Mid Winter Blues

I am tired of winter, tired of the snow, tired of the ice that makes walking feel like a high wire act, tired of looking at the dirty snow that lines the city streets after the plows throw it to the side.

 Even Libby is tired of this particular snow, and Libby, as we all know, loves the snow.  But this snow is packed down, crusty and sounds like squeeky styrofoam  as we plow through it. 

This snow does not make snowballs, or snow men.  This snow is just sort of mean. 

It has made navigating down our small street a challenge.  And we are tired of it.  Even a trip to the garbage bin is a heart stopping activity. 

The good news is - snow melting is in high gear and the temperature is above zero.  The bad news is- tonight all those melting puddles will turn to shiny ice and won't that be fun tomorrow morning.

It's a good time to stay inside and knit.   I'm working up a new pair of socks in a  yarn from Estelle Designs called "SockItToMe"  Great name eh?  The colour number is 52901 - no name, just a number -  in soft shading that goes from grey to light blue to almost cream and than back to grey. It is a single ply sock weight yarn that is very soft and fluffy. I love working with it and seeing how the colours blend.

 Fingerless gloves are on another set of  needles using Spud & Cloe Fine Sock, a blend of wool and silk.  What a lovely product this is to work with, even though it is all in one colour.  I must say though,  I am addicted to the multi coloured yarns available these days.  Maybe it is because I'm living in a black and white world I seem to need colour.

The third project on the needles is a shawl made with a lovely red fuzzy yarn I pulled out of my stash.  I intend to give this away as a prayer shawl when its finished and fringed.  It is working up quickly.

The forecast is for snow on Sunday .  Maybe I need to get one more project on needles to see me through until the Winter Olympics begin. 


 

NEEDLE FELTING - A TUTORIAL

As promised -

You will need:   a barbed felting needle, a foam block, a wood skewer or chop stick and wool rovings

A warning here.  The felting needles are barbed and wickedly sharp and rather fragile, so have a care when using them.  Working on the foam block is a very good way to protect yourself and give your needle something to plunge into.

For this particular tutorial, I chose to construct a lop eared bunny rabbit. 

Meet Midnight.  She is our model here.  She wouldn't stand up and pose, but she consented to have her picture taken to show off her head and ears and her cute bunny nose. 

OK...here we go.
I used some lovely natural brown roving to start the body of the bunny. 

Separate about an ounce of the brown roving from your pile and roll it into a tight ball.  The tiny barbs on the end of the needle will distress the roving, changing its texture from the soft, loose pile, to a hard, dense ball as you repeatedly turn your ball and poke the needle into it.

Because this is a bunny body, we want a pear shape.  We're also going to construct this bunny to stand up (even though Midnight would not)  and look perky.   Continue randomly poking your felting needle into your ball as you shape it and roll it into the pear shape.  Don't be in a rush here.  The felting process takes a bit of time to work.
Once the body of your sculpture is as firm as you would like it to be and you are happy with the shape , it needs a head .
 Take a smaller portion of your brown roving, roll it into a tight ball.  It should be about twice the size of your finished head and not too large for the body of the bunny.  Start poking with your needle to felt the head ball.   It should look like a tight round ball when you are finished felting it.
Now needle felt the head to the body, working round and round at the neck edge.  Pull another short piece of roving and wrap it around the bunny's neck like a scarf and continue jabbing with your needle.  The idea here is to make the head look like it belongs on the body.

It looks a bit like a brown bowling pin at this stage doesn't it.  Never fear.  We aren't finished yet.

Lets give our bunny his ears, and his feet.   Separate six  small amounts of the brown roving about an inch wide and about 2-3 inches long from your pile  Wrap one of these pieces tightly around your chop stick.  Pull it off.  It should already be in the ear shape and ready to place on the foam.  Carefully poke the ear into the shape you want - slightly rounded.  Leave one end soft.  Do the same with the other ear piece. 
Now attach the soft ends of these pieces to the top of bunny's head, letting the ears droop in the proper lop fashion.
Take the other two pieces and repeat the process to make bunnies front feet and arms.  Attach them to either side of the bunny body.  Make his large flat feet and tuck them onto the bottom of his body so he has something to balance on.

Bunnies have small front feet and very large back feet so keep this in mind.  He is starting to look like a bunny here - but he has a pretty goofy look on his face doesn't he?  We need to work on his eyes now and give him a bunny nose.   For the nose, take a small piece of the brown roving - about an inch by an inch and roll it into a small ball.  Attach this to the front of your bunnie's head and needle felt it in.  Take a very small piece of black roving,  roll it between your fingers into a ball and put it on the front of his nose. 
The bunny needs eyes to see.  Look at Midnight's picture again.  Bunnie eyes are set wide apart, sort of on either side of the head. Our first attempt isn't quite what we want here. But we can fix it. 
Take a pinch of the black roving, roll it between your fingers into a ball, and position the eyes on either side of the nose.  I put a very small piece of white roving above the eye for accent. Now, that's better.  The thing about needle felting is that it is forgiving.  If you don't like something - cover it up and start again.  This is better face I think.

Our bunny needs a white belly.  Take some wisps of white roving and tack it to the bunny's belly.  You can build up this white a bit at a time.  If you want the white to look fluffy, gently drag the tip of your felting needle over the belly to erase the needle marks.

Every bunny needs a bunny tail.

Take a small piece of white roving and roll it into a loose ball between your fingers.  Attach it to the bunny with just a few pokes around the edges of the ball to leave it fluffy.

And there you have it.  A fantasy bunny with personality to make you smile.

A few hints and tips are in order.

-To make a handle for your felting needle -  cut a wine cork in half and push the felting needle through it gently.  It's good to have something to hang on to during the poking process.
-When poking the roving with your needle - keep the needle straight - don't poke on an angle -  less needle breakage that way.
- Felting needles come in different gauges - the finer the needle, the more precise the sculpting i.e. faces, and eyes.  
The heavier gauge needles are better for the first stages of the poking work.
Don't be afraid to play.  It's good for your soul.

Sculpting with fleece and a very sharp needle.

I'm late with this and I apologize for the delay in posting.  Back problems are a big reality check.  Everything seems to take longer to do.  I have learned to knit laying down though while watching way too much daytime television. 
  
So I have a new pair of socks on the needles and the second fingerless glove half way completed, now that all the Christmas knitting has been doled out.   I'm happy to say that Number Two Grandson put his knitted toque on his head Christmas morning and it didn't come off  the entire time he was here except when his favourite hockey team was playing.  Then he slapped on his good luck team ha to cheer them on.  He has also requested another toque -  black this time.  I'm going to get that on the needles today I hope. 
 
 The hat is called the "Simple Soldier's Hat" and is a free Ravelry download if you are interested.  I'm using a 5.5 mm circular needle and worsted weight Alpaca from Berocco on this new one.  The yarn is gorgeous to work with and the simple rib pattern is stretchy enough to fit just about any adult head size.

But I really wanted to write about needle felting here - dry felting, sculpting with rovings or fleece.  If you have frustrations, this is the craft for you, let me tell you.  Jabbing that ball of fleece multiple times with that vicious little needle helps, believe me. 

The idea behind needle felting is that the roving or fleece is distressed with a barbed needle and sculpted into whatever shape you have in your mind.  The distressing is done by jabbing the fleece multiple times with the needle so that the texture of it is changed and hardened into a shape. 

The mermaid is a whimsical piece and has been embellished with bead embroidery to give her a bit of sparkle and splash. 

I am preparing a tutorial on needle felting or dry felting.  I actually wanted to have it ready before this, but as I say, everything is taking longer dealing with this injury.  But I promise - it is coming very soon.  The roses are needle felted first into flat disks and then cut and rolled into roses.  I wet felted the stems around florist wire so I could bend them.

Stay tuned for part two - coming soon.