Tag Archives: felt

Two kids’ knitting projects, old and new

Fiber, knitting, , ,

I did two projects recently for the children of the family whose house we stayed in in the Netherlands. The daughter is 6 and the son is (I think) 4.

For the daughter, I made this pink and orange headband (modeled by my son on the promise that I was not taking a IMG_2677picture of HIM, just the headband. He didn’t ask why I wanted a picture of just a headband. What a strange age we live in.) I did have a pattern, though mostly ended up winging it once I realized that the pattern wasn’t working for me. This was knitted flat and then sewn together. In hindsight, I think I should’ve knit it in the round instead. You can’t see it in the picture, and hopefully it will be covered by hair during normal use, but the sewn join is not so great. I’m just not good at sewing yarn. I am good, or at least getting better, at sewing felt, though – which is how I made the flower accent. The pattern called for crocheting the flower (knitting and crocheting in a single pattern, surely the first sign of the apocalypse), but I haven’t found time to learn how to crochet yet.

Speaking of yarn, though, I love the yarn I used, and want to go out and buy a bunch more in colorways that are more my own style. (It’s Natural Ewe in “Tiger Lily”.)

For the son, I decided to play it safe and knit another alligator scarf. My own son loves his, and it is certainly an appropriate reminder of their stay here in Florida. For this I used Berroco’s Comfort yarn, which I like well enough, though I find it is a little slippery to work with.

alligatorScarf2

Winter birds

Fiber, ,

I had a lot of fun making these little guys – and discovered that you can, indeed, rubber stamp on felt. I had some craft ink pads lying around from back when I had enough time to actually do crafts on a regular basis (which explains the expedition I needed to take through the closet to find it. I swear I was *this* close to Narnia).

redbird1 greenbird redbird2

The basic idea comes from the current (Dec) issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors. I did my first bird just by eye-balling the pictures of their birds, then laughed when I turned the page and found that they’d actually provided a PATTERN, with INSTRUCTIONS and everything. Luxury.

Anyway, these little guys are super fun to do, and go very, very quickly. I’m already thinking I will have to do an updated version this spring. Blues and yellows, perhaps?

Another sheep-based hobby

Fiber, , , , ,

Good thing that the Netherlands has all these sheep since I apparently can’t get enough of sheep-based fiber hobbies. Right before we moved, I made a few felt applique projects:

A crown for my son (whose favorite colors are pink and silver, and who wanted a rose crown):

This was a little tricky because I made it while I didn’t have internet access, and so just had to wing it. I convinced him that the flowers were roses, though it is clear that he remains somewhat skeptical. As do I.

A little pouch for my daughter:

And a “magic” pillow (filled with buckwheat hulls) for my son:

I actually made this pillow from a pattern that I sketched myself. I’m really happy with how it came out, though it might’ve been better it I knew more stitches that I could’ve used on the star. Right now I’d just like to get the mattress stitch right on a more frequent basis (ignore that stitch by my lower finger, nothing to see there).