roses and roald

I'm working a gazillion extra hours this month, so naturally this would be the time when I'd also squeeze in a 6-hour feltmaking workshop on a weekday. ;-) Julie Williams is here from Australia, 4.5 months into a trip of unlimited duration, traveling around the world to see as much as possible and teach feltmaking techniques to groups along the way. Carol Ingram arranged this rose bag workshop in Portland and much fun was had by all.
The bags are laminated merino on a silk/chiffon lining. The rose is felted with a resist on the outside of the bag, similar to making a flap pocket, but then its base is stretched wide into a circle and the "pocket flap" swirled into place for fulling and drying. This is the first time I've done a felted cord handle and incorporated it into the bag at the time of felting, as opposed to sewing on afterward. My bag is still destined for embellishment with embroidery and beads, but I'm pleased with the beginnings of my little rose garden bag. It was awesome to see all the different bags that emerged during the afternoon and how varied the styles were.

Below is a page in Roald Dahl's The Vicar of Nibbleswick, a giggleworthy and verging-on-raunchy book about a vicar with a most unfortunate case of "back-to-front dyslexia," which causes him to spout words in reverse at inopportune moments.
Yes, I was knitting...stinking?!... at the moment this was shown to me.