October Samples

2018/Week 40, Hedgerow Berries



Another bit created on my Harris holiday. With no sewing machine, I challenged myself to try hedgerow berries again but this time in knitting! I'm not the greatest knitter, but I like to experiment now and then.

I thought felted knitting would suit this, so I searched for pure wool to felt in the washer. I found two shades of green Shetland 4ply for the base, and knitted these together on 4mm needles. In a background of stocking stitch I randomly placed bobbles using a red/pink/orange Twilleys Freedom. (Bobble = k in front, back and front again of 1 st, turn, p3, turn, k3, turn, p3, turn, sl 1 k2tog, psso.)

Once home again I washed it at 60C and it felted pretty well! 

18/41 Car park
My Harris/Lewis holiday photos are full of inspiration for textiles. One of my favourites was this car park, with that metal mesh that's supposed to reinforce and protect the grass. There wasn't much grass left, but the plants looked wonderful in their hexagonal cells.

Back home I hand stitched the wire, used the embellisher to create a mossy effect, and free-machined stylised plants.

 

18/42 Lewisian gneiss
The ancient bedrock of Lewis is gneiss, banded with pink feldspar. The standing stones of Callanish include some beautiful examples. 

Monochrome shows the drama of the stones... but getting in close shows the subtle patterns and colours of the rocks.

This inspired a delicate lacy sample, free-machined on Solufleece. There's no fabric in this, just stitched thread - mostly Rayon 40 with just a little pinky metallic (which hardly shows in the photo).



18/43 Carloway broch 

I've seen a few of these Iron Age towers around the highlands and islands, some in better repair than others. The stonework always seems to follow the same pattern: the gaps between large blocks are filled with stacks and bands of small ones. Now I think about it, our garden wall is just the same!  

 

I used this as an excuse for a bit of wet felting. I'm trying to cure myself of the idea that felting is a messy, time-consuming business that needs a whole day set aside and plastic sheets everywhere. My felt jewellery course in August showed me I can dabble quite spontaneously at my desk. So I made a light grey merino base and decorated the top with bits of darker grey, recycled pink Cheviot, and white bamboo fibres.

 

I backed it with thin wadding, and my design on Solufleece, then free machined the block outlines with charcoal thread.   

     

That's it for October, but I haven't finished with my holiday snaps yet!