Scarf #4 (and 5 & 6)

My fourth scarf was a light and lacy featherweight with cobweb lace edges..

I was thinking of summer days and coastal walks :)  I wanted to blend lots of lovely blues; merino and tussah silk  with natural creamy white tussah.  Time to get the drum carder out :)  I picked the fibres and arranged them on my workbench in the order that they would go through the carder.

This is my first step when I'm making a variegated batt.
Starting on the right I feed each fibre through the carder, one on top of the other.

After the first pass through the carder it is a big layered 'sandwich'

I split the bat into 4 along the length.. then holding what was the top and bottom layer of the batt
I pull each strip gently apart to open up the layers

And feed it through the carder again (2nd pass)

These batts had 3 passes through the carder, I wanted them to be very subtly variegated.
For the third pass I peel thin layers off the batt and put it straight through the carder.  I drizzle extra silk straight onto the fibre on big drum in places where I felt it needed more silk or colour variation 

I wanted to felt the batts as they were, so I split them into very thin, even layers.. and layed them out in two perpendicular layers.  Around the edges I left a fringe of fibre that did not have a perpendicular layer over it.. that became the cobweb lacey border.

Laying out my wrap.  This was longer than my 8 foot table, so I had to wet it out, roll half of it up and move it along the table in order to finish the layout.

You know how the felting part goes :)  Here's the finished item

Wide enough to wear as a wrap / shawl

Fine enough to bunch up and wear as a scarf :)

I am so loving colour at the moment!

I really enjoyed blending my batts and felting from them.. not having done it for a while, so decided to make a couple more.  I had the painting  Flaming June by Lord Frederic Leighton stuck in my mind.. so of course you can guess the colours I went for :)

Looking back at the photos, I guess they're not all that Flaming June-ish.. but it satisfied my need to make something soft and flowing in similar colour :)

xx