The Land of Gnomes

The kids saw this in an issue of Living Crafts and we thought we'd give it a try. It's quite cute, although I have decided I don't like the way that Welsh Mountain felts. It was a lot of work. I used the bubble wrap technique for the first time and that worked quite well. The trees are supported internally by pipe cleaners, which for us does not work at all. The trees are VERY floppy and I will have to figure out a better way of supporting them. The gnomes in the background are our Waldorf Math Gnomes.

Chick a dee dee dee

I love chickadees. There are lots at our bird feeders and they are so cute. One of the cats ate one yesterday, but I will forgive it. This winter I borrowed a book from the library, which I can't remember the name of, which had little felted birds in it. I didn't really like them so much, but I LOVE my chickadee. I used the same techniques and needle felted this little sweet thing. The beak is commercial black felt, a small cheat, but okay I think.

A Bag for my Sister

 

Here is the purse that I made for my sister's birthday. Actually, I've been making it for about a year, maybe even two, but hey, who's counting?? I was kind of hung up on the needle felting design. The knitting and fulling were done a loooong time ago. The photo above more accurately shows the colour of the bag, but the photos below are better for the details. Amateur photography is apparently not my long suit. Yet. Self-betterment is always a good quest, don't you think? Especially in this case.

 

It is the Sophie Bag pattern from MagKnits and it is really fabulous. Easy, pretty and only takes one skein of Cascade 220. At less than $10 that's fantastic.

 

I lined it with some quilting fabric and made sure it had lots of pockets: one for lip balm, a pen, two side pockets on one long side and one larger one on the other. Add a magnet clasp and all is done.

 

Yay! I love it, too bad I had to give it away! Nah, all along I made it with my sister in mind, so it was easy to give it away and she was thrilled. Happy smiles.

Snuggly Warm

The kids and I felted up some scraps of Cowichan wool the other week. I brushed it all up nice and fluffy with a metal hairbrush and then we put the scraps in some ziploc bags with some hot water and dish soap and the kids rolled and smashed and mushed until we got this lovely warm fire for Bunny.

On another note, I finished up these slippers, another Mohair Ballet Slipper from Beverly Galeskas' book Felted Knits. I have made several of these, but this was the worst one so far. I spun a really bulky yarn for the cuff and we died it with orange Kool-Aid, but it was tooooo bulky and the stitches did not felt nicely the first time round. Also the slipper cuff was stretched way out of whack in proportion to the slipper body. So, I cut out notches from either side of the heel, similar to how you would stitch a moccasin heel and stitched up the sides with wool and the joined the cuff with matching sewing thread (the original yarn was no good at all for sewing the cuffs back together). All in all, it went really really well. The seams disappeared, even on the cuff and we now have slippers for a small human that really likes orange and red.

Felted Slippers

These have all been completed over the last couple of years. I really only use one pattern, the Mohair Ballet Slippers from Beverly Galeskas' book Felted Knits. I have never used the yarn called for in the pattern, but so far Eskimo by Garnstudio and Iceland by Crystal Palace have both felted up very nicely. I used a single strand throughout. The little purple ones on the top right have needle felted flowers on the toes and a little needle felted fake button on the strap. I modified the pattern to include the strap. Instead of using the rolled cuff, I did a seed stitch cuff, left a few live stitches for the strap and voila — mary janes!

The blue ones on the top have an elastic cord inserted in the rolled cuff to maintain their shape. I found that the cuff on that pair really gaped at the back.

From top, clockwise:
Blue, child's size small. Blue is Eskimo by Garnstudio (I think). Colour 12. Trim is Alafoss Lopi-Lett.
Purple, child's size medium. Honestly, I can't remember but it was a lot like Eskimo. the pink is Iceland, by Crystal Palace Yarns.
Red, adult's size medium. Red is Eskimo, solour 8. Pink is Iceland.
Green, child's medium. Apple Green Lopi by Alafoss, and the trim is Lopi-Lett.



These are the red ones that I knit for myself. After a year of continuous wear (our floors are cold!), there is not much left of the sole. Boo hoo.


These are from another pattern by Beverly Galeskas, but they are Felted Clogs from Fiber Trends. I knit them for my mom using Noro Kureyon for the main part and Lopi-Lett for the contrasting trim. I can't remember what I used for the soles.

I have another pair in the works, but they didn't turn out so well. I spun some very bulky yarn for the contrasting trim and we dyed it orange with Kool-Aid, but it didn't felt so well. It was too bulky. I used some old Cowichan Buffalo Wool in bright red for the main part of the slipper and that worked just fine. I'll rework them with some scissor action and all will be right as rain.