth and accentuating the details

4.81- As the sun swung further around and pierced between buildings, it finally struck the glass neighbour of old city hall. Bathing the old building in reflected light and shadow patterns from its towering neighbour.

4.82) Sunset is approaching, and the reflections off the glass tower onto the stone and copper roof are intriguing but almost lost amongst the urban landscape.

5.1)The young Mer showing the progress on his hands

5.2) Hands can be a suggestion, or you can spend a long time adding knuckles and surface detail (ask Google to show you surface anatomy, and you should find diagrams of the superficial features)

By late afternoon, I had been switching back and forth, from felting to photography, as the light shifted and played off the reflective surfaces. That landscape I had been watching in the reflection of the building across from me occasionally had highlights of sunshine between clouds, causing parts of the landscape to be illuminated while other parts were darkened. It was very dramatic.

6.1) Another sunbeam strikes the landscape reflection in the building across from me

The sun was getting lower, and I was hoping for a fabulous sunset.

6.2) The reflections and cast light were getting interesting!

Glenn was sent down by their lawyer (for brothers #2 through 5), to say I could go upstairs and join brothers 4 & 5, since a possible agreement had been found… but when I got there, ah, not quite yet. Glenn had carried my Camera, which accidentally stayed in the room with him, and I went to the hall by the elevators. There was a small table beside the door labelled mail-room and a perfectly placed pot light. So I unloaded my project box and got back to work. Unfortunately, I missed the sunset, since there were no windows in the hall. I did have a lovely chat with a lawyer (not involved with mediation) who was working late as well. I give her a quick demo-brake, explaining needle felting and the Missing Mer-teen dilemma and making a Mer-boyfriend to tempt her out of hiding.

The process ran into the evening, but I had an audiobook and was happily felting. Eventually, they were done. No one ever saw brother #1, but he must have been there somewhere. Brothers #4 & 5 and I all headed back towards the subway, the Go-train, and eventually back to Oakville. (Drat, it’s too late and the pool is closed again). (The floating would have been nice, but I am really not fond of the wetness of the water. Water would be much better if it was warmer and drier.)

Wednesday, October 22nd 2025

Very early in the morning, we said goodbye to Brother#4, as he headed off to the airport to fly back to the States. It was very good to see him. Hopefully, we will be able to visit the 3 brothers living in the States in the future, but not until the law applies equally, women regain their rights, and sanity returns.

We also packed up and contacted Monika, of the Olive Sparrow, to check if it would be ok to drop in on the way home. She is not too far off the Don Valley Parkway, south of the 401 highway. She would meet us in about 2.5 hours, lots of time to get to the other side of Toronto!!! ………..

We loaded the car with suitcases, the project box, and the Mer-Boyfriend looking out the back seat window and waving at passing cars (I did take the needle out of his fingers so it was easier for him to wave, if he wants to) (to be continued shortly)

Remember, the sneaky comment button is still hiding at the top of the page as I am writing this, if you would like to comment or just say hi!

Merrickville Ont. Canada, New Fiber Festival -Fiber by the locks

November 6, 2025 Jan Comments 8 comments

On Sunday, October 19^th 2025, we had a new small fiber sale happening in Merrickville Ontario. It was a lovely sunny day so perfect for a drive south of the city.

1.1)poster of new fiber festival

Merrickville is a small town along the Rideau cannel at one of the many locks. The town has many beautiful stone houses and buildings. We arrived early and found a good parking spot, so let’s walk over to the locks and take a look around.

1.2) map showing the Pew building and Merrickville locks.

The pews is the building we were going to on the maps it’s the little red dot. It is also beside the locks and across from the blockhouse (where the guns and soldiers were, in case we were invaded by Americans in 1812). It was a lovely warm not-fall day for October, the leaves were turning and the water was still, giving beautiful reflections of the fall colour. (I was not the only photographer out and we had lens envy chats!)

1.3) the Merrickville lockstation

1.4)the Canal locks at Merrickville

1.5)the Canal locks at Merrickville

1.6)the Canal blockhouse at Merrickville, the military would be stationed here to protect the cannel from American incursions. I is now a museum.

1.7) the Arron Merrick Building (Side)

1.8) the Arron Merrick Building (front)

Its now time to head back to the Pews (formerly a United Church of Canada building, from the 1890’s)

1.9) former church now called the Pews.

The upper part where the church was is still filled with pews and is often used for concerts. The lower hall is accessible from the back of the building. That is where we are heading next, if I can pull you away from enjoying the fall colour.

It’s a small hall, full of 4 foot tables, so it’s a bit snug, but that is more for us to look at. The vendors are just doing the last of their set up (we will wait in the back corner, out of the way, till its time to shop). One of the vendors just pointed out a doorway with a ramp to another lower section, we can look at that afterwards.

2.1) most of the vendor tables in the hall there are a couple more to the left out of frame and at least one more to the right.

Shall we have a quick look around?

2.2-2.9) booths in the main lower hall

The second part of the lower level was accessible through a doorway and a small ramp. This was less finished and more basement-like. It also had an exterior door for accessibility from the outside. The booth sizes were bigger in this back section. There were two felters, which you may be interested in.

3.1-3.6) photos second hall basement

We had a thorough look through the event then went up the street to Alpaca tracks in hope of a butterscotch colour of alpaca fiber for a friend’s project. What they had, was not really what I was hoping for, but the store was interesting. Unfortunately, the fiber for sale is upstairs, and I was not feeling up to stairs by that point. So, I will show you a couple quick shots of the ground floor.

4.1) the store Alpaca Tracks T(h)read Lightly

4.2-4.5) displays within the store that cot my eye

It was a store full of cool things to look at, much seemed to be made by local artists. Since I could not find the colour of fiber I was looking for I will have to look in Toronto later in the week.

I hope your virtual shopping money has not been badly depleted!! There is still the OVWSG guild sale to tell you about. If you were in Ottawa the first weekend in November, I hope you dropped by (you might turn up in a blog post!) if you missed it, you can always plan ahead and be there next year! But, if i am doing this in order, we need to have a quick chat about; reflections in glass, the ongoing Mer project, and a Visit to the Olive Sparrow (where there were lots of options of fiber!) before we can get to the guild sale.

PS the sneaky comment button is still hiding at the top of the page if you would like to chat!

A Mer-person at Kanatacon gaming and felting convention; Saturday

October 27, 2025 Jan Comments 5 comments

Surprise, it’s the continuing adventures of a Mer-person’s (and Jan’s) busy weekend. Last post, we made it through Friday at the Kanatacon. Let’s see what happens next. (I am sure you can already guess!)

Saturday Morning:

Glenn, the Mer and I hopped in the car early so we could line up for the sale. Unfortunately, by the time we reached Kanata, it was raining, so they kindly let us line up inside. We were number 26 and 27 (the mer waited upstairs with the felting stuff since he wasn’t shopping). The instructions were that you could select up to 5 games, then go buy them. If you wanted to buy more, you went to the back of the line and went through again.

5.1) The first time through, a lot of games are already gone! I hope I can find the alpaca and lama games!! How many gamers in front of me are Fibre People?

Success!!! I have scored the Fibrr barring animals!!! I also found 2 card games with birds for one of my sisters in law ( they were sent to her, but I have not heard if she likes them yet).

5.2) First round of shopping, I got both the lama and the Alpaca games!!! Plus 2 that had tempting descriptions, and the boxes looked interesting.

5.3) A quick look around, and there are still shoppers downstairs.

I took the elevator back upstairs, dropped off the games with Glenn and took a quick look around the convention before getting back to work. One of the tables near me was playing a board game about Rome. It is a visually stunning game with detailed buildings, cards with drawings, a colourful board and many tokens. It all fits in a very, very, big box.

5.4)A game about Rome, lots of buildings and monuments

This is where we are with this young Mer-person. We are now at the part I have most trepidations about, creating the bumps running down the fish’s back and sides. (Scutes -back and Denticles -sides)

6.1 )Saturday Morning, after the first round of game shopping.

After reviewing my reference photos, I decided on the lighter (“White”) sturgeon. With further inspection, I could see that the first few(4ish)points along the back were spaced a bit closer together, and the rest were farther apart. The number varied from 11-14 Dorsal scutes; I went with 12. To get the spacing, I used sewing pins.

6.2)pins used for spacing

I kept adjusting until the spacing seemed correct. Next was to add small amounts of wool to create the point of the Scute and to felt down the space on either side of the point. For the second one, I realised it worked better if I lowered the space between the points first and then made the point. It is more of a half cone on each side of the ridge. The body colour also accentuates the cone-like shape.

6.3)working on the first cone link-shaped bump

A second shopping with dropped prices was announced, so back downstairs I went (ok, I did not do the stairs). I mostly wanted to see how much had gone and what was left. I was not very quick getting to the basement, the elevator needs a key, and it took a bit longer than the stairs. This meant I was at the end of the line in the hallway, which left me standing by the cashing out table at the back of the sales room! So I got shots of the remains of the game piles and the fervour of reduced price shopping! It was actually calmer than some of the fibre festival shopping I have seen (Black Lambs’ bag of cashmere and silk mill ends comes to mind)

6.4) At 11 am, the second go through with reduced prices on most of the games started.

6.5) I found a few more games that looked interesting, but most had no fibre theme.

The table beside where I was working had a game going; these were a pair of steampunk airships battling each other. (The map and miniatures were very cool; the math to figure out if their various cannons and guns hit each other eluded me, but they seemed to be having lots of fun even with the math.) They spent over an hour chasing each other around the board, trying to blow each other’s airships up.

6.6) Steampunk airships battle over a landscape of hexes.

Switched to a new book; Kristen Painter’s “Embrace the Suck: First Fangs Club, Book 5” (this one has some mobster-like vampires, and other supernatural naturals). Now time to get back to work. I continued blocking in the general shape of each scute.

6.7)the smaller closer closer-spaced scutes

6.8) Scutes are blocked in

With the scutes blocked in, it was time to turn and work on his upper human body. I need to firm up his arms. I brought the reference diagrams I was using for a minotaur project I was working on.

7.1) Turning to the human parts, let’s firm up and define muscles

Firming forearms is not as exciting as it sounds, so I took a break and I tried a bit of the skin tone on his head and some of the fish colour on the fins. I think the skin tone is close the fin colour will need more work.

7.2) building up the definition of muscles and firming up the wool in the forearm

I got a bit distracted listening to the new audio book and concentrating on the arm myology, so there are not a lot of progress shots.

I had a few of the gamers come over to see what I was working on this time. I did a few explanations of needle felting as I worked.

This is always a fun spot to felt and watch the gamers have fun. I should go with Glenn on their regular gaming night occasionally, too. (I might even try a game?)

I know that sometimes I am not a particularly fast felter, I am not in a rush, and I enjoy the process, and I felt quite firmly. So it may not look like I have accomplished much for two days of felting. Good thing the young Mer-person seems quite pleased!

7.3) Glenn and the Mer in progress, both looked quite pleased with the weekend so far! (and it’s only Saturday!)

Dare I tell you what happened Sunday? How about we save that for later?

Do you have any sheep-related games in your collection? Have you tried the Alpaca or Lama games? Have fun and keep felting

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Author: Jan

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