I don’t usually create frivolous décor, but for some reason, I thought making a ghost would be fun and easy. Judy had a skein of Lamb’s Pride that I thought would work well for this process. Even though this is a worsted weight yarn which would usually be woven with an 8-dent reed, Jane suggested to use the 5-dent. Since I was going to felt it, the yarn needed room to be able to shrink. The 5-dent reed created an open weave that allowed plenty of space for felting.
Basically, the ghost can be made by starting with a square of any size. Mine was 15” X 15” on the loom and shrunk to about 13 ½” X 13 ½” off the loom. To secure the raw warp ends, I tied warp threads in groups of 4 and cut the fringe to 3/4”. To get the dome effect of the ghost, I fluffed cotton balls to make the “head.” I took a separate piece of the same yarn and sewed a large running stitch around the head, and did some French knots for the eyes in a different color.
Ghost before felting
Before the ghost went in the washer, I removed the cotton stuffing. I threw the ghost in the washer on hot with a dash of detergent for a short wash cycle, felting in that process. However, I still wanted it to be a little more felted, so I stuck it in the dryer. After about 5 min in the dryer, I put the cotton back in for the shape of the head and made a spider web with yarn between the head and the rest of the body to hold the cotton in place. I then dried it until it was completely dry (about 25 minutes).
It is a cute simple project that is out of the ordinary for me, but sometimes out of the ordinary can be good (or spooky). Every ghost needs a name, so I named this one Copernicus.
