These are just the sample pieces we made before starting on a longer scarf. Some are long enough
for neck  warmers, I was hoping mine would make a wrist warmer but it’s too long.

Above, from left to right, is the work of Claire, Sue and Bev.

From left to right you can see the work of Anna-Louise, Jeni and and Ang.

Margaret’s scarf is on the left and the right one belongs to Liz.

Some people also had time to practice the lattice technique. The scarves were so beautiful on Saturday that I wanted to keep them all but no-one was willing to give theirs up. Nor did they want to wear a cold wet scarf for a photo shoot, I can’t imagine why! At least two people pushed themselves to work with unfamiliar colours and were pleased with how the scarf turned out. Claire was a joy to watch as the smile never left her face all day!

Thank you so much ladies for the help in setting up and putting away, I do believe ten minutes to clear up is a record and was very much appreciated. That’s the last workshop for this year, I’ve a few commissions to finish and then I can perhaps put together a new tutorial and work on a project for next March, more of which later.

Scarves have been a passion with me since the early 1970s when I would travel across Sheffield to the well off side and indulge myself with jumble sale buys. Jumble sales, do you remember those? I loved them, in addition to scarves I bought stilettos, pencil skirts, cap sleeve blouses and embroideries.

I’ve never been able to think of a better way to store them than on clothes hangers, they do give me instant access and I can see what I’ve got. The collection has been steadily growing with very few thrown or given away. Today I thought I’d spend a little quality time with my collection, putting them back on the hangers as they were getting a little messy. Whilst doing this I counted them. How many I hear you ask – just the 150. I thought if I said it quickly it wouldn’t sound too many but actually I love having 150.

They’re not just items they’re memories. Each one I handled I could remember where I’d bought it, what I’d worn it with, some of the occasions on which I’d worn them and I’m very proud to say every scarf has been worn several or even hundreds of times except for one, today’s purchase!!!!. They come in every shape, size and colour. Some were actually sold as sarongs but I thought they worked better as scarves. There’s the one my friend and I both liked, a large cotton square (squares are my least favourite shape) so we bought it, cut it in half and had a rough triangle each.

Here are two of my favourites

The one on the left is from the 1970s, pure silk and has a rip in it but I still wear it, being careful how it falls. The blue one I bought today and love the way the blue sings out on the grey/brown background. In my collection is a silk scarf with paint on it but the colour is so wonderful I can’t bear to part with it. I don’t own any woolly, knitted or fleece scarves, I like lightweight and very long ones that I can leave on indoors.

I’ve not spent a fortune on them and some have been gifts of course. They all give me great pleasure except for two and those two are being gifted to the charity shop. They arrived as vey welcome gifts and try as I might I’ve never been able to like them enough to wear them, perhaps someone else will love them.

There are a few made by me and I did have a period where I didn’t wear them but now that my daughter is older she no longer pulls them and I’m not in fear of being throttled. Strangely I still miss a scarf that I reluctantly put in the bin some years ago, it was badly faded and ripped, still wish I had it – sigh!

We began by making a sample using cotton muslin and tried incorporating, silks, curls, rovings, pre-felts and other fabrics. This allowed us to see which effects we liked before moving on to make a full size scarf.

The scarves were worked on a base of silk chiffon and after some rolling and some very vigorous throwing they look brilliant. Be warned by Liz’s comment “I could hardly move my right arm above shoulder height yesterday – repercussions of enjoying the “throwing” stage a little too vigorously I think!”

The yellow ribbon like structure on the final scarf is where cotton muslin has been felted onto the silk chiffon – effective isn’t it? I hope you find these pictures inspiring.

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I also ran a felt for Christmas workshop but for some strange reason didn’t get any decent photos. However I was very pleased to receive the following feedback

Kathrine said “Just a quick message to say thank you so much for such an enjoyable and inspiring day. I have really wanted to do felting for ages and your workshop today has wetted my appetite for doing it even more, I just loved working with the wools and threads, you really gave us a wonderful day, thank you so much!”

Kirsty said “Thanks for a great workshop today. Everyone at home was impressed with what I had produced!”

How very kind of people to let me know they’ve enjoyed the workshops.