Knitty Rejection

Boo Hoo. I didn't get into the Knitty issue. Maybe next time. But that means I can post my pattern on Etsy. Yeah!

My Mom's Middling was cotton.

The middling I had as a child was a tiny flowered cotton print. But the wool felted ones seem so much cuter to me!
Tried a few anyway...

Another Nunicorn

Somebunny's gonna have a good birthday!



She's just tooo cute! I'm smitten. Can't wait to find out her name!





But for now, I'm dubbing her Vernicorn the Nunicorn!

Middling and Kiddling

Well, we'll miss them, but they are flying off to their new home tomorrow.

They are looking forward to meeting their new friends Charlotte and Julia and are definitely happy to be moving from this nasty cold and snow to the California sunshine!

Middling the Unicorn

This is my first attempt at Middling offspring.

Let me explain...

My mother had a great love of unicorns, long before the symbol was popular. She also had a love of toys long after most adults abandon theirs. Middling was my mother's stuffed unicorn. It was the only thing I was allowed to take from among my mother's belongings when she died. I was, naturally, very attached to her, but in the many moves of my childhood she disappeared.

Today this little Middling was born... She is shaped a bit differently from the Middling I remember, and her colors and materials are considerably different. I am sure she is merely step 1 in the evolution of a long lost toy.

This Middling is made from a recycled wool sweater that was fulled, sewn, stuffed and then embellished with needle felting and love.

The Second Kippah!

I finished it yesterday just as it was getting, unfortunately, too dark for pictures.

This kippah is made with a different yarn than I normally use for felting. I had to wash it 4 times to get it to shrink almost as much as the others. I used Lamb's Pride which is a wool/mohair blend. I like the subdued colors of this brand, but it doesn't full as easily and is a tiny bit scratchier, which isn't relevant for a kippah so much, but I wouldn't want to wear a sweater made from it!



I took about 40 pictures today and not one of them showed the background color accurately.
It is a very pretty and subtle teal color, more green than most of these photos show.


So I manipulated the color on this swatch in Photoshop to get it as close as possible, still not quite there, but it will have to do. Best to see this one in person.


This closeup shows the vines nicely. The oranges really pop in sunlight.


I really enjoyed making these! Now the question is... will my charming customer be able to chose?
I'm not sure I could!

My next project (on the needles) is a knitted and fulled kitty cat... a joint effort birthday gift for a sweet almost-7-year-old friend of my DDs'. I will be knitting it and Rowan will be felting the face and embellishments on it herself! Fun. Fun. Fun.

Commissioned Kippot

I was thrilled to be asked to make a custom Kippah for a lady at our Sisterhood Shabbat on Friday.

As with all commissions, I will be making two choices. The other one is currently in the washer being fulled and will be embellished today, g-d willing.

Here my sweet daughter was willing to model it for me. She's getting very good at modeling! Ah the things we learn in homeschool!

It came out gorgeous, if I do say so myself!

The second choice has a more teal colored background. I'm not sure that the orange flowers will work with it. I'll have to let it happen.

I find that commissioned pieces pose a challenge for me. I have to keep reminding myself to create for me and if I like it so will the customer. I find I begin to focus on what she might want. Now how on earth am I supposed to know that, I'm not a mind reader! So I keep telling myself (out loud, no wonder my kids think I'm nuts) That if I love it so will she. My DD asked me how I know that. Well I don't, but if I'm not enjoying the process, then what's the point.

More pictures can be seen on my flikr site:

If you would like to commission a kippah please email me for more info.