Indrani Perera

poet, publisher & mentor

Tag: wool

Little Felt Friends

Here's some more felt friends finger puppets inspired by the book, Mrs Echidna's Dilemma, by Betty Johnston. I've had so much fun sewing these little creatures.

When my first daughter was two we were living in Sydney and joined a wonderful playgroup where the mamas and papas did craft while their children played and listened to stories. She's now 14 years old and I haven't done any hand sewing for years.

I'm really enjoying getting back into the groove of blanket stitch and sewing with wool felt. I love how it feels under my fingertips and the way the puppets come to life as I am making them. I'm even overcoming my aversion to sewing on eyes – lots of my girls' felt toys don't have eyes on them because they're fiddly and impossible to get exactly the same as each other.

I'm letting go of that perfectionist streak and embracing the slightly wonky eyes and the charm of handmade.

The blue tongue lizard is my current favourite. What's yours?

August 26, 2020
It’s Beanie Time

I can't remember when I dyed these balls of wool. It was at least a couple of years ago in the midst of my eco dyeing frenzy. At the time I was dyeing anything and everything I could get my hands on. I was also doing straight up dyeing. Most of these balls of wall have been dyed with plants stuck in a pot but there is a ball which I used to wrap around an eco-dyed bundled of something or other. It's my favourite.

I'm pretty sure the dark brown is from walnut shells. The multi-coloured ball has some orange from cinerea and then whatever else was in the pot with the wool. The ball was originally tied around an eco-dyed bundle. Any string (or wool) you use to bind your bundles gets dyed in the pot. It's a beautiful example of accidental or incidental art.

I've been wanting to make a beanie to match the eco-dyed scarf you can see in the pictures. The merino wool scarf was my first ever successful attempt at eco-dyeding after many failures. The beautiful fingerless gloves were a birthday present from a very dear friend. She hand-spun the wool and then knitted the gloves. With a scarf and gloves all I was missing was a beanie. With winter coming, it's time to do something about my lack of beanie situation. Luckily for me, I had thoughtfully dyed these balls of wool on a previous occasion.

For some reason when I first dyed these balls, I didn't like the results. Crazy, right? They look incredible even if I do say so myself. I think at the time they didn't turn out how I was expecting which blinded me to their beauty. With the passing of time, I've forgotten my original expectation and can finally see them in their true glory. Sometimes the only difference between success and failure is time.

May 8, 2020
Feeling Lucky

Can I brag, just a little? I am so in love with the gorgeous eco dyed patterns on this op shop wool blanket. I keep holding it and stroking it, marvelling in all the leaf prints and patterns. I can see a forest goddess face, branches of leaves and tracks in the earth.

You know there are some days that are just lucky. The day I went op shopping in East Bentleigh was one of the lucky days. I was looking for white wool and silk to eco dye. And I found both! There were two silk dresses in one shop and two white blankets with blue stripes on the edges at another op-shop. I had just enough money to buy one of each plus a white long sleeved cotton top. For so long, white was not on my shopping list. Now I'm a mad eco-dyer and white is most definitely at the top of my list!

I trimmed off the blue stripes on the edges of the blanket and then cut it in half. I bundled one half with gum leaves (the incredible oranges are from the star of the eco-dyeing show – Eucalyptus cinerea), acacia pods and rusty bits of metal and then wrapped the whole shebang around a rusty old tin can. The whole lot was popped into a stainless steel pot and boiled for a good 5 hours. I didn't add any other leaves to the pot as I have done with most of my experiments so far – I was interested to see what would happen without the added colour in the dye bath.

After it boiled and then sat in the pot for a few days I began to worry. The lovely old lady at the op shop who sold me the blanket was alarmed when I told her my plans. She learnt to wash clothes in a an old copper (I'd give me eye teeth for one of those to use outdoors over a big open fire!) in a country town and was told to never boil wool. I worried the wool would felt together. I worried there would be no prints (a recent adventure dyeing on a llama wool shawl yielded no leaf prints and little colour).

My luck held – the blanket didn't felt together and gave me the most amazing leaf prints. It's my faith and trust blanket – have faith in the process and trust the result will be exactly what you need.

May 21, 2018
Feeling Lucky

Can I brag, just a little? I am so in love with the gorgeous eco dyed patterns on this op shop wool blanket. I keep holding it and stroking it, marvelling in all the leaf prints and patterns. I can see a forest goddess face, branches of leaves and tracks in the earth.

You know there are some days that are just lucky. The day I went op shopping in East Bentleigh was one of the lucky days. I was looking for white wool and silk to eco dye. And I found both! There were two silk dresses in one shop and two white blankets with blue stripes on the edges at another op-shop. I had just enough money to buy one of each plus a white long sleeved cotton top. For so long, white was not on my shopping list. Now I'm a mad eco-dyer and white is most definitely at the top of my list!

I trimmed off the blue stripes on the edges of the blanket and then cut it in half. I bundled one half with gum leaves (the incredible oranges are from the star of the eco-dyeing show – Eucalyptus cinerea), acacia pods and rusty bits of metal and then wrapped the whole shebang around a rusty old tin can. The whole lot was popped into a stainless steel pot and boiled for a good 5 hours. I didn't add any other leaves to the pot as I have done with most of my experiments so far – I was interested to see what would happen without the added colour in the dye bath.

After it boiled and then sat in the pot for a few days I began to worry. The lovely old lady at the op shop who sold me the blanket was alarmed when I told her my plans. She learnt to wash clothes in a an old copper (I'd give me eye teeth for one of those to use outdoors over a big open fire!) in a country town and was told to never boil wool. I worried the wool would felt together. I worried there would be no prints (a recent adventure dyeing on a llama wool shawl yielded no leaf prints and little colour).

My luck held – the blanket didn't felt together and gave me the most amazing leaf prints. It's my faith and trust blanket – have faith in the process and trust the result will be exactly what you need.

May 21, 2018
Natural Dyeing With Gum Leaves

I was so happy to get back to the Darebin Parklands recently so that I could forage eucalyptus leaves for natural dyeing. When I was last there, I'd seen some gorgeous gum leaves on the ground that were all mottled and multi-coloured. I'm not sure why they drop from the tree or how they get their colours but they were just so beautiful. I was inspired to try gum leaves by the beautiful wall hanging my friend Max made out of wool she had dyed herself.

I've already tried my hand at dyeing with sour grass flowers and acacia blossoms. I was keen to add some more colours to my rainbow of naturally dyed wool. I have this inkling of an idea that I want to make crochet something for myself to wear using wool I have dyed with plants I have foraged.

For this dye bath I recycled the water that had been used for eco dying some paper bundles. As well as water there were also aluminium tins and copper rods in the pot. I love the deep, deep brown colour I got for the dye water.

Dyeing With Eucalyptus Leaves

Big handful of gum leaves

Couple of litres of water

Stainless steel pot

Stainless steel bowl

50g wool

Bring the pot to the boil.

Simmer for a couple of hours.

Cool and strain into a stainless steel bowl.

Add your skein of wool.

Leave for at least 24 hours.

Rinse off excess dye.

Hand to dry in the shade.

Next: I'm going to try and dye with acacia pods. I'm hoping they're in season soon!

October 28, 2017
Knitting Again

It's funny what a difference a year or two can make. A couple of years ago, I really struggled to knit with this wool. I found it rough and hard to knit with. It kind sticks together and I have to tug it gently to separate the strands. This year, however, I'm managing to knit with it just fine.

I think it helps that I am using the same pattern as last year to make another pair of fingerless gloves. I love last year's arm warmers so much! My fingers are familiar with the rhythm and muscle memory takes over when my brain begins to wander. Admittedly, it took me at least ten attempts to start. I kept making mistakes in the ribbing, losing count of stitches and having to start again. But there's comfort in knowing that I can always start over. That no mistake is so terrible that it can't be unravelled and fixed. It's true for most of the mistakes we make and a lovely reminder that starting over again is always possible.

Here's a picture of last year's finished arm warmers. I completely forgot to post them! They're having a nice outing at a cafe in Collingwood. One of the many joys of winter is a nice cuppa in a cosy cafe. I've been wearing them a lot since the photo was taken by my gorgeous six year old girl so they don't look quite as good as this any more!

Knitting is a craft that I really enjoy. Not in a compulsive, must knit things for everyone I know way. Although I must admit that this year's knitting is going much faster than last year's. (This time last year I hadn't even started knitting anything and I've almost finished one arm warmer already. Yay!) I am beginning to think about my next project. A matching beanie could be good. And knitting beanies for the girls as well. I look at their bare heads when we're out and about and just want to wrap them in wool!

On of the many things I like about knitting is that I can put it down and come back to it later. It's wonderful to have something waiting for me. It grows in fits and starts as my passion and enthusiasm ebbs and flows. It's also very easy to knit a row here and there, in between being with the girls and doing all the other things that have to be done during the day. I love having a portable craft that can accompany me on my many adventures.

As a beginner it's meditative and slow. Because it takes so long for me to knit something, it's a bit like making without an outcome. I just sit and knit my rows without worrying about getting it done or having it made.

June 3, 2017