Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Gramma Hat


When John and I were visiting his mom and dad a few weeks ago, I noticed his mom was not wearing a hat and it was cold so I told her I would make her one. Here it is.

Awhile back I tried the felting over a beach ball trick. You lay fleece over a beach ball in different directions then put a stocking over to hold it in place. Then you bounce the beach ball in the shower into a pan of soapy hot water. Next you throw the whole thing in the dryer and dry it. When it comes out of the dryer you deflate the beach ball and end up with a hat shape kind of thing that you can modify.

I ended up with unevenness and holes and was originally going to turn it into something else but never got inspired so-- I took this mold, cut it a bit and needle felted some black alpaca on to it and made a brim and put on some embellishments and I think it came out pretty good. We mailed it yesterday. The best part is, it is very lightweight and soft and warm.

I just love it when things become something different than originally planned. A few weeks ago an experiment in sheet felting went awry and I was very disappointed at first. Then I saw how it could become something beautiful. It is still awaiting its new life but that is O.K.

Today, a friend came over to play with fiber and I made another attempt at sheet felting. This one failed big time also, but I am getting experience at not seeing failures as failures but rather a different kind of art form. This one has tremendous potential.

I think Amelia, Sarah and/or Annie will be proud to have Gramma wearing some of their last years fleece.

5 comments:

  1. beautiful hat sue, you're on a roll!cathy

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  2. It looks fabulous! She'll love it!!!

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  3. It's neat that you were able to figure out how to use it afterall. I would have loved to have seen it in person. It's beautiful.

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  4. The artist in you comes out again. Nice work, Susan.

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