Flora is going to explore Australia!

Flora is all set to travel to her new home.

I can't believe she gets to go all the way to Australia!

What a lucky kitty, I told her to eat a bowl of Sultana Bran for me :)

Jungle Jill

 

A very lovely friend of mine is expcting her first baby next month.

She's having a little girl and chose Carter's Jungle Jill as the theme for her nursery.

I new I had to try and make the cute little monkey.

I used Gingermelons Flora the Explorer patten 

( http://www.etsy.com/listing/150990298/flora-the-explorer-pdf-pattern?ref=shop_home_active )

and made a few modifications to monkify it!

She is made from merino wool blend felt and stuffed with the eco-wool i love to use.

Her pillow case style dress is made of cotton with organza ribbon ties at the shoulders.

I know she is going to love her new home.♥

 

Happy Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day yesterday!

This year I decided to make cards.

I love doing origami so I thought I would combine the two.

                                                       

                    Mommy and baby chick.                  

Mommy and baby penguin.

Mommy and baby cat.

Flora and Laura the Explorers

Laura and Flora are ready to go adventuring!

I really love this pattern! Designed by Gingermelon you can find it in her shop http://www.etsy.com/listing/150210041/flora-the-explorer-pdf-pattern?ref=shop_home_active 

 I have been waiting to use it because I wanted to try it in both a woven and a non woven felt.

Up until now I have only been using the non-woven felt for my plush dolls and I wanted to see the difference, besides price. ( The woven is a bit more).

Laura on the left is made with a hand dyed woven felted wool and Flora on the right is made using the non-woven merino wool blend felt.

 

The non- woven felt is a little stiffer and has more of the look of what I think of when I think "felt doll".

The woven felt conforms nicely to curves and is a little fuzzier. It makes me think "plush" first, "felt" second.

Non-Woven on top------Woven on bottom

I was kind of hoping by making the same pattern with both felts I would really prefer one over the other.

But they really are different enough that I like them both!

Does this mean I will have to make all the patterns out of both felts?

Which do you prefer?

Both Laura and Flora will be available for adoption at my Etsy shop later today.

Ladder Stitch

Here is a video I just uploaded to youtube teaching the Ladder Stitch. This is the stitch used to attach ears and heads. The star of the show is Flora the Explorer. She is designed by Gingermelon and you can find the pattern here http://www.etsy.com/listing/129197091/flora-the-explorer-pdf-pattern?ref=shop_home_active

Homespun

Remember the yarn I spun back in January? http://tookenstale.blogspot.com/2013/01/drop-spindle.html Well I finally made it into a hat. It was a chunky weight yarn and with only 3 oz it wasn't quite enough to make a hat for myself so I gave the hat to Amelia.

  

 

Here it is on the spindle single ply.

Here it is after I double plied and washed it.

It was a lot of fun knitting something from yarn that I spun myself. And now I have a better idea of how much wool it takes for a finished project.

Happy Easter!

Here are three little chicks I made using another one of Gingermelon's adorable patterns!

You can find the pattern in here etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/listing/127658145/easter-bunny-and-chick-pdf-pattern?ref=shop_home_feat

But there is something extra special about these chicks!

I made them into pins:)

My daughter and I will get to where these cute little fellas on Easter!

Happy Easter!