Spring Accessory Sprung!

I am finally getting some semblance of regularity in life after last weekend's Fiber Fest. Whew!! What a blast! - An exhausting and sometimes overwhelming blast - but still, a BLAST! I would say that I can hardly wait until next year, but I and the other board members (Hi MK, MA, MS and ML!) have ALOT of work to do before then. Good thing we have a full year!

I acquired additional fiber at the Fest (big surprise!) along with a great bag I found on clearance! Here's a pic of the haul:

With so much beautiful fiber, where's a fiend to begin? I started a sock with the "Acero" I bought from Brooks Farm but that's still in the "tweaking" stages. I began a wrap with the pastel "Harmony" lace-weight I got from JoJoLand. I absolutely love this yarn, so airy and light. The long color color repeats make it a dream ~ the pattern I chose, though, a nightmare!! After only a couple of hours, I scrapped it for a pattern of my own design. Now I just might have the patience to finish the piece. Being so fine though, I find I can work best on it in good lighting, daylight preferably, so have decided it will not be a piece I do in the evenings, when most of my crafting time is.

So what's a fiend to do? You guessed it. Start yet another piece. The idea of the finished felted bag jumped to the foreground of my mind fully formed. I used the Himilayan wool with recycled silk, also gained at the Fest - choosing to ignore the label that read "60% wool, 40% silk." Any good fuller knows that this combination normally spells disaster in the fulling process, but I proceeded on blind faith. The yarn seemed like wool, true enough, and I could see the multi-colored silk throughout, but I could scarcely believe it was 40% silk! I would take my chances!!


I finished crocheting the bag in one evening and spent only a few hours on the felting process. Normally, I like to felt everything by hand, in the kitchen sink. Afterall, with a front-load washer, it's kinda hard to add boiling water to the machine mid-cycle. But just the thought of all that sqeezing and pressing hurt my hands, so this time, I started the piece in a machine at a laundry mat. (You can imagine the stares of all the people doing it "right" as I squirted dishwashing liquid into the washer like it was only natural...) Three "hot" wash cycles later I returned home and let the bag dry overnight before completing the process in my kitchen sink.

After a few beads and a handle, I now have this drying on the craft table:

I LURV It!! The yarn (which started out Texas Burnt Orange in color) had lost some of the dye in the process and the resulting bag is a bit more bright orange than I had hoped, but it's beautiful, nonetheless!

Besides, all the fashion mags say bright colors are IN this spring. Just in time...

SDOSAS!

~Jer