Oh my!

Just a few minutes ago my little dog sat up from his sound sleep and started barking like a crazy dog.  Then he ran to the back door so I let him out.  Mistake!  Skunk!!! I smelled it just as my dog got to the edge of the patio.  I ran out and grabbed him and we ducked back in as fast as we could, but the odor followed us in.  My husband has sprayed air scent now and hopefully it will dissipate before bedtime.  Haven't had a skunk around here before...just makes for a more interesting evening I guess.  I just hope it doesn't stink out there in the morning!  I remember my step-sister getting sprayed by a skunk once.  The solution to ridding her of the odor involved a whole lot of tomato juice...glad we didn't have to go there tonight.

I have made a great deal more progress on my custom order pillows.  I finished laying the silk on the wool I had laid out for both pillows.  Next I added a golden ribbon yarn and some beautiful mohair yarn to the surfaces.  A few sparkles here and there and today I was ready to roll!  The photos will give you an idea of how much shrinkage there is in this process.  In order to achieve that I first use cold soapy water so that the merino wool  and mohair yarn will travel through the silk before felting.  This is critical to the process and takes a while.  After I can feel and see that it has traveled through then I reduce the size of my inside roller and continue.  After a while of that I shed the bubble wrap, add warm soapy water and reduce my roller even further.  This is the stage you see my rolling in the photos.  Finally, I add warmer to hot water and throw my new piece of felt onto my table.  This shock locks the fibers even tighter together.  Was a bit of a workout for the day as I also did some small pieces for another project.

Now I am off to read, relax and knit for a bit before bed.  Hope you all have a wonderful, sunny Sunday!