Travest y and Triumph

First the travesty.

Have you ever believed that your prowess as a craftswoman was so all encompassing that you believed that you could teach yourself a skill overnight? No? You sure? Ok, maybe I am the only one with the arrogance to believe that I am so smart that can teach myself to crochet in a few short hours. I signed up for a crochet class, I won't say where, but I will say that I was told that I needed to know how to chain, double and treble. When asked if I had those particular skills I blithely answered "Of course!” as if to say to the person who was helping me 'cha, don't we all know that.' Two weeks go by, I am still confident that I possess these skills, although I don't know where my one crochet needle (hook?) is. Friday night I decide that I need to hone my crochet skills in preparation for this class. I pull out my one lonely crochet book. I demonstrate complete mastery of the chain stitch. I attempt the double. And I attempt the double again. And again. I crochet a small round thing, not at all approximating the picture. I drop the hook, I tangle the yarn. I attempt the treble. I attempt to unsnarl previous attempts. I cannot get the hang of it. Geez, knitting has got to be more difficult, you are juggling two sticks. How can one 6-inch stick beat me? I concede defeat at 11pm, vowing that after a good night's rest I can teach myself how to crochet before 2pm the next afternoon. WRONG. I slink away in defeat. In shame I postpone my participation in this class until such time as I can learn how to crochet. I will be taking crochet classes under an assumed name this summer...

Now the Triumph

Sunday I took a class in felting at the newest LYS on the block Yarn Dogs! I have always been attracted to felting, but I have never worked with roving. I learned that what I do in my washing machine is technically not felting, it is fulling.

Deborah of Yarn Dogs invited fiber artist Carin Engen to teach this workshop.



It was held in the lovely courtyard outside the back of the shop, in the shade of a gorgeous Japanese maple. Carin gave us an engaging demonstration on the art of felting with roving, and then let us go to it on our own. We first learned the technique for creating 'faux pots' in felt. Then she taught us a technique for making scarves (or banners such as the one posted above), but it could even be used to make table runners, or place mats, or drapes! Some of us even made purses. Well I didn't, I was too enthralled with the pots.

Carin is such a personable and joyful instructor, that I am inspired to do nothing but felt for the rest of my life. Carin hand dyes all of her rovings, and the colors are so lush. She had some examples of large scale felted pieces that she makes. Wow! There is nothing you can't felt. Not only that the resulting fabric is really sturdy. Sturdy enough for the wear and tear of labradors retrievers. (On a side note, Godiva was terribly interested in the felted vases, from her vantage I am sure they look like brighly colored tenis balls...)

Here are some of the crafty ladies making purses:



and one of the purses ready to be sewn up:

,

The process is time consuming and wet, a pefect antidote to knitting a heavy wool sweater in summer. Some more crafty ladies intent upon their work:



The class was a perfect size; there were ten of us. A great mix of women with different backgrounds, but each of us has our own love of fiber, and particular niche. And this technique is so freeing. You can't screw it up!

I'm afraid that my picture taking was somewhat limited because I was so engrossed in turning out my little genius works of art. I saved the best picture for last... all of our little pots sunning themselves under the maple.