Crafty

I have been in a crafty mood lately. I finally washed a bunch of raw wool that has been sitting in bags since before we got Lily. Right before we got her, I had signed up for a fleece study where they send you a bunch of samples of different kinds of fleece that you wash, prepare and spin to learn the different unique characteristics of the wool from different sheep breeds. I got the first 6 samples washed back then, but the last dozen or so have been sitting in a dresser drawer smelling rather "sheepy" ever since. Now that I have some freshly washed wool, I have been combing and starting to spin again after a long hiatus. I've also been doing lots of knitting.

I just finished these cute knitted and felted slippers



If you are not familiar with how felting works, you knit something really large out of wool and purposely agitate it in really hot water which intentionally shrinks and felts it. Here are my cute little slippers before and after felting:

Knitted:



And felted:



For the buttons, I had Corey cut tiny wafers out of a tree limb. I then removed the bark, sanded, drilled and oiled them. I used the same technique to make the buttons on the sweater I knitted for my mom for her birthday. I can't remember if I've shown that on here yet. If not, here it is.



It is the same owl pattern which I used to knit one for myself a few years ago. See, the cable pattern at the top makes a row of cute little owls. Hooooot!



I also made a hat for my mom and a matching one for myself. I've pretty much worn this hat every day since. I LOVE it. It is the perfect thing to keep me warm but not too hot.



Today I made Lily these easy little felt barrettes. Her hair is getting so long and thick, her baby barrettes won't hold it back anymore. She is getting better about leaving them in, so I decided it was time to make her a few more.



I also never shared this painting I made for my friend Lex. She is always making me cute stuff, so I wanted to return the favor. To make this I used watercolors and masking fluid.



I stole a photo off her blog, used photoshop to turn it black and white and increased the contrast until it was all black and white (no gray). Then I used a make-shift light table and placed watercolor paper over the photo. I then painted the areas I wanted to remain white with masking fluid. After it dried, I painted on the watercolor paint. When that was dry, I peeled off the fluid and viola!



If any knitters out there are interested in the patterns I used, they can be found here:

Sweater

Hat

Slippers