My sister helps me with my stash and I help her with hers... today I mailed her a bag of rocks gathered this summer, some lichen or parasitic thing that grows on pine trees... the green is amazing, and a mixed bag of seeds and pods. She is sending me some birch bark in return.
I am really working at bringing down my felting stash... I want to make books, but need to do some housecleaning first. This is really a housecleaning task. So I've been felting nearly every day, making some really gorgeous scarves and here is how I do it...
I lay the roving first in one direction then another and add bits of yarn and fuzz (did I tell you I had a fuzz stash???) that I rescued from the washing machine when I felt knitted items... once I'm happy - or afraid I've gone overboard - I cover it with netting and wet it, squirt it with watered down shampoo - they tell you to use olive oil soap, but the shampoo makes the scarves smell so nice - and then placing a sandwich bag over my had I rub the dickens out of it, flip and rub again.
then I put another sheet of bubble wrap on the top (one on top, one under) and roll it around a noodle, stick a dowel through the noodle and roll it... 100x one way, 100x another - and 100 x for good measure (I'm getting these little muscles on my upper arm) once that part is done you fold and drop it 25 times, refold and drop 25 more. Rinse rinse rinse, roll in a towel to get most of the wet out and lay flat (I hang it over a door) to dry.
and you get a scarf... made from soft soft wool... so delicate thin it is weightless
full of textures and colors
silk threads and yarn scraps (another stash)
or this one, a teeny bit more substantial
with woolen leaves (cut from my wool fabric stash) felted in.
or this one where I laid some flowers cut from a sheer fabric and felted them in
see it drapes well
and it is long enough to tie about your neck... if only the temps would drop below 90! oh, and yes, I do have a scarf stash.
Really enjoy your postings Barb. Don't forget when the hair gets to be too much of a decision... my neighbor and the mohawk for 2 days and the completely purposely bald
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