Neck Gator

Steve and I chose not to exchange gifts this year. The kids each got us something so it’s not like we weren’t going to get anything. And technically we pay for those gifts anyway. By doing this our money can go toward a lovely little spring project of a new front and back door on our house. Unfortunately, this decision was made after I had purchased and started knitting him a little gift. So I gave it to him anyway. It was pretty small after all.

Plus I had wanted to knit this up ever since I saw Christina’s last year. It didn’t hurt that when I had pointed out the neck gator to Steve he had immediately asked me to make him one. I just followed her simple directions and finished in less than two knitting group get togethers. Easy peasy!

Little Gnome

Thanks to Kristin, I got to spend a relaxing afternoon with a group of lovely women learning how to make these little guys. I think more are needed for the stockings don’t you?

Wool Roving

For mother’s day I left the family behind and went to the Shepherd’s Harvest Sheep & Wool festival for the 1st time with Jen.  It was chilly but that’s a good thing when one is perusing wool. I didn’t have any projects in mind but was willing to spend money so I bought myself some pretty enameled copper earrings from here and a bag of beautiful roving from here that is literally bursting at the seams. There is 16 oz of 50 different colors! The only question now is, what in the world should I make with all this yummy roving? Any ideas?

 

Needle Felting

Warning – needle felting is incredibly addictive. I made these cards by needle felting wool roving onto rectangles of craft felt and then gluing to cover weight paper to make a set for Carolyne of Hmmmm Now Let’s See. Needle felting is just a process of stabbing a background a zillion times with a special needle that has a bit of wool roving on it. I really felt like I was just getting going by the time I was done. I can see with a little practice these could be quite nice. Using real wool felt for the backing would be fab as well.

Just in case you feel like poking something, here are my tips:

• Don’t buy all the fancy gear. A $4 pack of needles and a thick synthetic sponge will do just fine.
• Poke up and down, not at an angle.
• Make sure to brush glue on, don’t put on in globs as it will soak through the fabric. I knew this before hand but I didn’t it anyway. Just call me lazy!
• Practice makes perfect. After a while I felt like I was drawing with wool.

Must. Make. More. Soon.

Wool Dyeing Party

I spent a lovely Sunday with a lovely group of women playing with wool. We learned how to card with this hand cranked gizmo:

I’ve only ever used carding paddles so this was heavenly. Next we dyed the wool:

My mom even tried her hand at spinning:

For a more detailed description of our fine day see Jen’s post or Kristin’s. A big thank you to Jen for organizing the event and to Birdie for being a fabulous host. I hope to come out and play again soon!

Why, you might ask, is Anna posting several days after events are occurring? Well, that would be because I accidentally threw my camera down the front cement stoop. I froze and watched in horror as it bounced down all 4 steps. Therefore, I’ve had to beg, borrow and steal other’s cameras and photos. A big thank you to Ellie and Kathryn for their donations! Sadly, it’ll cost almost as much to fix my camera as buy a new one. Although I’m normally all for fixing to avoid more junk in the landfills the camera is a different story. So, any camera suggestions out there? I’ve been very happy with my Canon PowerShot but am being tempted by Olympis’ Shockproof camera. Shockproof being the optimal word here. And Budget is a concern here. No SLRs for me. A good family point and shoot is what I’m looking for. Any words of wisdom?

Lastly, on a totally unrelated note – Eleanor took her first steps!!!!! I’d love to show you but apparently flickr doesn’t accept mpg videos yet. I’ll look around at converting or using another service.

Ta ta for now!