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Alpaca Fiber

Chris — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:01:00 GMT

I was on Craigslist, looking for craft supplies, and I found an ad for 100 lbs. of free alpaca wool. I couldn't believe my good luck! But then I started wondering how much 100 lbs of wool is, and if I had room in my car for that much. So I called and asked if I could have less than 100 lbs of it, and the man was very nice, and said he would fill a large trash bag and leave it by his driveway for me. Believe me, it was enough!! I have never had raw wool before, and it really puffs up when it gets out of the bag..
The place is called All American Alpacas, it's in Menifee, CA, and they were giving away their seconds, which is perfect for needle felting, I can't wait to try it.
When I first opened the bag, the first thing that I noticed was the smell, not a bad smell, but it smelled like a farm, and my dog loved it. She dove right in, she rolled in it, and tried to pull pieces out of the bag, and drag all over the house! After I got her under control, I put the wool in 2 large tubs.
I got some white, brown, and black.

Then I spread out some for washing, and picked out all the sticks, and seeds, and pieces of junk.
Then I washed it. (I got all my directions from the internet)\

It washed up real nice, then I picked out more stuff from the wool.Then I carded it.

And I carded it some more.

And now its all finished and ready for needle felting. The wool is really soft and it doesn't smell anymore.It was a lot of work, but I'm happy with the results.
I think I'm going to make an alpaca first.

Dollhouse Teddy Bear

Chris — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:21:00 GMT

I just finished making a needle felt doll house teddy bear. He was so much fun to make, and easy too. I like the way his face came out. He will look good in a doll house!

available at http://ladybuggun.etsy.com

Springtime Place Mats

Chris — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:13:00 GMT

These are my springtime pink and white placemats, they are crocheted flower motifs, they were very easy to make.

Crocheted Placemats

Chris — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:53:00 GMT

I made some placemats to put on Etsy, and I had a lot of trouble finding the crochet thread, because I guess Michaels isn't going to carry crochet thread anymore, and I don't know why. They must not sell it much anymore, I guess crocheting is going out of style again. I like making thinks with the thread, they can be so dainty.
These placemats were very easy to make, and only took a couple of days to do.

Needle Felted Dashound

Chris — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 18:44:00 GMT

I just finished my needle felted doxie, he turned out pretty good, I think each one is getting easier. They take a lot of time though, but thats okay, I like felting, and watching their little faces come to look like a real dog. I'm still having trouble getting their head size to match their body size. I can't decide what to felt next, maybe another dog? or something else?

Alice in Wonderland Rabbit

Chris — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:41:00 GMT

I just finished my needle felted rabbit. I tried to model him after the white rabbit in the movie Alice In Wonderland, and I think he's close, but not exactly the same. But when I made him, I had'nt seen the movie yet. We went and saw it yesterday, and I liked it a lot, there are a lot of cool animals that would be fun to needlefelt, but they all take so much time!! Anyway we liked the movie, and here is my Rabbit.

Needle Felted Bunny

Chris — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 23:00:00 GMT

I was working on a new fairy, but I didn't like the look of her face, I need to try some other things, to make her look better. Faries are so hard to do. So, in the meantime, I made a little bunny, and it was much more fun to do. He has a yellow hoodie, and blue pants, and I made a little basket to carry his easter eggs.

Needle Felted Lion

Chris — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:49:00 GMT

I just made a needle felted lion. I'm really getting into needle felting, it is so much fun. And it is easy if you have a lot of patience. I started out making a cat, but it wouldn't be a cat, so I went ahead and made it into a lion, which I really like a lot.

Fairy

Chris — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:52:00 GMT

I finished my needle felted fairy. It was VERY hard to do. Fairy faces are hard to do, and I wanted it to look pretty. Fairy bodies are hard, I wanted it to look feminine. Fairy clothes are hard to do, and fairy wings are hard to do too!! It also took a lot of felting, and a lot to poking myself, and a lot of trying different things. But, all in all, I'm very pleased, I like her a lot! I cant' wait to start my next one!!

She is also made with a wire frame and is very poseable.

Needle Felted Bulldog

Chris — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 21:15:00 GMT

This is my needle felted Bulldog I'm really happy with the way he came out. He was a lot of fun to do. Bulldogs have so much personality in their faces. He is built around a wire frame and can be gently posed. He is wearing a chain. His eyes are gemstone beads, and his nose is sculpted by me out of clay. Needle felting takes lots of patience, and lots of poking the wool with a needle. I poke myself all the time, but I'm getting better at saying "ouch!!

Needle Felted Yorkshire Terrier

Chris — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:22:00 GMT

I should'nt have left my needle felted bunny laying around where my dog Lucy could get at him, because she thought I made it just for her!! But I didn't. She has a great big basket of toys all her own. I guess it's not enough, she wants more. Or maybe she thought I wasn't doing it right, and she was going to show me how. All I have to say is, Lucy is a lot faster than me, she did this in less than a minute!

Here she is looking very satisfied.

And I have been working on a Yorkshire Terrier all weekend, but I'm not really that happy with the way it looks. Plus it took forever to put on all that fur. I still need more practice. Next time I'll make a dog with not as much fur.

Needle Felted Boston Terrier

Chris — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 23:15:00 GMT

I just finished my Needle Felted Boston Terrier. It was a lot of work. It really takes a lot of time to needle felt. At first I was very excited about the craft, but I can see now that it will be a lot of time and practice. I can only imagine how hard it will be to make a face or arms and legs. I want to make a fairy soon, or TRY to make a fairy. At least the supplies don't cost very much.
The Boston Terrier was kind of hard to get the body shape right, maybe dogs with hair are easier, but anyway Boston Terriers have a lot of muscles, and they take a lot of shaping. Here it is.

Needle Felted West Highland White Terrier

Chris — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:13:09 GMT

I made my first Westie with wool by needle felting it. I love the way it looks. Just the way I wanted it to look, I can't get over how long it takes to make it tho. Adding the fur is really hard, it took the longest, and now I think I know how to do it better, and that is to not put too much fur on, without trimming it up as you work. But I'm real happy with it, and I've already started making a Boston Terrier.
Shaping the body is hard too, but I learned that you don't have to shape as much, if you're adding a lot of fur. The face took a long time too, and I made it separately because I had to turn it so much and look at it from all sides. Well, here it is.

The actual needle felting is pretty easy, you just get some wool, and poke it with a needle until it sticks to itself. The needles are real sharp, and have little barbs on them, and they grab the wool, and that is what makes it form together. I know how sharp the needles are. Ouch!! You have to be real careful doing it.

Needle Felted Irish Terrier

Chris — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 03:46:00 GMT

I made my first needle felted dog. It took a long time to do, lots of needling, lots of adding wool, and a lot of poking my fingers. I think the head is too big, and I need a lot of practice with adding fur, but I'm happy with the way it turned out for my first one. I'll keep trying to get better. I admire the ones I see on Etsy, and other sites, I sure would like to make one as good as those!

Needle Felted Bear

Chris — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 17:42:00 GMT

I made a little needel felted bear, I didn't have much choice of colors, because I just bought the starter kit, but I liked doing it, I think I'm getting the hang of it a little better. The actual felting is very hard to to, for me anyway, I'm trying to shape and felt as I go along. I can't wait to order more felt in better colors. Here's my bear.

Needle Felting

Chris — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:46:00 GMT

I'm so excited!! I just finished my first needle felting project. It is very hard for me to learn (new tricks) ha ha, but actually it only took a few nights of working on it to finish it. And I stuck myself a LOT! Ouch! Anyway, I like it, I like doing it, and I hope I can get better at it.
I think my next one will be a little bear, I would like to do dogs next, but we'll see how it works out. Here is my first try. I got the picture of the rabbit on the You Tube tutorial, how to Needle Felt, time lapse of someone making the rabbit.

You just take some wool, and you roll it real tight, and you get a special needle for felting, it's real sharp, and it has little barbs on it to make the wool stick to itself, and you just roll and poke the needle, until it takes the shape you want. Very fun. I need to practice, but the things that I saw on other websites are so cute, I can't wait to make more! Here's the stuff I bought to start, it's not very expensive either.

Scarf

Chris — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 00:39:00 GMT

I finished my scarf that I have been working on for awhile. It is very soft, and warm, I was going to put pockets at the bottom of it, but I didn't like the way it hung with pockets. I just folded up the bottom of the scarf and sewed it together. I saw one done that way at a craft fair, but I liked mine better without pockets. Anyway, I might put fringe or some pom poms later.

Crochet Yarn

Chris — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:54:00 GMT

I have been working on a baby blanket for the last month or so, and it should have been an easy project, and fun to make, but I made the mistake of buying some really shitty yarn. It was not that cheap either, but I still thought I was getting a bargain. I think I got it at JoAnns, and it was around $4 for a big skien of it. It really ruined the whole experience of getting the blanket to turn out right. This yarn feels kind of like a sponge, it feels soft at first, but when you use it a little, and get it crocheted, it feels kind of funky, stiff after its made. I hated it. I thought it was my pattern, or the way I was crocheting, maybe to small of a hook, or too tight when I crocheted.
Anyway, I swithced to knitting, thinking it would make the blanket softer, but it knitts just as crummy as it crochets. I finally went back to the store and got some baby yarn that was called Snuggly Wuggly, or something like that, it was much better. You can see my results on the previous post. Next time I'll know better, buy good yarn to start with!! You would think after all my years of crocheting and knitting I would know better, but I was fooled by the packaging, I guess. Here it is. Stay away from it unless you're making a ratty old dishrag, or something for someone you don't like!

Crocheted Baby Afghan

Chris — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:35:00 GMT

Here is the new baby blanket-afghan, I've been working on. It took a lot of tries to get it the way I wanted, and a lot of different tries with different yarn to find one that is soft enough. The pattern is very easy, and it worked up pretty quick. It has an eyelet row, and I put the ribbon through that, with a bow at each corner. I cant wait to see the new baby, (a girl, of course), and see how she looks in it. She will be here in April, a new grand daughter.

Crocheted Blue Flower Doily

Chris — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:52:00 GMT

I LOVE this doily, that I just finished. It looks so pretty. It is crocheted with icy blue crochet thread and snow white thread. It has lots of flowers, and lots of different kinds of stitches.

It is made with the Solomon's knot stitch in the white part, and the white flower in the middle has lots and lots of stitches. The blue flowers stand up a little, and give it a textured look.

You can see from this pic how they look. This doily is about 21" accross, so it is nice and big for a dinning room table.

I can't wait to make something else with flowers!