More Felt Jewelry

Well this is it for the Feltmakers Ireland Guild meeting on Wednesday. Been fiddling around with another necklace and a couple of rings.

The little rose ring I made from prefelt. Cut it into strips and folded it in half. Rolled it around itself like you would if you were making Pinwheel cookies or a Roulade. Stitched it as I went and then clipped the fold to create the pedals. I used another piece of prefelt for the bit that goes around the finger. I felted it again to stabilize it. I like the little silk fibres that peak around the edges.

I made this one from the extra felt balls that were used on the necklace. I finished it all before realizing that it has a strong likeness to the Irish flag. Not the sparkles or the roundness, but Irish none the less. It's a fun little ring that my daughter loves.

Necklace number 2. Goes with the ring! It's a set. Not intended, but that's fine. I was trying to do something else besides felt balls, so oblong, oval and elliptical came to mind. Tried a bit of decoration on the balls too. I'm not a beader. Just don't have the skills or knowlegde yet, but Rome wasn't built in a day and so I will press on and see what happens.

The Day After

Last night as the children were heading off to bed, our son says "I can't believe it's already over." Yes, sad as it is for us, the heart decor will soon be taken down, but the memories will live on until the next holiday.

The children were both hard at work making Valentine/Get Well cards for the DH and myself. They were both very nervous by the look of Mama, laying in a heap in the bed, that the Festivities would be cancelled. But the beauty, and I mean beauty of the 24 hour flu is that it's just that. 24 hours. Can't say the energy or appetite is back, but the worst is over.

So here is the breakdown of events:

Sunday - Made cookies and paper for Valentine's day.
Decorated the house for Avery's girly party on Monday.
Kept working on felt jewelry.
Baked chocolate chip/M&M muffins for party.

Monday - Cleaned house, got ready, picked up girls, had party with cookies, cards and muffins.
Began the flu.

Tuesday - Don't know... Vague memory

Wednesday - Hello.. I'm up and out of bed, finishing off all the things I had planned for yesterday. Had party with the kiddies and husband when they got home from swimming. Even managed the gluten free Love Heart Pizza in honor of the day.

Today - We are preparing for house guests that will come this afternoon. Sean-2, Meghan-4 They will be staying with us for 3.5 days while their parents take one final trip before their new sibling arrives in April. We will be busy.

But one parting opinion. I think this is the sweetest card, made by my son, who doesn't consider himself an artist, but certainly is sentimental. Priceless to me.

Hearts a Plenty

Valentine's Day is a day to celebrate. Besides being a day to remember all the loves (peolpe) in my life. We love themes to cook around, craft around and party around and so we do.













Inspired by Cheryl's gingerbread cookies.











Paper Valentine's for Avery's teacher.



Hope everyone has a great day.

Calorimetry

My friend Sara knit this great hat from Knitty. The Calorimetry. Well, not really a hat, more of a band. She said that she would prefer it a bit narrower. I was also reading someone else's blog that made the same suggestion. I knit mine out of Kilcarra yarn. I love the green. I used the yarn from a pair of fingerless gloves that never came to pass, but didn't want to waste the yarn.

I modified the number of repeats. I only did 5 short row turns, then continued on as specified. It seems to fit me better that way.

Natural Coloured Cotton

Years ago, when I lived in Los Angeles, I worked for a Cotton Incorporated. We worked for the American Cotton farmers promoting all the products of Cotton. Some time in the last 80's we met a woman who had started a small farm growing naturally coloured cotton. Right out of the fields, lovely greens, brown, pinks and beige. Organic and no dyeing needed. You would think she would have been embraced with open arms. Oh no, on the contrary. Boycotting farmers trying to run her out of business (her opinion). Only white cotton should be grown in California! How things would change.

The beauty of this cottong is that it gets softer and richer in colour with washing. No pesky fading. So somehow, I ended up with a lot of this yarn. Over the years I've given a lot away and used some for children's crafts. I know, "How could you?" Don't know, I just did. Anyway, I was rooting through my stash and came across it again.

I really would like to make up something from the Knitted Toys book I bought a while back, but in the mean time I knit a hat out of the green and the tri-coloured plied for the stripe. Looks good. Made up the pattern based on a jumble of patterns, but it works for me.

Felt Jewelry

This month is Jewelry and Felt month for Feltmakers Ireland. Every month we have a drop in at the library for people who are interested in making felt. Young and old, new or with great experience can come an impart wisdom. Or just show really cool stuff. Our beloved founder, Elizabeth is doing a segment on jewelry.
This week she is in Tucson Arizona at the worlds largest bead and jewelry show. Not for the Guild, that would be grand! But for her own interest, that happens to be what we're doing this month. Lucky Us!
So I thought I would do up a few bits for the event. We encourage everyone to come and felt or bring items that relate to the topic. So this is what I've been piddling with for the past few weeks.
I made the traditional felt balls, dye some silk, got out the beads, wire, nylon and needles and set to work.




My friend Colleen's brother owns this great new bead shop in Bray. Not to far from us. He has great things. Unusual things. So I used the first medallion as an inspiration of colour. Greens and blues. Love those!
While in Portugal, I bought a necklace that had a felt flower on it. It was needle felted. I used small cookie cutters to form the circular shapes then pulled in the sides with embroidery floss. Little bead in the centre and your done.

Getting the needle through was the hardest part. Pliers, the whole deal. Anyway, I'm pleased with the result. They're really quite small. 2" on the large one and 1" on the small. I used some of the silk that I dyed for a bit of colour over the whitish fleece.
This is the completed project. I'm working on an orange one today and maybe a ring or two.


More later.

Knitting Lace

I love lace, although I don't wear it much or decorate with it. I love the Shawls, wraps, socks and everything else people are knitting with lace. I don't knit lace. Mostly because knitting becomes work instead of pleasure for me. I have to focus to much on every row and nothing else can distract me. I am easily lost from one row to the next with YO and K2T and SSK. Heaven help me if someone asks a question. I'll have to FROG and begin again.
So you may ask, "Why do you have this book on your blog?" Because I now own this book. It came to me for my birthday from my husband in a round about way. (Returned a few gifts) Again, why did I buy this book? Mostly it the colour of this wrap that did me in! I bought it without even having the book in hand!
Since the book arrived, I've sourced a Lace Knitting Class at This Is Knit in Blackrock. Two stops on the Dart (Train) and I was there.
Today was the first day of two lessons. I learned a great new cast on for lace. Lisa had 2 lovely women there teaching and showing everyone how to knit basics and assisted those who were a bit more advanced.

Also got 3 new patterns that came with the class. Three different levels. They can be knit as scarves or wraps. I chose the hardest one because of the pattern it produced.
This is the edging of the scarf. Not sure if I will finish it, but it was good practice. Next week will be chart reading so that is a big interest to me. I have seen several wraps that are done from a graph and I'm not sure how to approach them. Now I will.

Mixing Cement

Is mixing cement a craft?? It is when my daughter gets a gift for Christmas! Yes, we got a box from the US last week with Christmas gifts for the kids. Lots of kits. Great kits. Beads and jewelry and a mosaic tile kit for Avery. Koleman got a Physics kit that really challenges his building and thinking skills. So I was able to keep her from mixing things up that day, but that didn't last long.

Friday, we mixed and poured. Then add coloured glass into well thought out patterns. Then she pulled them out and did another one. To may choices for one slab of concrete.


She finally settled on the blue sky, little girl, flower and dog. I think she's done well for her first go at laying tile. The next morning the stone has to be wash and brushed lightly with a toothbrush. Avery chose her dad's! Thought we'd better choose another retired brush. Two days after that, it is ready to be removed from the mould and place in your garden or on your stairs, whichever you prefer.

Time to Move Forward

Well the funk is leaving the building. I'm just tired of it, so I'm forcing myself out of retirement. The coat if finished. The two skirts have been repaired. I've been preparing for an all day beginners Felt workshop that was yesterday and I'm working on Felt Jewelry for our February Felters Guild monthly drop in. So here's the coat.

I've had the fabric for years. It's cotton with a small stripe woven into it. The collar fabric is an embroidered cotton velveteen. Button were purchased at a ribbon store in Dublin that is now out of business. I am pleased with the outcome of the coat and I'm really glad it's done.

In a Funk

I'm sure most of you know what I'm talking about. Not that I don't have a list of things I'd love to do or make, I just can't get motivated to do anything. It seemed to happen just after the Christmas knitting was done. 10 days in Portugal, with a suitcase full of wool, needles and patterns and all I came away with was a hat. Cute! Yes! But a, count them, one hat. Since then, I've started the aqua yarn several times. Finished the back and am now reknitting the back on smaller needles.
I've seen several felted bags that I love, but how many bags does one girl and her family need? I still need to finish a few sewing projects and start a few more, but again...

1. A Coat to hem since last spring.
2. Several skirts and trousers to get started on.
3. Felt Jewelry to make for next months Felters Guild.
4. Fleeces to card and spin before the moths get to them.
5. Etsy shop to load pictures and descriptions onto.

So, I'm in a funk that I hope doesn't last long. I'll get to a point of just tossing it all. Until then.... Blogging may be slim.

Happy Trails

Baking Day

Yesterday was a special birthday day in our family. We also have some special allergies to deal with so, we don't have wheat, eggs, peanuts, beef or celery in our cakes. Makes for an interesting texture, but we do our best. Lucky for us, it's both children with similar aliments.

This is the Chocolate Girl. Anything and everything chocolate is her thing. Best part of the process is the bowl. Not sure how we managed to get the nose, but it was well worth it. We found a great mix in the US for Gluten Free Chocolate cake. It's really more like a brownie. Not much lift and fairly dense. You couldn't use them as paving stones, but close. I found that adding a bit more baking powder helps a lot. Depending on the topping or filling, it can be very good. Relatively speaking.

So here it is. The Gluten Free Raspberry and Creme Tort. I also got pumpkin pie, because it was after all my birthday!

Sublime Knitting

Nearly done with the Knitting projects from the Sublime wool, cashmere, silk I got in Birmingham in September. I'm sticking to the rule of finishing off as much yarn as possible too. I'm a little afraid of the reports coming in on this wool from friends that have knit with it. It does split easily.

I knit the hat in Portugal and had a ball and a half left. So instead of putting it in the storage box, I though I'd knit a scarf. This is the knit 2 together, yarn over pattern that I did the coil yarn from. I got it off of Isobel's blog.



The Sunflower Tam came from Knitting Nature, which I really like. The fit is interesting. Not a beret at all. Longish from the rib up and very flat on top. Kind of a big pillbox hat. I had to move it around until I liked the placement on my head.

Quite a few patterns to use on my stash. I think the Aqua Cheviot is next on the list. I've even found the pattern.

You Know It's a Good Night When...

1. The article promised for January Totally Dublin is out. Turned out pretty well and any advertising for knitting is good. Had someone new last night from the article. The article talked about the Rathmines group and the new interest in knitting in Ireland, plus they always put in something about celebrities knitting. That kinda bugs me. Our group and many others I know have been knitting a lot longer than anyone famous and that's not the reason I knit. I knit because I have a lot of yarn!!

2. Great Night of Knitting. We had a great group of knitters last night. Funny stories from the holidays and lots of food and coffee. Oh yeah, Knitting, lots of knitting. Sara came along as she was in the area. Yeah!!

3. Not lashing rain as forecasted. That's a good one. Always a good one.

4. Nice walk to the car with a friend. No rain.

5. Got to the car, got in, noticed... Huh, I remember having a back window when I left. Again, Not Raining!! Kinda funny actually. Big chunks kept falling off into the boot (trunk) with every bump that I hit. Pretty sure I don't want a convertible. To windy!

Got home and started calling all the 24 hour emergency replacement places. Again, huh??? No one seems to be answering the phone. Glad it wasn't a real emergency. Anyway, someone will come this morning. Again, no rain at the moment.

Knitting around Portimao

Small and portable. That was the theme of the Holiday. Socks, hats, well that was about it. I finished the Cable socks, which I love and knitted the Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature. I'll post about that after I finish the scarf.

Here's a bit of knitting by the seaside on Christmas Day I think.


Cheryl and I are hard at it in the hotel room while the children are glued to the TV.

Here we are by the pool. It's a rough life with the pool to yourself. We did have to chip the ice off the top on the first day before the children got in. They came out quickly and quite purple around the gills.

It's a great holiday when the children are occupied and the adults are able to enjoy themselves too. Aaahhh!!!

I Can Weave

While we were in Portugal. Avery and I signed up for a basket making class. I wasn't sure how the 7 year old would do, but she's pretty crafty. Little did I know how she would take to it. With very little assistance. She observed and followed. Periodically she would need me to hold onto something because her hands weren't big enough. I was very impressed.

I had forgotten that I really enjoy basket making. My Mother use to do it years ago and my friend Patti also used to do basket making, so I do have a little experience, but it's been years. I also forgot how much your fingers hurt from pinching and pushing the reed around, but the results in a few short hours are great.


So, I discovered that I can weave, although I am not a weaver. I like making baskets, but I will not become a basket maker. My daughter on the other hand may!

New Years Resolution

Knit From Your Stash 2007!

I don't make New Years Resolutions, because I break them. I will start something I think is important, when I think it is important and usually loose interest and stop. I saw this idea on someones blog and thought I'd give it a try. Who knows, it might actually work for me. I will give it my best, although I know that when we go to the US this summer I will crumble at the Fibre Shows.

Knit-Your-Stash-a-Thon will start January 1, 2007 and run through September 30, 2007 -- a period of nine months.
2. I will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. Sock yarn does not count.
2.b. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that I really and truly do not have the yarn for, we may buy yarn to knit that gift.
2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, I may purchase enough to complete the project.
2.d. I get one "Get Out of Jail Free" card -- I am allowed to fall off the wagon one time.
3. I am allowed to receive gifts of yarn.
4. Spinning fiber of any sort is exempt.
Anyone else who would like to join us in this is welcome to do so! Feel free to link page or to post the guidelines on your own blog. You may also alter the guidelines to suit your own situation.