Fiber Fool

‘Tis the season for last minute and inexpensive gifts! This past Sunday one of my knitting groups hat a holiday gathering at the mountain home of one of the founding members. We were asked to bring a handmade gift with materials adding up to $10 or less. We did not *have* to make the gift, though that of course was highly encouraged. We drew numbers and each person could steal an already open gift or open a wrapped gift. Each gift could only be stolen twice. After that it was at its permanent home.

My plan was to make a handbound knitting journal with a hand felted cover. Nothing was going quite right in terms of the handbound book and was working on it at the very last minute (of course), so I went with plan B and bought a blank journal at the bookstore. Despite the store bought journal it was one of the gifts to get stolen the maximum number of times.

The cover used dyed corriedale roving in several different colors which I hand felted using bubble wrap to aid in the agitation. Because it wasn’t a large piece I skipped the stabilizing sheer fabric. Once the felt was dry I wrapped it around the journal, folding the front edge to form a pocket that hooked on the front cover of the book. I used needle felting to close the pocket seamlessly and also to attach a length of handspun mohair yarn for the closure. Three different buttons before sewing them to the cover to wrap the yarn around. I chose to not make a back pocket because the edges of handmade felt are so interesting.

It was a really economical project in both time and funds and is one of my favorite things I’ve made this year. Go figure! LOL!