Knit wit...

Happy sixth day of advent! Today's feltie is for all of my knitting friends out there.  It's that time of year when the needles are furiously clicking, when all of the projects we are dreaming of making and giving this holiday season still seem possible.  If you are me soon reality will dawn and it will become painfully apparent that it might be a tad unrealistic to get sweaters made for all of my loved ones in 19 days...but hats!...surely hats are possible, right?  Now is the moment when I am wishing desperately for another pair of hands. So...

You can imagine how thrilled I was when this little lady jumped from my felting needles and into the stocking for day six.  

She's very industrious, this one. No idling here...

And just in time.  Now surely, sweaters for everyone!

Happy holiday making to you.  And to my knitting friends, may your needles fly like the wind and your stitches stay where they belong.  Happy weekend everyone!

~xox~

alison

Psst..

Time for more feltie advent*ures. Happy Day Five to you from me and this little bun...

Here he is posing for his close-up...

This little guy is dedicated to two of my favorite women, and was inspired by this guy...

My favorite little bun (although they are all so great) from the Lady and the Unicorn tapestries.  I've been lucky enough to spend hours (yes hours) standing in front of these amazing tapestries (many of those hours with the patient indulgence of my gal Mal and my dear friend Anne~lovely ladies both).  And this little guy draws my attention every time.  I love how conspiratorial he looks, like he's pssting that lamb and giving him the skinny as to what's really going on.  Amazing to me always is how much personality can be conveyed within warp and weft and how those tapestries manage to really capture the imagination and draw you in.  I love thinking of all of the weavers that worked on them, of the artist's cartoons that they were working from.  And I wonder how much of themselves each weaver managed to sneak into this commission as they worked within the strict parameters of form and iconography, broken warp threads, varying dye lots, etc.  Did the weaver smile secretly as that little rabbit mug took shape? I hope so.  Truly. Because...

 ...right?...how could you not? And I must admit, I smiled when those little paws reached up to the mouth to whisper to the lamb...

Oh my, I do prattle on.  Apparently, I'm feeling rather chatty this Friday.  Enough of that.  Wishing you a lovely day!

~xox~ 

alison

It starts...

December, ready or not...and hello Advent! Yes, Advent already!...and the reason that in the wee hours of November 30th I was rummaging through the holiday decorations to find my trusty advent garland {by the way, the pattern to make one of your very own is free and is available in the free patterns section here at Knitting by Hand}. 

Right...So if you've been around here for a while you know what that means.  Advent felties.  Are we sick of these yet? Do I hear a collective yawn from the ether?  Oh well, no matter. I figure all of this silliness will give my kids some really excellent my-mom-is-crazier-than-your-mom street cred. So there's that and the fact that apparently the middle of November now triggers some Pavlovian response in me...my fingers get itchy to make ridiculous little feltie things. To be honest, I'm not sure how many of felt friends I'm going to make this year. This fall has been a doozy and I just don't know how many I'm going to get through. I have a few to get us started though, and a heart full of good feltie intentions, so here we go...

Day 1 ~ Brock T.(the) Badger inspired by and dedicated to my favorite Badger King of all.

Day2 ~ Moby, my white whale...

Day Three ~ Berlioz Bear...

And finally Day Four ~ Neve, an arctic fox...

Okay, I think that catches us up. Just in case you're wondering, "Why, Alison, why the four day blitz of felties all at once? What's up with that?"... Well,  I started writing this post on the first day of December but had trouble posting it, and since then my fingers have been busy felting, making holiday goodies and, obviously, not typing.  Sorry about that.  I will get back to my traditional day to day posts of advent felties as they come along, barring any technical difficulties, that is :-)

Until Day Five, friends.  Have a great day one and all!

~xox~ 

alison

Mother Goose comes to call...

Well, after a brief hiatus, I'm back with more felt fun for advent.  I did give myself a bit of a break during this past busiest of weekends. Instead of felties I gave  a couple of ornaments that I bought for just this prpose while we were in Siena.  I love that our tree has ornaments from all the places that we have traveled as family.  Here's one.   It has the emblem of the Lupa (a contrada) and the black an white colors of Siena...

It makes me crazy happy.  Also, taking a break from felting gave me a chance to enjoy all of the performances the lad was involved in over the weekend, plus I was able to get a toe hold on my holiday knitting (which I'm embarrassed to say, I'm just starting  ~ let's just not talk about the fact that Christmas is mere days away, okay?).  

I digress.  Let's get back to the matter at hand...our recent visit from Mother Goose.  Here she is...

I'm still loving stitching on these guys, so I decided a wreath of flowers was in order.   

A quick word about my emerging felting process.  I have watched a number of online tutorials on needle felting lately only to discover that I am apparently not doing it the way most people out there are doing it.  I don't really care much, but I do think it's interesting.  If you're interested in needle felting you should have a ramble around the web.  There is lots of feltie goodness out there.  Anyway, one thing I am still trying to figure out is how to add armiture wire to my felties using my current method, more or less, while still finding the process satisfying.  Several of my felties hav wire skeletons, but I really don't like felting with the wire bases as much as I do without it.  And because I am making these for immediate consumption, so to speak, I don't have a lot of time to experiment too much.  I'm still working all of this out and it really isn't that important, but writing about it here will remind me where I was when I look back from the future.    

Okay, that about does it but I just wanted to add one more thing.  I had a birthday this past weekend.  It was a wonderful day, and I don't mean to boast, but I did want to share one little thing with you.  My darling daughter designed and made this lovely cowl for me.  Isn't just perfect?...

 Okay. It hasn't been blocked yet (the designer would want you to know that).   I wanted to wear it right away and still need to give it back to her for blocking, but isn't it just dreamy?!!!  I love it!  And after being a handmade giver for most of my life, it is such a treat to be a handmade receiver.

Happy handmade to you and yours...​

~xox~​

alison​

festive frippery...

Greetings friends!  I am going to pop in and out quick as a bunny today.  We have carpet to rip out, wallpaper to tear off, kid number two on his way home, the lad prepping for his Shakespeare performance tonight (oh gosh!...that reminds me I'm supposed to make snacks for the cast~okay, note to self), a closet to paint, work knitting to accomplish, the lad's piano recital on Sunday, a party to make an appearance at if at all possible, and hmmmm...what am I forgetting...oh yeah, Christmas gift maikng and shopping...in other words a normal pre-holiday weekend for most moms.  I'm guessing that your schedule, mom or not, isn't too far from this as well.  But it's all good, isn't it.  Busy and full and good.  All this to say that today's offering is a bit short on substance, but still fun and festive.  I'm realizing that there will probably be a few more advent stocking stuffers like this in the coming days.  And I've decided that that's okay.  So here goes...

Ummm...okaaaay...just what is it?...

hmmmm...still guessing?...

Oh right!...a garland!!!  Yep, a garland for our windows or tree or whatever.  Coming to you with the warmest wishes and a whole lot of...

~xox~ 

alison

This little piggy...

Hello! Today I bring a little cinta pig as a feltie offering...

Who? What? Why?...well as some of you may recall, last year ourr family was fortunate enough to spend 3 months of our sabbatical in lovely Siena, Italy. It was a dream come true. Lately  I find myself daydreaming of that beautiful medieval town all decked out in her holiday finery.  Here's what Siena looked like last year...

So gorgeous.  

We spent our days soaking up the history, art, and beaurtiful scenery.  It was truly magical and I still pinch myself when I think of the loveliness of those Tuscan days.  I knew that a cinta would have to be part of this year's menagerie in honor of all the sweet memories that Siena gave us. The cinta  (cheen-ta) is a pig specific to Tuscany.  My favorite depiction of a cinta can be seen in Lorenzetti's 14th century frescoes of the Allegory of Good and Bad Government.  We've spent a good deal of time in front of these frescoes during our visits to Italy.  They are truly remarkable and a wonderful glimpse into medieval life.

Can you see him there trudging up the hill amidst the flourishing countryside and the industrious people prospering in this glimpse of good government?  You will notice after a bit of time in Siena and the surrounding towns that these little cinta pigs are tucked into the corners of many frescoes and paintings.  If you ever travel to the region with little kids in tow you will find that a game of I spy the cinta will give you many more minutes of peaceful museum viewing.  The lad was a champ at this game and could find them in the most unexpected places.

Here is my not-quite-up-to-snuff homage to the darling (and dare I say it, delicious) cinta... 

Not perfect for sure, but a success by and large.  The lad and the mister recognized cinta immediately and there might even have been a little squeal of joy when he was first discovered in stocking number 12 ~~ music to a feltie mama's ears.  

By the way, his front trotters should really be white.  Cinta pigs have that fabulous white belt and most often have white stockings to match...such fashion plates.  Sadly, my white roving is trapped behind a wall of furniture and boxes and I just managed to find enough for his white belt in with my leftovers from last year.  We are in the middle of some home reno and everything is topsy-turvy for the time being.  I figure once I can access those boxes I will do a little front leg-ectomy and perform a double trotter transplant.  Who knew that surgery would be part of this feltie journey?   

Anyway, that's all for now. Stay warm and well!

~xox~ 

alison

Oh dear!

 ...dear deer what can the matter be?...  Do you know that children's song?  I'm afraid it might have gone out of favor but I still find myself humming when I look at this little fawn.  Also it just seems aprropriate since I totally neglected to post this guy yesterday.  Rest assured nothing's the matter! It was just one of those days--a day filled with bedroom painting, baking for a cake order and tending to a sick kiddo (actually he didn't need that much tending-just waiting out an annoying virus-he's a trooper that one).  Anyway, here (better late than never) is a belated day eleven felt friend...

a little fawn in a meadow... 

dreaming of spring...

I'm still playing with embroidery on these felties.  Can't seem to get enough of it, to tell the truth. And I'm learning so much doing these bitty sculptures...things like this ~ noses and snouts can be problematic and can change an animal's species in the blink of an eye ~ that neck circumference and length are more important than you'd think and that even if you don't get those two things just right a cute bum and ears can save the day...

I can't believe that we are almost halfway through this feltie advent adventure.  I think I'm sort of finding my style.  I've realized that while beautiful and so impressive, I'm not aiming to make completely lifelike critters.  I'm not actually sure that I could. There are some truly talented and inspiring artists crafting these little look-a-likes~~really jaw-droppingly beautiful felties . And yet at the same time I don't really want to make cartoony or pop arty felties.  I do love many of them out there.  The cute factor with some of these is practically irresitable, but it's just not what seems to want to get made when I'm working on mine.  So where does that leave me?...somewhere in the middle I guess, hoping that these little creations are easily recognizable by species but are not all together lifelike.  I think anthropomorphism might have something to do with my emerging style of felting (though I'm not sure you can actually call it a style yet).  What I mean is that I find myself making up little stories for them as I make them and /or trying to recreate some of the characters in my favorite children's stories.  That inner dialogue is apparently a very big part of the felting process for me. I don't seem to ever get too far from that fairytale theme, do I?  Anyway, it' still fun, still an adventure, and still worth all that midnight.  Hope you're having fun in this season of making and giving.

until the next feltie, 

~xox~  

alison

Hen party...

​10 !!! Already!  We have a little red hen for today.

I'm sorry about the quality of these shots but the light was not so great and red can be so hard to photograph.  You'll just have to trust me that this litte hen is bright red with jewel tone embroidery.  It's a fun combo and she's very folkloric.  I was tempted to make her embroidery all white.  She would have looked very scandinavian that way.  I might just have to make another and give it go.  

Things are super busy here these days, as I'm sure they are at your house too.  So I will bid you farewell for now.  ​ttfn!

~xox~​

alsion​