Last Make of 2020 and First Make of 2021

2020 has been a crazy year.  For me, lockdown meant that I had time to learn and practice making felt.  I want to show you the last two things I made in 2020.

This leaf scarf is from an online tutorial by Katerina Korshun.  She also has a YouTube channel with free content.  I have learned so much from watching Katerina’s videos.  The scarf above was made with superfine merino wool and silk hankies.  This was the first time I used silk hankies.  This scarf is about two meters long.  I love the drape of this scarf as it is very light and flexible and has a lovely cobweb effect.  I made another one in green, and a wee bit shorter this time.

I have also purchased the feather scarf tutorial as there was an offer to buy two at a discount.  The classes are in English and the videos are about 30 minutes long.  That may be short, and I had my doubts at first, but it covers everything from start to finish and is made for beginners to follow.  I have a lot of viscose and find that this is an interesting way of using it for great effect.  The Russian felters are very innovative in their use of viscose for clothing and as I am always up for trying new things, I just had to give it a try.

So now we are in a new year, 2021.  There was a Russian video shared on one of the Facebook felting groups.  It was for a French scarf with yarns.  Actually, it was a Russian felting conference that contained a free tutorial about 35 minutes into the video.  I watched the video and made notes as I always do.  If you want to make this, I can honestly say that it is very easy.  However, you need to keep watching when the scarf is finished to get the template size.  I am not a stranger to making scarves with yarns, but this method was slightly different to what I was used to and I was intrigued about the making of a French scarf.  I didn’t have any dyed silk laps, so instead of silk, I used viscose instead.

This is what I used.  The yarns are alpaca with cotton, mohair with poly, and extra fine superwash merino.  I have used the superwash merino before, and before I realised it was superwash. There is 19mic merino wool in Blossom from DHG and viscose in Onion and Purple, also from DHG.

This template is not what one would consider to making a scarf.  I have a paper template under the bubble wrap, but with the bubble side down.  There is a very fine layer of viscose before I added three layers of yarn.  I made sure that the superwash was sandwiched in-between the alpaca and mohair yarns.  I then added a superfine layer of merino wool.  I will say right now that I did not weigh out the wool.  I don’t always do that and I know I should, so that is my resolution for 2021.  I promise to weigh out the wool from now on!

After the wool, there was more yarn and then a final layer of viscose.  I did the usual wetting out, rubbing, sanding, felting and fulling.  The whole process only took a couple of hours at the most.

This is my French yarn scarf drying on the mannequin.  There are other ways to wear this scarf and I will take more photos once it is completely dry.  The scarf is also reversible.  This scarf is a bit more dense, meaning less holes, than the one in the video, but I am really happy with it as it is light and flexible.  I love the cobweb effect of the wool and viscose.  It is also the perfect style and size for me.  In fact, I love it so much that I started another one, but in blue!

I want to thank everyone for reading my blog and being supportive and sharing my felting journey thus far.  I wish everyone a Happy New Year and that 2021 finds you all healthy and creative.