Snow

We definitely have enough snow to snow dye!!  Look at how much snow has fallen without the wind blowing it into hard drifts. Gotta love these Christmas card photo days!

Nuno Felting at Annette's

Shirley and I met up with Geesje and Pat at Annette's cosy studio to try a type of wet wool felting called "Nuno Felting".  Annette has the best studio for doing this kind of messy craft. She has converted a shed in her yard into a studio with a wood stove. Very cosy. It even sports a chandelier for its main light source!!

To Nuno felt you lay out whisps of wool (we used Merino, a very soft and fine wool) on top and bottom of a sheer piece of silk fabric. You then soak this sandwich with soapy water, roll it up in bubble wrap and agitate it by rolling back and forth a total of 400 times. 

The entire process took between 2 to 3 hours. The scarves are beautiful!!

Laying whisps of wool roving on top of the silk fabric.

Pieces of dyed sheep wool locks that I added for design on my scarf.

Geesje adding hot soapy water to her wool sandwich to assist with the felting.

The results!!
I neglected to get photos of us rolling the scarves 400 times.  Guess I was too busy!

The four of us in front of our finished pieces.

Annette's flower shop, another outbuilding on her farm.  

Visiting Alma

Yvonne, Bill, Don and I went to the Care Home to visit Alma. She was very alert. She nodded her head yes or no in response to our questions. She even held my hand when I told her to feel how cold it was. 

We sat in the visiting area where we gave her a poinsettia. We wheeled her to her room to look around and set up her poinsettia. Then we wheeled her down for supper. Saw a few other folks we knew too. 

Visiting Joan and Norbert

Shirley, Beth, and I stopped into Joan and Norbert's interim digs in Winnipeg. They are staying in a condo just off Pembina Hwy near Bishop Grandin. It is a gorgeous place to stay for the four months or so until the apartment complex they will move into is finished. 

The condo they are in now is very comfortable for them. Three bedroom, two bath, kitchen, dining room, laundry, etc. I love that the patio window that looks out on the Red River. Wonderful!!

Dyeing with Helen and Donna

The local fibre fanatics met today at Helen's house to dye some of the wool fleece we got from Lisa on shearing day. We used Ashford dye that is ment specifically for dyeing wool and Procion Fibre Reactive Dye. The Ashford dye was amazingly brilliant. Loved it!  The Provion wasn't as bright, but I have seen better colour from Procion on wool before. I will have to find out why it didn't work as well as it should have. This dyeing always seems to be tricky!!

Here is a photo of two felted cuffs that Helen made. Hers are the pink ones. The blue one I just started. They are made by needle felting. 

Dyeing with Leah

Leah and I made Christmas dainties. Then later we did some dyeing. Again, lots of fun. The best part is the reveil. To bad Leah wasn't there for that part. But here you can see our results. 

Dyeing with Beth

Used the snow and gorgeous weather to do some snow dyeing outside with Beth. The cold snow melting with dye on cloth causes the dye to strike more slowly and separate into its component colours before setting on the cloth. Interesting, but need to play with this some more to get it figured out better. 

We also did some regular, room temperature dyeing too. Lots of fun!!