I had hoped that by now I’d be in a groove such that I could get some sewing and felting done each week. But for the moment I’m back working 6 long days/week because of staffing shortages, and on my one day off, I both rest and do all the household work that didn’t get done during the week. Somehow, I must find my way through to snatch both time and focus for the fiber work. It might help if I could narrow down that focus. First it’s clothing repairs, then overdyed denim that might be made into bags, or aprons, or jackets, or…..

I miss the felt most, perhaps because it is the most amorphous, the most elemental, just fiber, a blank slate, more potential: possibly 2D wraps or wall hangings, possibly 3D masks or sculpture. It might help if I could narrow down that focus.

Well, let’s get to the wool. The time of year dictates what I'm doing next. I have many bags of wool that need to be cleaned and combed before they can be worked into felt. Mostly Shetland and alpaca, white, moorit and deep rich browns and blacks. While the weather is still warm and sunny, I’m going to clean and dry them, and become reacquainted with these fleeces.

I'm jumping around a bit here. I haven't finished the hat that I started in the previous blog post, some two weeks ago. Instead, I've been carding a lot of wool, anticipating future feltmaking efforts. It's a necessary task but I do wonder if I could have done this carding a lot earlier in the year, or if it's a procrastinatory tactic when I really should be making felt and refining some skills. Knowing when to appropriately prioritize tasks is  time management skill I will probably need improving on forever. But anyway, carding wool....

I carded a LOT of the alpaca that I have because it's so easy to card...