Children's feltmaking workshop Sat 7th December



Children's Feltmaking Workshop

Saturday 7th December

10:00am -12:00pm

Miss Pauley's, 42 Chalmers Street, Dunfermline

£4.50 per child

Drop-in workshop to make a unique tree decoration from soft, colourful merino wool. No experience necessary, all materials provided. Suitable for ages 4 & up - children must have an accompanying adult.

For more details email woollywhatsits@btinternet.com

New pattern release - Dappled Mitts

A while ago, I was playing around with a crochet hook and some variegated yarn. Variegated yarn can look great knitted (admittedly, it can also look horrible) but it doesn't lend itself well to most crochet due to the relative size of the stitches. I really wanted to come up with a pattern that would let me use variegated yarn in crochet so started playing around with slip stitches and chains. Thus, Dappled Mitts were born.

Next, I contacted the lovely Caerthan Wrack of Triskelion Yarns. Caerthan is an online friend who, when he's not running round looking after his 11 alpacas, dyes the most sumptuous yarns. He was kind enough to custom dye a colourway for me, which was an absolute pleasure to work with.

The resulting pattern is now in issue 48 of Inside Crochet magazine, on sale now in newsagents.

Photo credit Britt Spring, courtesy of Inside Crochet magazine.

Miss Pauley's Pop-up Shop

The weekend of 23rd-24th November saw a Miss Pauley's pop-up shop in the Kingsgate Shopping Centre, Dunfermline. Lots of the crafters supplying Miss Pauley's Craft Centre came along to sell their goodies and meet customers face to face. I went along on the Sunday with a selection of felted and crocheted wares and had a lot of fun meeting fellow crafters. I also narrowly avoided coming home with some new furniture by Love Restored - apparently I have to wait until the living room is redecorated before I'm allowed to go furniture shopping. I will be holding him to that.

Miss Pauley's Craft Centre

An exciting new shop has opened at 42 Chalmers Street, Dunfermline - Miss Pauley's Craft Centre. Packed with nothing but hand made goodies by local crafters and companies, there are all sorts of gorgeous gifts and treats available from teas by the Wee Tea Company, spice mixes by Chilli Papas and soaps by Willow & Plum to hand made glass, soft furnishings and jewellery by Tartan Hearts. There's even gorgeous upcycled furniture by Love Restored.

Most exciting from my point of view is that Miss Pauley's stocks my own hand made goodies. There are brooches, both felted and crocheted, Bath Monster Soaps and hand made baby shoes, with lots more to come.

Well worth a visit & there'll be an on-line shop opening soon to cater for all those who can't get along in person. 

Pebble Pets

At today's workshop we made Pebble Pets. These little guys involve wet felting around a nice smooth pebble using soft merino wool. We had a variety of colours to choose from including some with sparkly angelina blended in (you can just about see the sparkly strands in the green one). After decorating with googly eyes, stick-on gems & glitter glue, we left them to dry overnight. They'll be off to their new homes tomorrow.

These wee guys are available as a children's party activity.

Summer workshops have begun!

Today we made Monster Mats - these make great coasters or bookmarks. The rest of this week's projects are as follows;

Bath monster soaps tomorrow.
Pebble pets on Wednesday.
Hair dreads or tentacle keyrings on Thursday.
Wristbands on Friday.

Children's Summer Feltmaking Workshop

Pitcorthie Primary School, Aberdour Road, Dunfermline, KY11 4QY

Block 1: Mon 22nd July - Fri 26th July
Block 2: Mon 29th July - Fri 2nd August

10:00am - 11:00 am

£10 per child per 5-day block

Learn wet felting techniques & use soft wool to make bath monster soaps, pebble pets, wristbands & more. Suitable for ages 5 & over. All materials included.

Limited number of places available. To book, call Shirley MacDonald on 07742952349 or email woollywhatsits@btinternet.com

Felted Lily Workshop, Duloch Library, Thursday 30th May

Come along to Duloch Library and learn how to make a hand felted lily from beautifully soft merino wool (and maybe a touch of silk). 

Gorgeous colours to choose from; pinks, reds, blues, oranges and purples. Learn different techniques to make a rolled stem and cobweb felt blossom. Display in a bud vase (not supplied) or add a brooch pin (supplied) to make a unique corsage to brighten up any outfit. 

Thursday 30th May

7:00pm - 8:30pm

Duloch Library, Duloch Schools & Community Campus, 
Nightingale Place, 

Dunfermline, KY11  8LW

£10.00 per person, all materials provided.

Suitable for ages 14 and over.

Numbers are limited so please call to book your place.

To book, call Shirley MacDonald on 07742952349 or email woollywhatsits@btinternet.com.

Children's Bath Monster Soap Workshop

Come along and make your very own Bath Monster Soap - it's soap and a washcloth in one! Lots of colours to choose from to make a monster that's as unique as you are. The wool felt exfoliates your skin and shrinks as your soap gets used up, leaving you with a wee woolly friend once the soap's all gone.

 

 



Saturday 25th May

10:30am - 11:30am

Abbeyview Community Centre (Small Hall)

Abbey View, Dunfermline, KY11 4HA

£3.50 per person, all materials provided.

Suitable for children aged 5 and over - children under 10 must be accompanied by an adult.

 

To book, call Shirley MacDonald on 07742952349 or email woollywhatsits@btinternet.com.



Friends of Pitcorthie Ladies' Pamper Night, Thursday 16th May

Many of you will have seen in the local press that Pitcorthie Primary School has been put forward for possible closure by Fife Council. Nothing is definite yet and the fight will go on but, meantime, it's business as usual for our fundraising group Friends of Pitcorthie School.

Out Of School Club, April 2013

An awesome collection of unique characters from the children at the local out of school club.

Stop the press!

Woolly Whatsits Abbeyview craft session made the paper - page 6 of today's (9th April) Courier. Such a fantastic photo.

Abbeyview Community Centre, April 2013

Fantastic morning at the parent and child feltmaking workshop, and a brilliant turnout. The children made their own felt using merino wool and I meant to get photos of the soapy bit but got thrown off my stride by the unexpected appearance of the photographer from the Courier, who took the messy photos instead. I'll be keeping my eye out for tomorrow's paper. I did manage to get photos of the gluey bit though.

I also got photos of the finished artworks being displayed by their proud creators.

And finally, one whose creator preferred to remain anonymous :)

Contacting Woolly Whatsits

Woolly Whatsits is based in Dunfermline, Fife. I'm available for parties and events in Dunfermline and the surrounding villages.

Telephone: 07742952349

Email: woollywhatsits@btinternet.com

What we do

Woolly Whatsits runs fibre craft sessions in schools, community centres and at private parties. We give people the opportunity to try new crafts including spinning (on drop spindles and spinning wheel), peg loom weaving and wet felting. Knitting and crochet lessons may be provided on request.School sessions are tailored to children's age and abilities, as well as to the current class topic. Community classes may be over one, two or three sessions depending on the size and intricacy of the project. I can provide sessions for children's and adult's parties; more details on these will be available soon.

Woolly Whatsits parent and child spring craft session

Abbeyview Community Centre
Monday 8th April 2013
10:30am - 11:30am
£2.50 per child

Come along & learn how to make felt from merino wool. Decorate your own handmade felt to make a spring chicken or bunny. Things may get slightly messy so make sure not to wear your best clothes!

Places are limited - please book in advance on 07742952349 or emailwoollywhatsits@btinternet.com

Hi and welcome to Woolly Whatsits. 

I'm a mum of four and live in Fife, Scotland. I've been knitting and crocheting since I was a child and, in the past five or so years, have gradually become obsessed with other, more unusual, fibre arts. I spin, weave, dye yarn and fibre, and make my own handmade felt.

Not only are these crafts fun, they're educational, satisfying and perfect for children from nursery up. Unfortunately, they're also crafts that not many children (or adults) have easy access to. With this in mind, I attended college to study Early Years Education, passing my HNC with an A grade, so that I could learn how to tailor my activities to individual children's needs and abilities.

Since then I have taken my skills to local schools and out of school clubs. I've run sessions on Viking textiles, giving children the chance to make felt, spin on drop spindles and try naalbinding. I've taken Daphne, my trusty spinning wheel, in to nursery so the children could  spin their own yarn, which they're now using to knit a scarf for the class teddy. I've taken my wheel and loom in to primary 2 classes so they could explore the stages involved in turning raw wool into finished fabric.

I want to give people, children and adults, the opportunity to have fun and get hands-on experience of using beautiful, soft wool to make quirky characters and unique accessories. There's nothing quite like being able to tell people "I made this" when they ask where you got that gorgeous bag, bracelet or scarf.