By Sandy Amazeen Mar 30, 2008, 22:04 GMT
Shibori is an ancient Japanese technique of adding resists to fabric before dyeing, typically by mechanical means such as binding with running stitches. Alison Crowther-Smith has applied this definition to felting with charming results as she uses bound marbles, surface embroidery and beads to texturize knitted felt. Combining two yarns that felt differently with some 4mm glass beads creates a lovely scarf for the opening project and provides beginners with an excellent introduction to the fascinating world of felting. The quick knit “Bobble Cushion” features contrasting knit-in bobbles to add a delightful spark of color and texture while the “Bump” bag gets a similar bobble effect by tying marbles into the fabric before felting. Pleats add an entirely different dimension to felted projects, especially when combined with contrasting bobbles as shown in the “Rosebud Scarf”.
Most of the projects are small, useful projects like handbags, flowers and cushions enabling readers get to the “fun” part of transforming their knitting into textured felt with minimal effort. The instructions are clear with all the important info such as gauge, needles, notions and yarns listed in a separate sidebar with explanations of unfamiliar abbreviations. The yarn-felting table located in the back provides gauges and test swatch sizes for all the Rowan yarns used throughout and should prove invaluable for making yarn substitutions. To simplify those inevitable substitutions, readers might want to pencil in the yardages of the different Rowan yarns as this information is located a few pages beyond the chart. Even if you have never intentionally felted your knitwork before, this is a great introduction to a fascinating craft and a springboard to trying out your own shibori ideas.
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