The Country Mice

This past weekend we left our cosy island and ventured to the big city for Muddy Pause 6, an art sale benefitting the Vancouver Food Bank, initiated and hosted by my friend Sherryl Yeager.

A steady stream of guests circulated through the house Sunday, viewing some magnificent pottery by Allysha Hurd (above). I regret not taking more photos of her work — absolutely worth seeing (and in my case, making a few, ahem, acquisitions).

This was my little corner.

In addition to the fibre offerings created in my studio (aka the basement) were the soaps and lotions manufactured under B.C.’s extremely lenient child labour laws.

This scarf is a combination of wool layered on silk chiffon. The technique is quite popular right now in the felting world, and strives to strike a balance between something that is both warm and lightweight.

I realized at the sale, after having sold a couple of scarves, that I’d forgotten to make a record of my work of the last couple of months.

Handy to have a model at the ready.

This window pane style scarf is a classic in felt-making but I never get tired of it. It’s fun, funky, surprisingly warm and dresses you up — or down.

In pink merino with sari silk bits.

Lavender merino with silk strands you can’t see here.

And a little jester’s bag I edged with a blanket stitch one day on the ferry.

It’s always best when an item can have more than one function.

Combination of two techniques.

Bright. That about sums it up.

And the afternoon’s musical stylings…

They played some chamber-esque Christmas carols for several hours and scored big time with the tip jar.

A sincere thank you to anyone who’s ever given a few coins to a young musician. You’ve helped practice time more than you know.

And in case you wondered what happened to all those turtles…