Struan Farm

Breakfast with the Ladies, Fully Dressed

It was good to have the ladies, now embellished to varying degrees, around the breakfast table at Struan Farm once again. Vivian, Nellie, Tatum, Piper and Amy. All original knitted/felted hat designs by Lisa Cruse.

You may recall that during her visit in March before the Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm Lisa helped me felt (full) and shape them. The ladies then finished drying in the sun porch at the Homestead. It was fun to enjoy my muesli in their presence:

They tell me they're much happier fully dressed!

Amy, Accomplished

So while I simplified "Nellie," I kept going with "Amy." Decided that I needed to do more beaded raspberries and embroidery. I probably could (and should) have kept going on, but decided to call it a day.

(Truthfully, I do still think this hat would look spectacular with the beading and embroidery all over....) This is Lisa Cruse's "Amy Beret" knitted/felted hat pattern, it can be purchased via Ravelry or her website PDF. Embellishments are up to you!

Very Vivian

Hard to think of any embellishment other than tattered fabric roses for Lisa Cruse's "Vivian" hat design. I wanted black velvet roses really, since I envisioned her with an elegant, if slightly distressed look. (Think Barbra Streisand in "The Way We Were.") But after no luck at two fabric stores, I opted for a sheer black fabric and coppery taffeta instead.

The photos don't really do her justice. I'm still mulling over putting vintage gold glass buttons inside the roses, not sure as yet. And if I find some black velvet who knows?!

Tatum, Tackled

This is Lisa Cruse's design "Tatum Toque," I've called her "Te Reo Tatum" to give her a kiwiana flair. I decided to embroider "lazy daisies" with beads and/or french knots in the centers. Not sure she's done, but she may be:

I may need to mull this one for awhile....

Nellie, Simplified

This past week I've revamped "Nellie," de-constructed the more elaborate embellishment I'd auditioned and pared her back to a much more simple look, one that I will definitely wear:

This is Lisa Cruse's "Nellie Crush" pattern. I ended up using leftover yarn that I felted to make the bow with a vintage belt buckle. Very easy, after test driving some other options that weren't!

Attention "Thinking" Knitters: A Recommended Read

I recently purchased this great knitting book from Fishpond by Sally Melville called "Knitting Pattern Essentials."

It would be a useful addition to every knitter's library, but particularly those knitters (like me!) who tend to digress from patterns as written, or who want to knit designs of their own or copy garments. Thinking knitters. Lots of tips and tricks to improve designs and fit. Recommended!

Aotearoa Amy: Audition #1

I'm on a bit of a roll at the moment embellishing the various Lisa Cruse felted hat designs I knitted recently ahead of Lisa's visit to New Zealand for the Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm. Of course, now that she's departed the country that is! She did help me felt and shape them, that was a valuable lesson in itself.

My latest attempt is this vibrant red "Aotearoa Amy Beret," Lisa's pattern is called "Amy Beret." I wanted to try to make the beaded raspberries that she taught the workshop participants how to make, and think these have come out reasonably well. You start out with a circle of black beads, and then build up the raspberry from there, with different colors. 

 

I'm not sure I'm quite done. Maybe another sprig of just leaves and flowers? Stay tuned....

Malabrigo: Wow!

My friends at The Web-sters in Ashland, Oregon have a tendancy to tempt me from afar. Most recently, their monthly newsletter announced the arrival of Malabrigo Merino Worsted. And the siren song of those vivid colors called out to me, really it did.

Here's "Glazed Carrot:"

 

Joined by "Lettuce:" 

 

Sigh. These beautiful vegetables are now stashed safely in the closet, biding their time. "Frank Ochre," a vibrant gold, is on the way to join them.

 

Nellie: Audition #1

I finally had time this past weekend to start to embellish another one of Lisa Cruse's felted hat designs, "Nellie Crush." I hadn't had time to work on any of the hats during Lisa's recent visit and embellishment workshops at Struan Farm. Too busy hostessing!

But Nellie is probably my favorite of her designs, this is a hat that I will wear for sure.

I decided to let the embellishing go where it took me, "auditioning" what might work:

First I started with a diamond shaped bakelite buckle in the same orange as the one above, but I couldn't get that to stay flat on the hat, so moved to another vintage buckle in the same color. After cross-stitching the buckle on, I sewed beads up either side, then needle felted feathers of color on either side of the buckle. This still didn't do it for me, so what was next? I then took strips of ripped taffeta fabric and folded and tacked them across the top.

I like this, particularly with a redo of the needle felting. But it's a pretty extravagant look, and I simply don't see myself wearing it as much as I like it.

So I am going back to one of my other original ideas for this Nellie, which is to take a felted remnant from the same yarn as the hat, inserted into another vintage buckle, making a bow:

I'll deconstruct what I've done and put this on. It may stay this simple, since that would be me, or I might bead and embroider a bit more once I get the bow onto the hat. Update to follow.....for me the process is as much fun at the end result, since there are so many options to explore!

An Inspired Idea

Recently I was reading about the upcoming LA County Yarn Crawl happening in Los Angeles in April. It's a great idea, I'm wondering if something similar might be organized for the Auckland region here in New Zealand, hmmmm?

Media articles have included mention of this cute new mobile yarn shop called the "Yarn Over Truck."

Cool, eh? It's just about big enough for my stash, but we don't need to go there, do we?

Piopio Piper: Perfect!

Added just a few bits of sparkly, coppery "bling" to my "Piopio Piper Beret" as a finishing touch, deciding enough was enough. This is one of Lisa Cruse's knitted hats patterns, available on either Ravelry or via her website here.

I'm quite happy with this, my first effort at embellishing!

Starting to Embellish

I pretty much missed out on the recent Embellishment Workshops with Lisa Cruse held at Struan Farm, I was so busy flitting around playing hostess, organizing and serving the food, keeping things on schedule, and making sure everyone was happy and inspired.

In addition to helping me full my hats, before she departed to go home Lisa did offer some coaching and a few quick embroidery lessons. I must confess however that I am not the quickest study, I need to think about things and practice/experiment. 

This past week I picked up "Piopio Piper Beret" and started to play around with its embellishment. Lisa calls this "auditioning." During her visit, Lisa mentioned The Button Emporium in Portland, Oregon, and what a great resource it is. This prompted me to remember that I had some interesting copper maple leaf buttons I'd purchased from them over the internet, and that they would be a perfect match for the coppery colored Piper. Things have progressed from there. I'm trying to keep this first one relatively simple and not go overboard:

I started by tacking on the buttons, then some random beads and french knots. That didn't seem enough, so I then lightly needle felted some wisps of roving around to provide a touch of color. I'm not sure I'm done yet, this may still be a work in process. 

But I'm definitely starting to embellish.

Auditioning Nellie

Now that the dust has started to settle after our recent Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm, I can start to concentrate on applying some of the learnings from Lisa Cruse on my own felted hats.

I'm starting with my favorite of her hat designs, Nellie Crush, and am "auditioning" the following:

I would needle felt the purple/plum/orange roving in a flowing design on either side of one of these two vintage buckles. Right now I'm preferring the two piece bakelite one I've propped up on the hat, but I also really like the idea of the other with translucent plum beads running down the center. I may try to inject those beads in the design once I get the roving needle felted, since I rather like them, but will have to see how it evolves when I start to execute on this.

Embellishment Workshops at the Farm

The recent Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm taught by Lisa Cruse during her holiday in New Zealand were simply fantastic. We were so lucky to have her visit us in Piopio, willing to share her passion for her craft and art. It was contagious!

Ahead of the sessions we worked together to assemble a variety of materials that would enable her to teach basic techniques but more importantly to inspire creativity amongst the participants. I'm happy to report that this worked as planned.

The first day started with basic techniques for needle felting, ribbon/fabric roses, embroidery and beading. The second day explored more complicated design elements, color theory, and how to combine the various techniques.

Themes coming out of the discussion included:

--Don't play it safe, except with the felting needles, which must be "parked" when not in use! Definitely look to create outside your own comfort zone, or you'll just keep doing the same old thing.

--Use colors that glow and pop for stunning effect.

--"Audition" materials and colors to see what you like best. 

It was a great group of ladies who supported and challenged one another to experiment.

I spent most of my time playing hostess organizing the food, but I did get to spend some time around the table at the end of the second day, starting to develop and "audition" embellishments for my recently felted hats.

Below are some photos from the two days:

Felting the Night Away at Struan Farm

Some people dance the night away, but that wouldn't be me. With the arrival of Lisa Cruse at Struan Farm recently it was time to take the bull by the horns and felt her five knitted hats designs that I'd finished knitting under expert supervision. Actually, the technical term is "fulling," but most people would have no idea what this means so let's stick to the generic term everyone understands.

The hats were put into zipped pillow cases in the washing machine with a bit of soap powder (or dish detergent). Using a hot water wash, we stopped the machine before it started to spin, about eight minutes initially until they started to felt, progressively less time as they felted, testing the degree of felting as well as fit. (You do get a bit wet!)

Once the hats were felted and fit me (and this took some time with our washer), we removed them and squeezed excess water out by walking on them between towels on the kitchen floor.

Next came the real magic, at least for me. Lisa showed me how to shape the hats over bowls and plates put atop jars to dry. She pulled them into shape, smoothing any creases, making sure that the bowl or plate used was the right size. This makes a huge difference to the finished hat.

Here's Nellie Crush:

Here's Tatum Toque:

Here's Amy Beret:

Piper Beret:

And last but not least that grand dame of them all, Vivian:

They were left to dry overnight over tea towels on the bench, but in the morning I put them together as a group on the breakfast table:

You can pretty much see those that were dried over plates vs. bowls, can't you? And I rather liked the idea of breakfasting with Nellie, Vivian, Amy, Piper and Tatum! Next comes embellishment......

The Hats Arrive at Struan Farm

After months of planning and much anticipation, Lisa Cruse and her wonderful hats arrived at Struan Farm!

We won't go into the fact that her luggage arrived exactly a week after she did, thanks to Qantas/Jet Star.  She came to know everyone in the call centre on a first name basis trying to determine where it might be between JFK, LA, Sydney or Auckland, often receiving conflicting reports! Note to Lisa: next time, opt for Air New Zealand, the Airline of Middle Earth?! Luckily she had a few outfits in her carryon bag to wear during this interim period.

The hats settled into the Knitting Studio looking tres chic, while Lisa settled into the Cottage:

My favorite is the Nellie Crush just above, this hat design of Lisa's looks great on just about everyone, and I love the combination of beading and embroidery, as well as the colors.

Lisa brought these along to show as examples of different embellishment techniques on varying hat shapes for the upcoming Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm. Lucky for us they were in her carryon bag!!

Blogging Break for March Madness

I will be taking a break from blogging until the week of March 17th. My friend Lisa Cruse, aka Ambrosia Cottage, will be here in New Zealand from the USA!

We'll be showing her around the traps over the two weeks she's here on holiday. And as previously reported, Lisa has generously offered to teach two Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm on March 9th and 10th. The Saturday workshop is now full, but there are a few spots available for Sunday.

If you're interested please contact me via email asap!

A is also for Alpaca

Pitstop at the nearby Pirongia monthly market to pick up some handspun alpaca yarn, just like the yarn I recently gifted to Heidi to bribe tempt her back into knitting!

Karisma Animal Companions is here each month selling animals, knitted/felted items and also fiber. Can't wait to knit a Bandana Cowl out of this for myself this winter!

Viva Vivian!

Here's "Vivian," the next Lisa Cruse hat design I've finished knitting ahead of the Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm on March 9th and 10th.

She's ready for felting and then embellishment. Below is one of Lisa's finished versions so you can see what a completed Vivian might look like:

We're almost in a countdown mode now! I'm onto "Tatum Toque," fast and furious, although these are really quick knits.

I've found these kitsch tiki keychains, and am thinking about a "Tiki Tatum Toque," really just for fun, maybe with some other needle felted NZ motifs around them.

Could be a bit much, we'll see when my creative advisor Lisa gets here!

Lisa's Hat Patterns, Oops

I've been contacted by several faithful readers of the Struan Farm blog, wanting to know where they can purchase Lisa Cruse's knitted/felted hat patterns similar to those I've been making up over the past few weeks.

Duh, Karen?! I haven't told you, have I? We will definitely have them available for purchase at the upcoming Embellishment Workshops at Struan Farm on March 9th and 10th. But you can also purchase them on Ravelry, also via Lisa's website here.

The patterns are for the basic knitted/felted hats, not the embellishments. Best to sign up for the workshops at Struan Farm to learn those techniques directly from Lisa herself. A few spots are still open....

Oversight remedied, phew.