Grazie Tanto!

Over the summer months I was contacted by Gaia Gualtieri with Dyeing House Gallery in Tuscany requesting use of my Autumn Leaves Yarn for their web site's Fall Banner http://www.dhgshop.it/

Awhile back Claxton was learning a few phrases here and there of Italian so I asked him if he'd peek at the site and let me know what it was about. He reminded me of what our cute, 6 year old nephew (who is fluent in both Italian and English) said to him last visit, "Be nice to my uncle, he's still learning to talk." (This is all a moot point any way as it turns out the website has a translation button over the banner at the top left.)

I never dreamt while I was spinning this yarn that I would one day be jealous of it getting to go on a virtual trip to Italy and all. (Meanwhile I vacationed in Arkansas this summer.)

So where is this yarn now? Well, I knit it into a very strange hat and donated it for silent auction in support of the the good work being done at Critter Harbor.  It's rather a sad ending though: it seems that while this yarn might be deemed pretty enough for a website banner turns out that nobody actually wants to put a silk leaf yarn-hat on top of their heads.

Felt United - Third International Day of Felt

No fever. No injury to report. Claxton didn't finally gather the family together for the dreaded intervention. Of course there's no room to gather family as I just received shipment of a bump (21 lbs) of wool (yahoo). I placed it right in the center of the living room where I can gaze at it from various angles because why even bother to try and hide the stuff any more ? At this point I'm fooling no one. Clearly I have not been healed or "cured" of my fiber need.

So, why does somebody with 5 spinning wheels, a honkin' big floor loom, a smaller weaving loom, gillions of knitting needles, a vast array of crochet hooks and a terrible fiber addiction suddenly not require even a smidgen of yarn for several weeks? Because, presently I'm totally immersed in wet felting. Why bother to spin the wool when you can use the stuff straight out of the bag! No need to delay gratification. I guess this is the equivalent of eating straight-up cookie dough without bothering to bake it. To which Claxton might reply, "Yeah, but even the Cookie Monster doesn't have 21 lbs of chocolate chip dough plopped in the middle of his living space for his spouse to walk around." and, to which I might respond with, "How could you possibly know that?" (The secret to a successful marriage is to always converse on the same intellectual level.)

I've been felting hats, mittens, scarves, pouches, bags, and all kinds of vases, vessels, flower pots..in short, been having great fun!

There is comfort in the knowledge that I'm not the first or only one who has fallen prey to the felting bug. And, addicts tend to run in the same circles so it won't surprise you when I say  I just happen to know somebody who has gotten so intensely into felting that she's taken on headquarters solely dedicated to this process. Her name is Mary Reichert. On November 1st she's opening a shop in Duluth and here's her website:  http://otlakfeltstudio.com/

O.K. so, last Saturday was a special, special day for felting addicts everywhere as it officially marked the third International Day of Felt. (This has a site as well: http://www.feltunited.com/)
 
Now, Mary knows that I've gone crazy (we prefer "gotten industrious") making felted vessels, vases and what-not so she invites me to participate in a little display she has arranged with Lake Avenue Cafe in Duluth in recognition of the 3rd Annual International Day of Felt. Here's an example of one of the many different felted vessels that were placed on tables at the cafe.

It's not my favorite or anthing like that. I only got the one picture because the other tables with my vases had people sitting at them when we visited. Claxton doesn't like to go out to eat very often and I figured if I started bothering other people in the restaurant asking, "Excuse me a moment but, could I please take a picture of your centerpiece?" he might never go out to eat with me again. I did get a picture of our waiter in Mary's hand felted vest though:

She did a really nice job making that. I want to thank Mary for including me in the event. I also want to thank Lake Avenue Cafe for hosting the display and for a delicious lunch. I had the feta cheese pizza with artichoke hearts.  Great service too! Very personable folks there as well.

When we got home I commented to Claxton how much I enjoyed seeing the various vases with fresh flowers in them. Naturally that got me thinking about felting flowers. As our yard is in full bloom at the moment, and as it could start to snow any time now that we're barely into October (you never know up here in northern Wisconsin) I decided to take a few pictures for reference. The bees were going nuts last Sunday and didn't even care how close I got.

(Naturally this picture has me thinking about felting bees...)