Barn owls and busy-ness...

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Oh my...big errand day today and this post almost got away from me...almost but not quite. Advent day 9 ~ more adventures in needle felting!

 

A wee little barn owl...

Can you tell I'm having fun with this? I am kind of loving it, and I can tell that if I'm not careful I could easily follow these little felties right down the rabbit hole. It could happen ;-)


Hope your weekend has been full of good things!
 

~xox~

alison

 

 

 

Otto, an advent bun...

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Meet Otto, a new wooly friend for the 8th day of advent...

More adventures in needle felting! Woohoo! I will get this down. Our house may become overrun with slightly anemic woolen animals, but so be it.

This little guy is clearly a wild rabbit, not the chubby bunny that I was originally going for, but actually I'm liking him the way he is more and more. One of the really fun things that I'm discovering about needle felting is that at some point in the process the felted animal begins to be who he is and it's really fun to just go with it instead of trying to force him in any specific direction. I kind of love that.

 

Here are few pics of our morning with Otto bun...



~xox~
alison

 

Tweet...

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Hello,

Just a quick little post today. Guess who flew in to help us welcome the seventh day of advent?...this little bluebird of happiness...

 

This was my first real go at needle felting and I have to say that I haven't quite got it down yet.

Just a warning~needle felting can be really dangerous for any closet perfectionists out there. I had such a hard time letting go of this little bird. I kept thinking I'd just work on one more area and then he'd be done, and then after that I would say the same thing again. This went on for quite some time before I finally had to let him fly {I don't care to mention how much time was involved here~suffice it to say a lot}. He's still not perfect, but I've decided that learning to live with that might actually be good for me. There are definitely more needle felted friends in my future {good thing my family likes sandwiches}, although I'm thinking that sticking to the blobbier shaped animals might be a good plan for now {they don't like sandwiches that much}.

Here's hoping that you are having a happy Friday and that your weekend is off to a fantastic start! I'm going to be spending mine doing a little wooly gardening.

How about you?

~xox~

alison

 

All baa and no humbug...

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Okay, I'm feeling a little, well sheepish about this guy. He was so quick and easy that he hardly counts {why is it that when something is really effortless that I feel like I just phoned it in and it doesn't really count?}. But after astring of late night crafting, I was feeling the need for easy and effortless. And guess what~this just in~the lad didn't even mind that this guy was such an easy peasy project, not a bit.
He really liked this little fluff of a lamb. So much so that he wanted to add to the flock today after school. These little roving and pipe cleaner sheep have been standard fare a fiber guild shows for as long as I can remember and they are super easy to make.
There is a good tutorial for them here. We made ours as per the tutorial but then I did a little needle felting at the end to secure the roving.

It was so much fun to sit and make these with him. One of my all time favorite things has and will always be to make things with my kids, be it cookies, or origami, or pipe cleaner sheep. I love the act of communal creating. Laughter and conversation flow and connections are made and it feels so good. Before all was said and done this afternoon, the sheep had a new pipe cleaner paddock and several of them were endowed with super powers. Like I said...the best time...I love it. Hope you're having fun getting your holiday craft on.

 

~xox~

alison

 

Hedging...

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On the Fifth day...my true love brought to me...fiiiive golden riiings. Not!

I'd like you to meet Tigg, the hedgie...the Advent hedgie...
The free pattern for this roly-poly cutie can be found here. A great resource is Drunken Aunt Wendy. This pattern was clearly written and it gave me an opportunity to learn another new stitch {I mean if you are going to stay up into the wee hours making holiday frippery you might as well be learning something on the way, right? In this case it was loop stitch.
 So loop stitch...hmmm...any thoughts? I felt kind of like I was making a teeny tiny shag carpet or bath towel. While not difficult, this stitch is a bit fiddly. And a word to the wise from the not so ~ resist the urge to control the size of your loops. I wanted mine to look textured without being too huge...I mean I'm making hedgehog prickles not a lion's mane after all. The bottom line~~if your loops are too small they will pull out and unravel and will make you most cranky and you will probably say some things you shouldn't. Then, at that very moment, it will become clear to you that it is afterall a good thing {and showed tremendous foresight~not lack of planning} that you're working on this silly hedgie at 3 in the morning so that your sweet children won't be scarred by seeing their mother despairing over crocheted hedgehog prickles in the middle of the night. That could happen. Or so I've heard. However, if that happens {and it won't because you're going to make your loops big enough...how big?...the circumference of your index finger and no smaller} you will forget your fatigue and frustration {not to mention the crick that's preventing you from turning your head} the second you look at that cute hedgie nose and that roly poly bum.
Because after all is said and done, he's a hedgehog, and hedgehogs are adorable...especially Advent hedgies.

~xox~

alison



Twinkle...

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Thar be stars on thar's...nay...no Starbelly Sneetches~nary a one can be found round here {though I do love that story~give it up for Dr. Seuss!}...and yay to stars!  Advent Day 4 is brought to you by this wooly star...
Oh dear...these pics.  Not so good.  Please forgive and understand that all of this is happening with my phone veeeerrry early in the morning.  Before the school bus.  That would be before 6:30 AM. I'll have to get some better photos with my real camera at some point because these shots are just not doing the cuteness of these stars justice.  In the meantime, I hope you get the idea.

The pattern is another gem from Lucy and the beloved Attic 24 {have you checked it out yet?...it's a bright and happy place, yes?!}.  My gracious that girl is such a talented and generous soul {yes this pattern is free}.

I really loved making this little ornament ~ rather addictive actually.  It starts out as a bauble like this one on my left leg...
And then the points are added.  Lacking in bitty bells or spare buttons, I just put french knots on the points of my star, but you could definitely go all out with this one if you wanted.  I'm thinking constellations of these beauties might be just what our tree needs to keep it from becoming too precious.  All those cute crochet critters I'm planning could leave our tree looking rather cutesy and saccharine sweet if I'm not careful.  I think these stars and some baubles will give our tree...a certain respectability...gravitas...no...hmmm...well I don't know what but something good.

And on another note, look what arrived in the mail yesterday...
!!!!...Ten lovely books from Potter Craft!!!
I won a mini library of craft books!  {insert happy dance here} Sooo exciting!  I literally never win anything and I can't believe my fortune.  I'm thanking my lucky...you guessed it...stars. Oh groan~sorry~had too.  Anyway, I cannot wait to pore over these texts.  I can tell already that they are packed full of crafty inspiration.  Maybe some of it might eventually appear here or in someone's Christmas stocking.  It could happen...but not if I don't get to the making.  So here I go...

Happy, happy Tuesday to you!

~xox~
alison
  

Whooo is it?...

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Whooo was found perching on stocking number three this morning?...a very chubby owl.
I have had a soft spot for owls for as long as I can remember.  When I was growing up there was an owl who lived in the big tree by our front walk.  Every year new owlets were welcomed to that nest.  Loved that.  Also, owls always remind me of my girl {don't ask why~her love for myth and Athena?...probably}.  At any rate, an advent owl just seemed inevitable. 
This plump little raptor comes from this pattern found over on Craftsy.  I have to say that I fell in love with the look of this guy right away.  He's so perfectly round {so ornament-esque} and he has that great hood with the jaunty curl at the sides~irresistible.  Plus, I was captivated by his cute bobbled belly and the opportunity to learn another crochet stitch. Cluster stitch...I don't know it...must learn it.  That pretty much sealed the deal.  And so Chubby was born {please forgive the fuzzy phone pics}. 
So how are we getting along now that chubs and I have been together for a morning?  Well, I have to say that I'm not over the moon about him.  I'm not quite ready to banish him to back of the tree land, but I'm not in love either.  Although, when the lad exclaimed that he likes this flier best of all the adventists so far and as the day goes on, I find I am warming to this bobbly owl more and more.  I do think that he might be more to my liking in a different colorway~say a solid base with different colors for his face and hood~and maybe in more owlish colors.  The other thing that may be standing in the way of our budding friendship is that this guy took the better part of my day yesterday {that's valuable making territory right about now} and that I was working him on a very tight {think shoulders to ears} gauge.  And okay, and I'm just going to say it.  I love, love the sturdiness of crochet for making this type of wot-not, but knitting, dear, dear knitting, will always be first in my heart.  I'm thinking a little knitted version of this guy, with this oh-so-easy-oh-so-bobbly stitch would be just about perfect. 
That said, I am catching myself giving him appreciative glances as I breeze by and he catches my gaze.  So I'm thinking I might just have to give him another go and crochet another owl and maybe even an owlet or two before all is said and done.  But you probably knew that, didn't you?

bye for now...
~xox~
alison  

The Second Adventist...

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Hello...me again...I know!...two days in a row...a holiday miracle for sure!  But it's that time of year when the little whimsies of the holidays come out to play (and beg to be made) so here we go.

On the second day of December my crochet hook brought to me...
 A wee dormouse!... 

 I think the lad approves...
 
And can I just say that I am abundantly aware that I am truly a lucky mom to have a now teenager {:o} who humors me in this way.  I think that maybe the sweets in the toe of the stocking help a bit.
This was a fun little project.  Quick and satisfying and my first go at amigurumi.  So fun!  The pattern is free and can be found here.  Many thanks to Rachel Hansen for sharing this darling pattern.  And the best part?  In addition to making the acquaintance of  this cute dormouse {who will soon be decorating our tree and will definitely not be a back of the tree dweller},  I learned a new crochet decrease along the way!  I love learning things on my way to a new project.  And the best best part?...wait for it...this decrease is totally invisible!  No really.  Totally invisible!  I really love that.  I will definitely be using this decrease again in other projects. 

Okay, that's it for now.  Cookies to be baked, gifts to be made, patterns to be edited, and a wood stove to be cozied up to.  Have a wonderful day!  I'll be thinking of you and all the loveliness flying off your hooks and needles.

~xox~
alison