wet felting

Wet felting is the process of taking unspun wool roving, and rubbing it against itself with water and soap to turn it into a piece of fabric.

We will have two stations in class tomorrow.  The first is wet felting on a bar of soap, and the second is wet felting a piece of fabric using a plastic bag.

The first link is to a YouTube video. Just wanted to give you a heads up in case you don't let your people watch YouTube unsupervised.  This video is totally safe and suitable.

There are a gazillion results that come up when you consult the Googles about wet felting.

Here is a Flickr group called Bubble Hands - Wet Felting. Artists post photos of their work.

This is a gallery from Felting Lessons (dotcom).

And this link will take you straight to the Google Image page.

Next class we will be needle felting. That was my plan for this week's class, but I had to order foam from multiple sources and it all didn't arrive in time. Ah, the joys of the internet.

See you all tomorrow!

crochet time, y'all

There is so much information on the internet about teaching kids to crochet. Seriously. Take a peek, if you want. 


I really like this article from the Lion Brand Yarn website. They emphasize that one of the perks of crafting is that we are able to take pleasure in the act of creating. Crocheting and knitting should be fun, relaxing, rewarding. There will be no pressure from me for your child to complete a project. I think there is just as much value in trying and discovering.

Here is a great tutorial showing how to form a slip knot and how to make a chain stitch.

This is the best beginning crochet video I have seen. It is almost 6 minutes long, but shows very clearly how to form a slip knot, single crochet stitch, and links to other videos by the same teacher.

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In class today, we:

1. Made a center pull ball of yarn from the hank we dyed last week.
2. Learned to make a slip knot.
3. Learned to single crochet.
4. Learned that it is perfectly normal to start a project and rip it out seventy-bazillion times before getting it right.

(Everybody has a brand spanking new crochet hook and plastic zippy bag.)

how to wind a super fancy center pull yarn ball

I hope everybody has rinsed their beautiful yarn (until the water runs clear, remember?) and that it is nice and dry.  Tomorrow in class, we're going to wind it into a ball.

There is a superty awesome website called Instructables that is full of really clever tutorials. You can learn how to to pretty much EVERYTHING on Instructables.

Here is the link to the Instructables tutorial.

And for those of you who would like to watch a video, here's the WikiHow article, complete with an embedded YouTube video.

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Just in case... The words that are in bold print and underlined contain links to other websites. (Except for right there. You could click that all day and you won't go anywhere.)

wonderful wool, day one

Today we:

· painted wool yarn.  The wool had been put in hanks and soaked in a vinegar-water solution overnight.  Vinegar causes the fiber to absorb dye better.

· heated the dyed yarn. Heating fixes the dye into the yarn, so that the dye does not bleed out of the yarn when it is washed.

Homework:

· wash your yarn. Remove your hank of yarn from the zippy bag, and in a clean sink (utility or kitchen), rinse the yarn with room temperature water until the water runs clear. Gently squeeze the water out of the yarn.

· dry your yarn. Put your hank of yarn on a hanger, and hang it to dry. Good places for this are over a utility sink or in the shower.

****NOT IN THE DRYER**** 

· bring your washed and dried yarn to class next time.   Because if you don’t, you won’t have anything to do during the next class.

Next class, we’ll make a fancy ball of yarn and finger-knit or crochet.

I have set up a blog for the class, where I will post links to websites that have interesting and pertinent information. I will also post the sort of information that is on this sheet today (no more paper after this).

If you want to contact me, you can comment on a blog post, 

or 

email me at thedaytontime AT gmailDOTcom.

Everyone paid for their class kit, and I will distribute it piecemeal as there are many tiny bits, and we will not need all of the stuff at the same time.

Today is the only messy day. Sorry for not giving you a head’s up.