My first post!

  Here begins my adventure into the world of blogging!  I hope to share with you my love of felt, what I have created, learning new techniques and sharing my discoveries related to felt.  Here is a quick history of my felting experience......I started out felting in December of 2010, I saw a program where a woman was demonstrating how to make a piece of felt by wet felting.  I was fascinated, this was so amazing.  I immediately went out and got a book on how to make felt, "Uniquely Felt", great first time book.  I ordered some wool on line and a wet felting kit of netting & a matt.  I still have that little red piece of felt.  I kept experimenting with different wools and techniques and was just making so/so felt.

At the same time as I was discovering felting I was also learning how to knit again.  I was in my local yarn shop, Yarn Dogs in Los Gatos, and I saw a felted vessel up on a shelf.  It was wonderful, I had to know how to make it!  Luckily the next week there were classes scheduled.  The instructor was out of the area so they book 3 or 4 classes in a week while she's here.  I signed up for three classes, one for a vessel, one for making a wall hanging and another for a purse.  I just had to know how to make these amazing things that were in the shop, I was so jazzed!!  That was the real beginning of my love affair with felt.  The instructor was fiber artist Carin Engen from Garberville.  She is an incredible teacher and artist.  On the first day of class she had examples of her work to give us an idea of what we would be making and to inspire us, and wow, did it inspire.  I really was in heaven.  Carin has a natural ability for teaching and explaining the how's and why's so a beginner understands.  With her coaching and encouragement I ended up with a beautiful vessel.  The next day we made purses, I still have mine and it remains one of my favorites.  In that class I met my now good friend Jodie Stowe, she's my "felting buddy" and fellow felt enthusiast. After three days of Carin's teaching I was able to go home and start creating and designing my own felt and I'm still going!  Over the past year I have taken numerous other classes with Carin, building on my knowledge of felt.  We've developed a friend ship over the months and I consider her a dear friend.  She has generously opened her home and studio to myself and fellow felters for week long felting marathons where we stay up felting and gabbing into the early hours of the morning.  Carin was the perfect first teacher, she set a good foundation for me.  The picture is of a wreath pillow I made at one of our felting gatherings at Carin's. Visit Carin's blog at http://artfullyfelt.blogspot.com/