My felting experience is pitiful, but Little Miss Stitch is quite the felty expert so I agreed to be her adult helper (even though it was clearly the other way around!). Our teacher was the multi talented Rachel who is more usually eulogised on this blog as the bringer of all things cakey and delicious to my classes. However she is all kinds of wonderful and is also a super duper felter, knitter, spinner and all things wooly, as well as stitcher, baker and generally all round lovely lady.
Now if you've never tried felting before I would highly recommend you give it a go. 3D felting involves taking lovely fleecy natural wool 'tops' and repeatedly stabbing them into submission with a menacing looking needle. What’s not to like?! I started somewhat dubiously stabbing my wooly ball of non-mouseyness, but miraculously under the patient tuition of Rachel and with some help and advice(!) from dear daughter, my mouse did actually start to emerge! What fun!
Miss Stitch has not stopped stabbing little balls of wool since and we are now the happy owners of a whole felted wool tree trunk home of mice, rabbits, ladybirds and butterflies. It turns out that with only a ball of wool, a piece of foam, and a long needle a 10 year old can basically create whatever their heart desires in wool. (Apart from the huge sharp needle element) isn't it just the perfect kid craft? There’s nothing I love more than seeing kids imaginations bought to life through their creations. It leaves me wondering why we don't celebrate this more in our schools today. Is it more important to teach a kid to spell than to teach them to imagine and create? Ho hum.
*** Stop Press*** Rachel has offered to run some felting classes for PlainStitch in the autumn - Details to follow and watch the Autumn 2013 page to book.
