Ahoy mateys!

Harry is now done. Earrings, belt with gold buckle, pirate hat and eye patch are all done. He's so cute, i just love him. I want to keep him with me, but Z likes to play with him, so I'll give him up. Not bad for a first knitting project.

Now i'm off to knit a sweater for Cathy, the little pink teddy bear of my 7 year old. This new hobby is very fun, and easy to do while listening to the radio, books on tape, and sitting by the fire. It's especially easy now that my wonderful mom gave me her whole stash of yarn that she's acquired over the years. I'm in fibre heaven!!

Much better!

Now the nice pirate finally has some clothes... oh and some hair. He definately looks better with hair doesn't he?

This has been a fun project to learn to knit on. It's only taken a few weeks, and I've learned a bunch of different stitches and techniques. I"m not ready to knit a vintage lace sweater or anything, but I am enjoying it. Now Harry needs a belt, a hat, an eye patch and some boots.

Harry

So now I'm also learning how to knit. Of course I couldn't knit something easy like a dish cloth or a scarf as my first project... No, not me!! I had to start on a Pirate. Harry the Pirate. Isn't he cute? I know, I know, he needs some hair and some clothes (and a sword and a hook, says my 4 year old), but I think he's cute. He's from the book Dream Toys by Claire Garland. I just love this book. I want to buy it, and her embroidery book too. They are filled with really wonderful things to make.

But look what I just found: how to knit a life sized pirate hook for my little boy to play with. This will be a great follow-up project.

I'll post some pictures of Harry when he is more modestly dressed.

xmas stocking

I joined a stocking swap this year, and did some redwork embroidery onto a hand sewn stocking. This isn't the best picture, as the colors are much nicer in real life. It was quite lovely. I recieved a beautiful hand knitted stocking in return that i have hanging in my craft room.

flat needle felting

You can also do more two-dimensional work with needle felting. It is a bit like painting, or making pictures with clay. It's quite fun to do.
This first piece is a tiny wall hanging I made (about 3 inches by 5 inches). My first attempt at flat felting. I would love to try and make more of these. In the past I have always been constrained by a pattern, but this time I just made whatever I wanted and it was very freeing to not have a pattern to follow.

This little guy is a bookmark for my 4 year old boy. Fun fun fun!! This only took about 20 min to make.

Charlotte

Charlotte is a doll that I made from the book "Wee Felt Folk" by Salley Mavor. Isn't she pretty? Hair hair is made from wool roving that I braided. Her legs and arms ar pipe cleaners wrapped in embroidery thread, and her clothing is hand embroidered. The swirls on her skirt are needle felted. I really want to make more of these. Daddy suggested I make our whole family.

penelope

Oh she's so lovely. Needle felted. My second project needle felting. She keeps me company in my craft room.

Mary

Over Christmas, I started a new hobby that has become a love of mine. It is so simple, involving only a handfull of wool roving, and a felting needle (a long skinny needle with barbs on it that felts the wool fibres together). If you are like me, you might also need a small supply of bandaids for the many pokes you get in your fingers.

This is my first needle felted project: A Mary doll with baby Jesus. I gave this one away to a special little girl on her birthday.

This is my second attempt at Mary. I now want to make a donkey, a sheep, Joseph, an angel and maybe the three wise men. We'll see if I can get it all done for next Christmas. I love the soft look of these sculptures. They make you want to touch them (and touch them you can as they are not breakable at all).

LIke I have time for this...

or anything, really, besides changing diapers, cleaning, making meals, nursing and doing laundry. ..

But over the Christmas holidays, while my darling husband was on vacation for almost 3 weeks, my creative side that I've been keeping quiet for the last few years surfaced, and I loved the peace it brought to my soul.

There is something so lovely about being able to create something of beauty from your own hands. It adds such dimension to my vocation as wife and mother. I want to help beautify my little corner of the world... keep my home a warm and cozy haven for my family.

I'm not the most amazing artist you've ever seen, and most of the crafty things I do are not sewn to perfection, nor are they worthy of an etsy store or a gallery... I'm really just another crafty mom. There are tonnes of these blogs popping up all over the blogsphere, and I enjoy reading many of them through my beloved google reader... not to mention all of the beautiful and inspiring photos of work you can browse on Flikr. This is my own space to keep track of the work I am doing and to inspire me to continue to nurture my heart with beauty.