Meet Tess + New Projects

Meet Tess! Tess was a Christmas present from Chris... just what I asked for! I'm such a lucky girl :) Tess will be my model for hats, earrings and scarves... maybe some other stuff too if I make something else new. Her name pays homage to the name that Mrka had when I adopted her. "Tess" is the name that the rescue group gave Mrka, but since she was a stray and didn't respond to that name, I changed it. But, I think it is a great name for my new model!





I got a new winter coat this year, and obviously it needed new accessories to go with it! I decided to make some felted hats...

Here are the brown and white hats, prior to felting.





Here they are on me for perspective... huge, right?





Buttons and baubles prior to felting... I wasn't sure what I was going to want to put on the hats, so I made both!




Tess, modeling the hats, felting and button/bauble adding complete!





After wearing the coat for the first time, I noticed that my makeup was getting on the collar. So, I decided to make a cowl to "protect" the coat. Of course, with the cowl, I needed a matching hat, right? :) So, I made a cloche and added a cute flower to the side.




Close-up of the hat and flower




Close-up of the cowl




Here are some hats I made for my brother's friend's daughter in PA... one of the cutest toddlers ever!

Pink hat with large flower




Close-up of the flower




Double-tassle shell hat

A tisket, a tasket...

...I made EASTER BASKETS!

These were made by request from my co-worker, C. She wanted one for her daughter and one for her husband who went to Kentucky University.

Here is the one for her daughter:





The basket is my own design. I took a hat pattern that I have as a start to the basket, but then morphed it drastically. The handle is a four-part braid that is then twisted over itself to make it stronger. At the fasten points to the basket, I made some flowers to cover the stitched spaces. The handle, basket and attached flowers have all been felted. I then also needle felted a few additional flowers on the side to make the basket extra fancy :) I filled the baskets with yarn for the photographs.

Side view:




Aerial view:




Here, I'm holding the basket for sizing perspective:




Close-up of needle felted flower:




This is the basket for my friend's husband in Kansas University colors:




Side view:




Aerial view:




Me, holding the basket again for sizing perspective. This basket turned out to be a bit smaller than the other.

First Needle Felt Embellishment!

Terry, you're going to be so proud! :)

When Joann's had their Sensations PacaBoo yarn on sale, I picked up two skeins in light gray. This is a natural yarn, made of 54% Wool, 23% Alpaca and 23% Rayon from Bamboo. Super soft! The packaging said it was perfect for felting, so I figured I'd try that.

I made my standard hat. Here it is before I felted it in the washing machine (btw, this was my first project that I felted in our new FRONT LOADER washing machine... worked great :) The green yarn is to mark this as the outside of the hat, just in case it were to have flipped around while in the washer.





Here is the hat, after felting with a little bit of needle felting embellishment (my first try). I just looked at the picture with me, and I really look goofy. I'm trying in this picture to not look like I'm sick (which I am, with bronchitis)... ha!







Close-up of the needle felting embellishment:

Christmas Presents, Revealed!

So, now that my Christmas presents have been to their respective recipients, I can now post pictures of what this little elf has been working on for over the past month or so.

Non-Felted Hats

Men's Green/Tan Cammo Beanie:




Women's Green/Tan Cammo V-Stitch Beanie with Pink Accent and Floral Embellishment:




Close-up of floral embellishment:




Men's Desert Sand Cammo Beanie:




Men's Gray Beanie with Ribbed Band Accent:




Men's Ribbed Gray Beanie:




Women's Blue Chenille Open-work Beanie:




Women's Pink Variegated Shell Pattern Beanie with Matching Shell Pattern Mini-Scarf:




Women's "Curly" Yarn Beanie with Shell Edging and Corkscrew Embellishment:




Women's "Curly" Yarn Beanie with Shell Edging and Corkscrew Embellishment and Matching Corkscrew Scarf:




I really liked the "Corkscrew" set :)





Felted Hats

Women's Derby Style Pink Variegated Felted Hat with Flower Embellishment:




Women's Hunter Green Bell Style Hat with Bauble Embellishment:




Women's Turquoise Bell Style Hat with Yarn Button Embellishment:




Women's Chili Pepper Bell Style Hat with Yarn Button Embellishment:




Women's Bluebell Bell Style Hat with Bauble Embellishment:




Women's Blue and Brown Variegated Bell Style Hat with Yarn Button Embellishment:




Women's Celery Bell Style Hat with Bauble Embellishment:




Women's Heather Gray Bell Style Hat with Yarn Button Embellishment:

Felted Hat with Crocheted Flower

I've felted another hat! This one was made of Palette Collection yarn that I bought at Pat Catans craft store when I was recently up in Pittsbugh. This scarf was made in series Palate Collection 006/219 (Merlot) color.

Here is the hat before I felted it in the washing machine:






Post-felting; I put the little crocheted flower on the side, with a bauble with extra stitching as the center: