When I woke up this morning I was in shock - the skin on my palms was peeling off like old wallpaper, and my hands felt sore, it wasn't funny anymore. And then I remembered...I had finished my very first felting project 2 days ago. Oh I was sooooo proud of myself!!!! I had been wanting to try wet felting for ages and ages, but you can just forget about doing anything outside the yarn&fiber business during the high yarn season. But once the month of May comes around things usually slow down just about enough for me to find extra time for experiments with my fibers - that's the part I love so much because there is no schedule, and it's not for stock up either :o)

So I took one of my handpainted extra fine Merino wool rovings, that had been sitting in the corner for months (and I sooooo wanted to work with that roving!!!), widened it to about 6 inches and doubled the layer with more wool of the same roving, which means that I ended up with a 2,2yard long unfelted lot - the right length for a scarf (it would still shrink during the felting process of course). Right, had never done any un-accidental felting before in my life, and Heike just jumped into the project with loads and loads of enthusiasm, diving her hands into soapy waters and rubbing that Merino wool the right way... and when I mean "soapy water" I really mean SOAPY!!! Boy, I think I used way too much soap, but I didn't care because it was such fun moving my hands over the soft fiber! The wool felted like a dream, it didn't take long at all, and I actually finished felting and fulling the scarf within 1 1/2hours. It may be quite long, I don't know, but for me as an absolute beginner in wet felting it was not too long at all. Anyway, one thing I kept thinking during that soap party was: Hm, perhaps I should wear gloves... should I...? I know the answer now: YES, I definitely should have worn some bloody gloves to protect my hands from all that hot water and soap and rubbing and fulling and all... Today my hands look disastrously raw and sore, and I am sure that the mordanting I did last night (also without wearing any gloves) finished off the skin on my palms for good.

Well, I have learned my lesson well. Next time I do some felting and decide to turn the whole thing into a complete bubble bath, I will wear some gloves. But guys, I am really really proud of what I have finished!! The scarf has come out so nice and so soft. Now that it is dry it measures 5ft3" in length and 6.8" in width, and it is about 1/8inch thick. I have taken some pics.

The first photo is the drawn out wool roving in its raw state, have a look:

I am sure that I have missed some details that would have made this scarf even better, but it is well felted through and through, I love the colour scheme and it is really soft to wear around my neck :o)

Today I spun some of my greasy Shetland fleece because the lanolin helps sore skin very well, and my hands look much better already compared to how they were this morning. I will probably continue with the greasy fleece tonight, that one is also a project I had to put aside for far too long. There is nothing better for handspinning than a clean pure and greasy long staple fleece that you can simply spin straight from the lock, such a breeeeeeeeeze :o)

It has also got quite chilly and rainy again, and I got out a pair of socks I had knitted last winter from a wonderful handspun Herdwick yarn - not spun by me though. I had purchased this yarn as a treat (you have to every now and then...right?...) from another handspinner who runs a craft shop in Caldbeck along with I think another 9 or 10 ladies. They all are very very crafty and so talented, I love going there. The shop is called "Wool Clip" and it's located inside an old water mill called "Priest Mill", there are also other craft shops in it. If you ever get to the Caldbeck area (which is quite close to the Northern part of the Lake District) it would be worth stopping by there! They have handwoven, handknitted, handspun and handpainted fiber art for sale and the prices are artfully reasonable. Here is a photo of the socks I have knitted from the Herdwick yarn, quite coarse, I agree, but I do love Herdwick!!! It doesn't always have to be super super soft for me: