Knitting Dragonflies

I have felted purses and bags before, but that was the extent of my felting journey. I saw Claudia on The Knitting Blog by Mr. Puffy the Dog blog felt an adorable bunny and knew I had to try it. With the help of instructions from The Daily Felt , and some You Tube Videos ( I like this one by Brookelynn Morris ), I was off. Wet Felting with a resist, to make a 3D item. I cut this shape out of some packing material to use as my resist. This will be placed in the middle. I’ll layer pieces on the top and bottom, wet felt and then cut them apart to stuff it. Sounds easy? Let’s see if it is…. I need some bubble wrap, use it bubble side towards your felting, If it is not wide enough, you can duct tape it together to make it wider, (duct tape on the smooth side) Follow the instructions on the Felting lessons site 1- Very warm water, and quite a bit of soap , work this into the bunny, on both sides, until the “pinch test” does not produce fibers. ( see video) OK not looking very bun...

Check out the story that goes with this famous photo And the men in the photo.

This month’s Etsy Blogger is NajoDogz by Nancy Richardson. NanjoDogz features polymer clay Pandora beads, sculpture, pendants, tiles, beads and more with our main concentration on the dog in various breeds. Although our main focus is on dog related creations, we also create various other critter beads. We have a variety of whimsical and unique items. Beagle Polymer Clay Dog Pandora Bead / Charm $28.00 Australian Shepherd Pandora Polymer Clay Dog Bead – Charm $28.00 Don’t see your dog? She also does custom orders! (below from her shop policies) Custom Orders: If you see anything in our shop that you would like in a specific breed just let us know and we'll be happy to create a piece for you. Please note: There is an additional charge for custom orders. Charity: A percentage of proceeds to my favorite animal charities including HSUS, Anti-Cruelty Society, Illinois Doberman Rescue. She blogs here

I bought a package of white Onesies and decided to tiedye them for a baby present. A fun summer gift for any little one! Drying on the line. Materials: -package of Onesis (I found mine at Joann’s, all ready to dye) -acid based dyes, or if you are a first timer, there are tie dyeing kits that are cheap, see WalMart -plastic bins, and metal spoon -rubber bands or string to tie, I used rubber bands 1- I looked here to see some different folding techniques for dyeing for my Onesies. The ones I chose were; (From left to right 1-The Bunching, green, bunched up and I used about 5 rubber bands to secure it all. 2- I used a combo of a small spiral in the middle and pleats on the top and bottom from side to side, turquoise, one rubber band in the middle and one one the pleated top, one on the pleated bottom 3- The Spiral, used on the middle blue one, about 5 or 6 rubber bands to secure it all, placed in all different directions. 4- Pleats, the turquoise is pleats folded from bottom ...

Watching the Preakness and sketching a bit. Inspired by the moving horses. Interesting Horse related facts: In the state of Arizona, it is illegal for cowboys to walk through a hotel lobby wearing their spurs Horses younger than 4 years can concentrate for a maximum of 10-15 minutes A horse typically sleeps two and half to three hours a day A zedonk is the offspring of a zebra and a donkey Horses generally dislike the smell of pigs I’m planning on getting back to my knitting soon! Seriously!! LOL

Playing around a bit with watercolor, just using black in different layers. Sumi-e style. When we moved down here one of the nicest things was seeing horses. I grew up in the city and never saw a live horse until I went to the fair. I couldn’t believe how big they were up close. Maybe nothing defines the culture of Kentucky better than the state’s obsession with horses. One visit to Kentucky’s Horse Country, and the thoroughbred affection is apparent in everything from the fields of grazing horses and racetracks to horse farms & tours. Above is charcoal, well I’ll keep trying..LOL So in the spirit of Kentucky and their beautiful horses I’m trying to paint them. It is hard to capture them, the movement, angles and shadows. But enjoyable.

  Knitters usually have a favorite item to knit. Shawls, socks, dishcloths, toys, to name a few. Mine is sweaters. A strange item for a women who is plagued by hot flashes that scare my co workers. But if you are a knitter you will understand, when the knitting muse calls, you just answer it, no questions asked. My first big success into knitting sweaters was when I discovered Elizabeth Zimmerman , and, suddenly, after years of odd sweaters, or frogged sweaters, I had a “sweater that actually fit”! This was the beginning of my long love affair with sweaters. I think of my knitting phases as; 1-My FLAT period; scarves, afghans, dishcloths, basically anything flat and mindless. I was into loving the knitting, just for the knitting. Then I heard the siren of the sweater, I knitted quite a few flat, funny sweaters, that got frogged, given to anyone resembling the resulting size, and just generally huge “gauge” issues. 2-Sweater; In the round, bottom up, Yay! I discovered Elizabet...

Wet, but pretty, I’m happy to see some bright color. May Day, marks the end of the unfarmable winter half of the year in the Northern hemisphere, and it has traditionally been an occasion for popular and often raucous celebrations. 4–10 May : Between Midspring and Midsummer Traditional summer begins Middle of astronomical spring I have gotten my Iced sweater back out and looked at it. Like most knitted items that are “resting”, when I look at it, I think I can have it done fairly quickly. My main concern is my yarn yardage. I’m pretty sure I’ll run out, of course the yarn is discontinued, but I have found some on eBay! But don’t want to over buy. I better get my needles clicking! May your knitting needles fly as fast as dragonflies…. I am selling all of my knitting magazine back issues off in lots on Ebay , if you are interested take a look! I don’t have them all listed yet, I still have two more piles to go through. *grin*