Shake a Leg! (Silly...)

Well, after much delay here is the next step in my little dog!  I thought I would try and show detailed steps of the process I took to attach her second leg.  Yes, she's a girl.  Her name is Sadie.

For the leg I used about this much roving:

Which I then folded in half...

And used the Green 5-needle tool until it looked something like this...

I found it helpful to keep rolling and folding the fiber to get it to compress into a leggish shape!  Afterwards, I used the Pink 3-needle tool to shorten the length by inserting the needle at an angle into the leg, like so:

Here is a snap showing the size of the leg just before I attached it, as compared to the finished other leg:

It made sense to leave the leg just a little bigger, since you compress it more when attaching and shaping it.

So, I positioned the leg...

And used the Pink 3-needle tool to attach it at the back end:

Once I had the leg stuck on at the back, I decided that just one needle would give me the detailed control to shape the leg (I still think it's amazing that you really can stick on a single piece of wool at a time!), so I decided to remove a couple of needles.  You do this by unscrewing the white collar from the back of the pen to reveal the needle compartment:

Then you can just slide the extra needles out one at a time -

...and get to work shaping up the leg!

So, now she has two legs!  She is all finished actually, and I will put up the rest of the process is another post (hopefully later today).

A Happy Mother's Day to all Moms out there - and especially to my mom, and aunt.  The women I share this blog with constantly set an example for me of the way I should try to live my life - be happy, be encouraging, work for the things you believe in, do what you love and CREATE!  Sounds like a marvelous plan!  xoxo

Mollie Makes Me Needle Felt!

My mother has introduced me to a wonderful crafting magazine - Mollie Makes. It is published in the UK, and not always easy to come by here. Luckily, it is available as a digital edition on my iPad - the picture quality is great and you can zoom in to see the tiniest details. The moment I saw the most recent issue's cover

I knew I had to make one of the adorable felted dogs. Because, 1) you can never have enough crafty hobbies, and 2) I already have a lifetime's supply of roving (thank you Etsy) just waiting for me to find new and creative ways to use it up!

Any excuse to shop for new supplies will do - after poking around on Amazon and doing a bit of research on Ravelry, I decided on the following three items:

The mat is a Green Soy Needle Felting Foam Mat from Mielkes Fiber Arts - HIGHLY recommended. Eco-friendly and a super smooth finished piece! I also tried the bristly mats from Clover but I noticed that the fiber sticks to it like mad, and it creates a lot of "fuzz" on the outside of the felted piece. I think the Clover Mats would be great for applique felting though! The needle felting tools are both from Clover, and are perfect. I use the green 5-needle tool when I'm getting started - when the fiber is still very loose and before the real shaping begins. The pink 3-needle pen is perfect for the detail work - fine shaping and attaching bits - it is also dead easy to remove a couple of the needles and turn it into a 1-needle pen. So, here is my wee little doggie, under way:

He's a bit squidgy on the inside still - like one of those molten cake desserts - but if I firm it up much more he's going to get teenier and teenier.  Maybe this is normal for needle felting?  Anywho, still one leg to go!

And ears...Mini Photo Tutorial on these to follow! I'm amazed at how fun it is, and how quickly I've become just a little addicted. Sculpting, as an art form, has always looked impossibly daunting - the talent involved in seeing a finished work inside a lump of raw material, be it stone or clay or fiber. This little dog is designed by Gretel Parker and she has a wonderfully sweet and whimsical sensibility, and clearly a great deal of talent.  So thank you Gretel and Mollie for pointing me in a new direction!

Fiber Arts Summer Camp - Oxford MS

Lynn & I are getting very excited about all the fiber crafts we will be sharing with young people during Oxford's first Fiber Arts Summer Camp. Every Monday from June 4 until July 30, aspiring artists ages ten and up will create a unique piece of fiber art with different materials.

Fiber Arts Camp will be held at Knit 1 Oxford when the shop is closed so that eight children will have the space to themselves! Just some of the techniques we will cover are weaving, dyeing, knitting, crochet, beadwork, felting, embroidery, macrame, kumihimo, braiding & knotting, papermaking, dollmaking, and lots more. A few photos of the projects are below, as well as sample pieces our fabulous 'tester student' has tried out for us!

Click on the box to the right ("Fiber Camp") to link to Knit 1 Oxford for more information and to register.

This small purse was woven on a cardboard loom. In addition to learning new techniques, students will also learn how to make the tools necessary for several of the fiber crafts.


Here is a simple straw-woven barrette our student tester has made.


This is a straw woven belt. Students will learn the technique while making a barrette.


A crocheted fingerless mitt.

Felt bead making:

More Fiber Arts Summer Camp

More fiber crafts we will be learning this summer, including square stitch beaded bracelet, kumihimo braid in progress, macrame bracelet, perfect pompoms, God's Eyes, and, lastly, a photo of the small woven purse my tester student made.

Whatever could it be?

Hmm...no, it's not a big knitted Altoid!

It isn't a knitted Oreo cookie either...but that gives me an idea!

It is food though! Actually, that seems to be a theme in my recent knitting...which explains the tight pants...

Get your veggies!

Ta-da! All he needs is a little slice of tomato ;).

I wish I could claim credit for this clever craftiness, but I just provided the labor. The design credit all goes to Anna Hrachovec and her wonderful Mochimochi Land (click here)! This website is chockablock with clever cuteness - and I'm hooked.

Antique Valentines

I love old postcards, greeting cards, recipe booklets, and other ephemera. There is something very charming about finding a pretty, old postcard with writing on the back! It makes you think of a time when people wrote much more than we do now. I have some postcards that simply say "Hi" on the back, and others with affectionate and sometimes smart-alecky notes.

Lulu once gave me a little album of valentine cards she had found over in Stephentown, NY (I think). Here are two cards I recently found on a trip home, possibly at Nancy Dole Books & Ephemera in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts. I love Nancy's second floor book shop -- small and cozy, lots of classic craft and knitting books that my sister and I race each other to, and a collection of well organized ephemera. I do wish I could go through the doors of that charming shop someday without a budget! Sigh.


This cute card has a mechanism that makes for a sweet surprise!

He is very nice!

Charlie did something very special for me on Valentine's Day -- he took the afternoon off from work and we went to tea in Tupelo! A newish antique shop, His and Hers, has opened Tea for T'Arts in the rear of the shop. Tips that are earned at tea are given to several arts organizations in Tupelo (ballet, symphony, etc.) Finger sandwiches were delicious; no scones but a pretty bowl of sweet potato chips; and little tiny tarts.

Our cards and presents to each other, Hoops & YoYo's and chocolate, of course. There is a chocolate shop in Memphis, Dinstuhls, which is conveniently close to a good bookstore, Booksellers at Laurelwood.

Mmmmm, here it comes!

Just me at the tea room.

A Tupelo bonus event! While stopped at a CVS, a fast train crossed this busy intersection. Five different engines!