Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Kris's Bag

My friend, Kris, gave me a wonderful suitcase of yarn that had been her mom's. The colors were delicious, and I was thrilled that we were going on vacation the next week, so I would have some time away from felting and could do some knitting. Here's what I knitted up. I altered a pattern I found on the 'net and felted it up when the knitting was done. I discovered that I liked it best as a "basket" to be hung on the wall. So here it is:

It works on the table, but I like it better hung. The colors in this photo are true.


Here it is on the wall. None of these colors is true, but I like the way it looks, hung.


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Already Thinking of Christmas


I make some Christmas ornaments, and by far the most popular are the Santa gnomes. Last year I made a couple of tiny ones which were also well received. Here's one I made for a request on Etsy. Even though it's July, it's time to start making those things for fall and winter, because people do start their Christmas shopping early. They are so smart! Get everything now, and then have a peaceful Advent. I hope I can follow their example!

Friday, July 3, 2009

Green Man (He's Finished!)


I finished the Green Man yesterday morning before the market. I just had to; he was so close, and I love having a Green Man hanging in my tent. It's like a focal point - it draws peoples' eyes and brings them in. And he did!

The boy wanted him to have a beard, so there it is. Of course this one is now his favorite! He also helped by blending colors for the leaves and he even felted a couple of them. I guess the boy should get a cut when he sells!


The first thing I did was to start to combine colors for the leaves, and then felted the leaves, each one separately. When they were done, I chose a felted sweater for the backing, and began building the face onto it. He has a core of white roving for the face, which was covered with a mix of greens. When the face was in place, each leaf got felted on; then the face and the leaves were needled a LOT to get the shape and firmness I wanted. Details like the beard, eyebrows and veins in the leaves were then added, and I needled around each leaf to make them stand out. He was then cut out from his backing, and a hanger was sewed onto the back. Whew! He's done!