Feed the birds

This project is inspired by two other projects, one of a designer on Ravelry, who also inspired to the name of this post, and one of a fellow-member of Wolunie.
My dear fellow-member had felted a round container for bird-food, to hang outside in a tree, filled with seeds and fat. This way one would not need to look at the ugly green plastic netting in which the seeds can be bought.
I am a spinner and knitter and remembered a pattern for a round knitted and felted birdhouse on Ravelry. This is a free pattern, I love the way it is handwritten, and the world would look so much prittier if all gardens had such birdhouses in their trees! So, I took out my yarn rests and knitted and felted a ball with a hole, made an ring on top and filled it with seeds, fat and astick to sit on. This is the result. It is a gift for (the birds in the garden of) my parents. When the food is finished, the birds hopefully manage to unravel the ball a bit to use the fibers to fluff upp their nests.

Sittdynor - Sitting pad

För bra länge sedan spann jag några rejäla garn. Ett grått och ett svart gotlandsgarn och ett vitt från Veluws Heideschaap. Det sista garnet är från en gammal holländsk ras som brukade användas att beta på ofruktsam hedelandskap. Fåren samlades på natten och deras spillning togs tillvara för att göda åkrarna. Fåren har alltså aldrig selekterats på ullkvaliten och ullen är full av märghår. Det sticks men framförallt kommer dessa hår alltid att fällas ur vad man än gör med garnet. Så det skulle användas till något oömt och där det inte gör något att vita hårda hårstrån faller ut.

Det blev en sittdyna. Stickat med ett mönster ur en stickbok och filtad i tvättmaskin.

English. A long time ago I spun yarn from Veluws Heideschaap, an ancient Dutch breed that was kept to graze on unfertile soil and to stay in a barn overnight so that their manure could be gathered and used as fertilizer on the farmers fields. The sheep were never bred for the wool and their fleece is full of kemp. This kemp will fall out of anything made with it, slowly and unstoppable. So if you don't want white brittle hairs everywher on your clothes or on the sofa, you cannot knit garments or a pillowcase of it. I decided to make a sitting pad which I felted in the washing machine. This was the result and I like it very much. So does my husband who uses it when he has to work in a very chilly office every week.

Mönstret blev något suddigt men jag blev mycket nöjd med resultatet. Min man använder den när han skall sitta och arbeta på ett kallt kontor, som händer en dag i veckan och han är också jättenöjd.

Jag fick mera ull från Veluws Heideschaap och har nu garn till ytterligare en sittdyna. Så den stickar jag på nu. Mönstret och övergångarna i färg är lite bättre planerade och jag ser fram emot att vi får var sin sittdyna, som vi kan ha när vi är på utflykt, i trädgårdsstolarna eller helt enkelt hemma på köksstolarna.

English. I received more Veluws Heideschaap, spun another thick yarn and started knitting another one. Unfortunately I don't recall the exact thickness of the yarn, nor the needle size used. A miracle has to happen in the washing machine to end up with two sitting pads of similar size.

Jag minns inte riktigt vilken stickstorlek jag använde och det kan hända att garnet inte har samma tjocklek, det sparade jag inte och är svårt att se på ett filtat objekt. Men det måste hända ett under i tvättmaskinen om dessa två skall bli lika stora.

Fleece Felting

This is such fun! The result is amazing and the process is really satisfying. Hard work, sheep fleece smells and colours, planning and thinking, some more hard work rolling, a lot of water and soap, checking, and then... voila, a beautiful sheep fleece to be used for whatever you want, while the sheep is happily growing another fleece for next year's usage.

Yesterday I attended a fleece felting workshop. Honestly it has attracted me to learn to felt a whole fleece a long time now, but I would not know what to use the final fleece for. Then, the teacher of the workshop showed me that you can do a lot more when felting fleeces, e.g. you can felt several smaller pieces to be used a sitting cushions on a bench or chair. This was really attractive to me so yesterday I learnt how to do this. And here is the result:

The 'whole' fleece.

I dreamed of a light brown or brown-greyish fleece, not too big. Hennie, the teacher had a lot of fleeces to choose from: a gorgeous (and huge!) grey Racka fleece, several Oussant and Skudde fleeces in white, brown and black, white Dutch 'heideschapen' (also huge) and more which I do not remember. My choice was this chocolatebrown Oussant fleece with sunbleched tips on the neck and back.

I have parted it in two halves, for the sitting cushions, but you can still 'see' how the fleece has covered the back, neck and sides of the sheep before shearing.

This are the two separate sitting cushions:

The one to the right must be the tail side of the fleece. The shape is more square than the other halve. The side facing the grass is covered with brown mountain sheep fleece, much like the brown colour of the Oussant. This mountain sheep fleece is felted too and this keeps the Oussant fleece staples together.

The fleece in the pictureto the left must have been the neck side of the fleece. The side facing the grass is covered with a lighter colour of mountain sheep fleece, which you can see at the borders of it.

I feel that this is not the last time I attempt fleece felting!