felting exchange again

Oh my, where did January go ?

This last of January I finally made the little felt piece

for the exchange

The theme of this one was the story of Vasalisa

(I didn't know that so had to look it up first)

Not easy to make something 

that has to exactly fit in a story ...

though it's better that most of the participants

chose a bigger size : 20 x 20 cm

(on the other hand : I really liked

the postcard size we had in previous years)

In the end I decided on Baba Yaga's house

I started with a bit of ready-made pre-felt and the background

Then the house and trees were made of little pieces of my own pre-felt

(against the light)

A lot of stitching along the edges, 

because the first bit of white pre-felt made it all quite fuzzy.

It was sent and received well.

*

A little over a week ago we had a birthday boy :

yes : 12 already ... time flies 

*

There were also some felted presents to be made

with which I had some helping hands

he was busy with number one,

so I could start on number two !

hmmmm ...

he "helped" with my sudoku too ...

Both presents are at their destination :

the red one in Rotterdam, the white one in England

(with a bit of "Liberty" that she can use well) 

*

And ...

more little owls !

(it's addictive)

tiny and tinier

These two have little feet too.

Ready for take-off ...

to the next month !

cowl finished !

I love colours !

That's why this yarn called out to me

(though it's polyester)

On top of that it's shiny

and easy to knit.

 A friend on Ravelry (who I met in a yarn shop !)

made a lovely cowl / shawl of it,

and as soon as I bought my skein, I remembered that.

I asked her how many stitches she had

and started right away

Mitered knitting is easy

because you never have more stitches on your needle

than at the start of every new block.

And NO sewing blocks together :

every new block starts at the side (or two sides)

of an old one !

(if you're interested, you can find the pattern here)

It's amazing : the colours of the second row

just fit so nicely next to each other ...

If I had meant it to be like that up front,

I would probably NOT have succeeded doing so !

The yarn did it all by itself !

Very happy with it !

Because there is a special birthday tomorrow

I made a little card for a friend

Stitching on "lutradur" with a thick thread on the bobbin,

fabric and paper underneath ...

Done 

more knitting

Yesterday was another knitting day

because the "Alpaca-on-tour"

started this year on the second Saturday of the month,

all were present

(except for the one who is momentarily in Spain)

and two extra daughters !

(following their mothers' footsteps)

I took the extended owl family with me.

We admired our host's sphinx cat

(all wrinkles and no hair)

There were lots of homemade cookies, tea and coffee 

and a LOT of talking

about projects, yarn and patterns

(like usual at this kind of meetings)

One of our friends unloaded a bit of her superfluous stash

and all of us took some of her treasures home.

Thanks Ingrid !

Some hemp and linen for me

The rainbow coloured yarn will be a cowl

and is progressing nicely ...

starting small ...

This is my first post in the year 2016, so

Happy New Year !

(I think it's still allowed to say that

though the year isn't brand new anymore)

My creative year is starting small,

small knitting in fact.

A friend showed such a fun pattern on FB

that I promised myself I would knit some of these

little owls

Number one !

How small it is ???

This small    ;-)

And because it is quite simple to make

I started the next one right away

For the Dutch readers who want to try too

here is the pattern.

And while I was busy with my needles

Man was busy with his pencils

getting some good advice of our youngest grandchild.

My two friends who were doing some serious felting

just before christmas, finished their work today :

another fun day with talk, coffee, tea, lunch,

and a lot of elbow grease !

In the end we were very satisfied with the two

(very different) end results

( ... though it looks like not everyone agreed ...)