not a mouse .....

Here is the solution of the riddle

Ha  ! 

A very colourful beast

I'll show you the steps how it came to this.

After the first "mousy" bit, I attached the tail and a crest,

and the tricky bit : the legs

Because the feet were a bit too big, I just cut some bits off.

(this doesn't matter because I had to add another layer of wool)

Just like a real chameleon

he slowly changed colour !

till he was ready to dry

(Mmmmm ... silly beast, thought Bella)

Daughter continued too with a new project

after we took some new pictures of the (now dry) hat

This will be a jacket

valentine ... and a riddle

Daughter has been here yesterday and today

to do some serious felting.

When you are busy like that

it is always a treat to have dinner together.

After the hat that she wanted to make

was well on its way

we cooked together.

The desert was made of the leftover dough
of the pie

Beet root pie with lots of goat cheese

(and some other vegetables I had in the refrigerator)

The last layer of the hat

Still not completely dry, but ready for the photo

And because felting is such fun

I started something of my own in the kitchen.

Hmmmm 

what would that be 

.......

Any  ideas ?

felt additions

 

Last Sunday we, students,

received the fifth part of Fiona's online class

but I didn't do my "homework"  on that part yet.

 

When the computer was s l o w

I had plenty of time to do the work on part 4 :

felt additions.

I put some of the techniques in one piece

and called it

 

SPRING

 

 

I started with the "normal" sample square (25 x 25 cm)

 

and prepared all the little bits and pieces that I needed first

 

Then came the long and careful felting ...

 

It was a lot of work but I looooove those spikes !

Though I wasn't too pleased that one of the little balls

leaked dye to the green surface,

grrrrrrrrr 

a warning to make my own felted balls, instead of buying them !

(the green looks a bit muddy in this photo because

there was no day light at that moment)

*

 

There were also two dear ladies

who wanted to renew their encounter with felt :

one cushion and one hat were made

 

 

This is ALWAYS the best part of making a hat :

trying it on before fulling !!!

 

(a rare bird ... or Pinocchio ... ?)

 

 



Still a lot to be done

but time was up, so she took it home to finish

.....

The three of us had a wonderful day !

 

half a hat ?

My online Surface Design in Felting class of Fiona 

has reached it's third week,

and it's no surprise :

I LOVE IT !

BTW, there is very good news 

for all of you who thought you had to wait till the end of summer

for Fiona to do a second run of her class :

the next run starts in April

(till half May)

For this third week 

there weren't as many samples to make as week 1 and 2

So I took the chance to make a piece with

three little techniques in it :

bumps, an enclosed big glass nugget and seed beads.

All of that in a head band

or you could say

half-a-hat

(is that a Mad Hatter or what ?!)

When I made the (first) resist I forgot to enlarge my design ...

(even being experienced doesn't prevent you from doing stupid things  :-(  !)

so then I made a new (bigger) one.

I used two layers merino in blues

One thing : with all these special bits you must do some slow felting !

Despite my calculations the piece stayed too big,

so I cut it in the back 

now I can adjust it to the right size.

front

and the back

(I am definately gonna wear it)

egg hat ..... or egghead ?

Cold, cold, cold !

Easter is here, 

but Spring is nowhere to be seen

The only Spring is inside the house at the moment

;-)

Today I finally finished my third attempt 

in double knitting.

First there was the straight scarf.

Second was the headband  (with in- and decreasing)

And thrird : 

can I do it in rounds ? With decreases ?

Something small, just as a trial, a tiny hat perhaps ...

Yes, I can !

Hurray ... on top of the Easter Bunny world !

or

.....

it might just fit 

as a warm hat for someone 

during a cold Spring ??? 

So, a lovely (Easter) weekend to you all 

lost ... and a new one

Just more than a week ago 

daughter lost the (real) Peru baby hat 

her youngest son was wearing 

while they were doing some shopping in the local mall.

We asked several times if it was found 

without success ...

(so the little one was wearing a slightly too big hat, I had knitted for his mom ages ago)

That left me no alternative than to grab my needles

and some leftover yarn in various colours,

draw some patterns of little man,

and make a gauge swatch.

... and I started knitting ...

... and knitting ...

finished !

(ha, there hád to be a little white dog somewhere ...)

Here's the little elf himself

(with mom's heavenly blue Malabrigo shawlette)

We think he looks very cute 

(though we 're not sure that he will agree 

in ... let's say ... fifteen years  ?)

*

Ha, almost forgot this lovely peek in the garden

busy busy

I've been busy doing all kind of things

though nót on the craft front,

but buying "Lundia" shelves and doors 

for a new cupboard at daughter's place,

and lots of stuff at IKEA

(and getting it up to her flat on the third floor)

*

Today would be a felting day together with daughter's Stitch'nBitch friend

but unfortunately she got ill, so daughter felted on her own.

She started on a hat more than a week ago

(didn't I say : Darth Vader ??? .... but that nose ..... ?)

It looked quite silly in the beginning, I agree,

but after a lot of work today ...

this came out in the end :

(still wet but finished)

She is very proud

(and so am I)

Thanks a lot : Annette Quentin-Stoll !

We had a wonderful workshop with Annette almost three years ago,

her lovely book "Filz Experiment" was a great help.

another hat

I didn't think it would be like that,

but after I finished my first ever hat

and it passed the test of wearing

(we had nice cold weather)

I started a new one this week !

 I wanted to try out something 

 I also used on my commission bag.

(yes, that's finished too, but only after it's with the new owner I will show you)

I started with the dots, but forgot to take a picture

so in fact, it was made inside out.

First I had to make some pieces of pre-felt before I could start.

This blue is the "holy blue" so the hat will match my "holy blue" bag

Late at night the hat was finished !

Don't know yet if I leave the brim like that ...

it's still rather wet and then "corrections" can easily be made

*

There was also some knitting done this week :

the second sock of a pair finished ...

and ... I stitched together the two back parts of a tiny vest

someone is knitting right now ...

The "Mini Mochi" yarn works so well in this pattern !

(I will show it when finished !)