the knitty gritty club

                                                    Sashiko sampler in progress

                                                            Scarlet's penguin

Some friends and I recently started a Mother, Daughter craft club. Actually, Marith started it in December with tea, cookies and ornament making and we all had such a good time we continued it.

Last Saturday we had our second get together and the ladies worked on sashiko projects and the girls on needle felting projects. We named ourselves 'The Knitty Gritty Club' and we will plan to meet about once a month. I love that we are going to have this dedicated time together to socialize and learn and teach new skills. The girls are having so much fun too.

necklaces

I've been making necklaces a lot. I use plant dyed or natural merino wool and strung them on embroidery thread so that the length is adjustable. I needle felted these.
They would be perfect for either children or adults and I hope to be selling them soon. Scarlet has loved wearing these since I first made her one when she was little baby.
I also have this one in the shop right now and a few like that one in stock if you want one right away and it's on sale.

I forgot to mention my lovely new banner which I am completely smitten with and was created for me by Rebekka Seale who I have been blog friends with for a long time. I've followed her through several blogs and she is a very talented and sweet girl. Thanks again Rebekka!

birthday jewelry

A fairy ring wreath I made for Scarlet to wear. I'm not sure she will wear it but, if not now someday.


A few of the bracelets and necklaces that Matty and I made for her birthday. We didn't have an "a" so we substituted with an upside down "v"
We know for sure she will like the kitty cat necklace.




The first necklace I made for her which I also sell in my Etsy shop.






-I'm having a little sale on felted bowls and clutches through tomorrow. 20% off- code- felt. Refund through paypal after payment.

handmade christmas - part one

christmas morning

Christmas eve we all went sledding. Yes, even me. It was very fun.

Christmas day was nice too. The kids opened their gifts at our house in the morning and then we headed to Grammie's for dinner and well, more gifts of course.

Since then our days have been filled with playing and relaxing.

I thought I would show you some more of the handmade gifts that I made this year but, I'm going to break it down to a few posts. The second one will be devoted to knits.

* Clatter balls from Felting for Baby. I used plastic balls with bells meant to be cat toys for the center.
These are cute for babies and little ones and were not too hard to make.




* A little finger puppet pouch for Ms. S. She loves animals and her finger puppets are always scattered about. Idea from Anthropologie's website.



* A pencil pouch for M who is practicing writing his letters these days.






* And, some needle felted animals. This is a true art and one that takes practice so don't laugh too much at my attempts at a bunny and brown bear.





Okay, back tomorrow with some more.

Hope your enjoying your week resting and relaxing with friends & family.

felted bowls, acorns

I've been doing quite a lot of knitting and felting bowls for the shop.
I plan to bring some to Mackey Blue pretty soon.
Right now that periwinkle blue is my favorite. It reminds me of the Septeber/October sky. That perfect blue...

Also needle felted some acorns.



I love Autumn!

plant dyed wool necklace

Mama made me a necklace and then my brother was playing peek-a-boo with me which I think is really funny and then he broke the string but, that is okay because Mama can just restring it. You know I'm probably going to pull on it and break it over and over again. It will be a fun game. I break it, Mama fixes it.

-Wool roving is all plant dyed wool from Sunbridge College Craft Studio. I purchased it at NY State Sheep and Wool and it took me over 2 years to use it because it looked so pretty in the box I didn't want to disturb it but, then recently I decided that it was the right day and I just played with a little of it and made some beads.

This had me thinking about the garden and what kinds of flowers I want to plant this year. Too many choices, right? The thing is you can always do it different from year to year.

Sweet Needle Felts

I received my copy of Sweet Needle Felts: 25 Projects to Wear, Give and Hug the other day and am thrilled with it.


Jenn takes you through the process explaining the materials and techniques of needle felting in a very clear and understandable way. Once you have the basic concepts and have purchased your tools and wools you are ready to go. The projects in the book are well varied and include housewares, accessories, jewelry, embellishing items like t-shirts and dolls & toys all with cute photos and clear directions to accompany them.

If you are familiar with Jenn you will be super excited that you can make your very own bear, bunny and kitty with outfits and accessories just like the photo on the cover. Okay, maybe not just like because Jenn's are so perfect but, similar.

Personally, I know I will be trying out the Folk Belt, Coasters, Pillows, Trivet, Forest Floor Pincushion, Fabric Artwork, Cute and Cuddly Critters, Fun Fruit, and Miss Penelope Poppet but, there are so many others that are so cute. The fact that I want to make this many projects makes this craft book very successful to me. How many times have you bought a craft book for only one or two of the projects?

I personally own three of Jenn's needle felted creatures. All are beautifully made and adorable. Although needle felting is a relatively easy craft to learn the artistry behind Jenn's whimsical creations is one of a kind.

Congratulations Jenn on your book. It's amazing. Thanks for sharing it with us.

woodsy wall hanging

I finished up this felted project over the weekend and am very happy with the way it turned out. It is from the Japanese craft book pictured a few posts ago and is called Small articles made of wool felt. I decided to go with all natural wool roving colors like shown in the book so the lovely turquoise and yellow were scraped for this project. The bird 'eggs' are wet felted and the birds I needle felted. I strung them on cotton and tied to a branch.

It makes me want to go for a walk in the woods and take photographs of cute forest creatures and mushrooms... if only the woods were right outside my door.

mary jane's and a strawberry

I finished knitting these mary jane's this weekend. They can be knit two ways. The other way would have the eyelet row matching the tie on strap. I've always loved wearing my mary jane's with tights. You know I'm a girly girl, right? I had the yarn on hand for size 0-6 months in the perfect combination of black and white. I'd like to knit them in a bigger size next time with worsted weight. Of course a photo of these on a little baby or even a doll would really benefit the photo as they don't look nearly as cute lying there. I need to see if I can get a doll that can wear tiny baby clothes. The pattern is from here. I got the combination package so I will be trying out the baby chuck taylor's at some point as well.
Last week, I also needle felted this little strawberry and added a little felt and sewn on beads. I attached a pin-back to it so that it can be worn as a brooch. I've been wanting to get back to my needle felting but, with my mind always pulling me in a thousand crafty directions it's hard to decide which way to go sometimes but, I'm thinking of a few more needle and wet felting projects in the near future. My mind is mostly going towards knitting with some sewing and other crafts thrown in sporadically as I think I want to get more knitted goods in the shops and it seems like a good idea to start on that now.

a wee bird and a shop update tomorrow (hopefully)

Here is the little needle felted bird or duck I was telling you I was working on. I like to think of her as a duck. With little M walking now I am feeling a little like a Mama Duck with a little duck following behind.

Also, I managed to get some of the things on my to do list done and am hoping for a shop update tomorrow.
Here is a sneak peek at some blossom pins I made.

Felty Friday

Inspired by the wonderful creatures by Jenn, I am lucky enough to have adopted Beatrice and Tilda--I made this cute little needle felted blue bird. It wasn't so hard. I bought a kit, the wool roving and needles at the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival. It took me about 2 1/2 hours. The hardest part is not to stick yourself with the needles--they are very sharp. Isn't she cute?