May Crowns and Spring Fairies

Although it seems we can't get winter to leave us behind (it's supposed to freeze tonight for the second night in a row!) we have at least managed to turn over the soil for our garden, and we spent this morning making May Crowns at our Waldorf Homeschool Co-op. I have been leading the bi-monthly activities for our group of 10 kindergarteners, and unfortunately, I rarely remember my camera! Today I did manage to get some photos of their lovely crowns. Each child finger-crocheted the base of their crown, and then sewed on felt flowers and leaves. Some of the flowers were made from felt we had felted ourselves at our previous session. If you are interested in trying it out, let me know, and I will post some instructions.

The fairy is another version of the needle-felted fairy in my last post. This one is available for sale in my Etsy shop, and I will be listing kits to make fairies in these colors as well.

Spring Woodland

Finally a new felting kit added to the shop! After receiving a request for a felted doll kit, I designed this Spring Woodland Fairy in honor of the violets carpeting our woods. The kit includes everything necessary for beginning needle-felters. I wrote explicit instructions accompanied by detailed photos of the whole process. She is needle felted from pure wool and mohair roving, some of it hand-dyed by me. (Note the matching handspun yarn) I love the multi-purpose nature of roving. Makes me want to start spinning again...

Yesterday we had an incredibly blustery day, and C was delighted to take her new fairy out to fly. We are enjoying lovely weather here today, so back outside to swing!

Revelling in Ravelry

If you noticed that I disappeared for.. (let me check... almost a month!) and you wondered where I went, it was to Ravelry. I cannot stop surfing that site! I had no idea it would be so engrossing to look at other people's knitting projects. Its almost embarrassing... strangely voyeuristic, and yet somehow inspiring. If you are a knitter, and have not yet joined, and you wonder, what is this for? Trust me. Try it out, and you will know. (I wondered the same thing.) So, if you want to find me in Ravelry Land, my ID is threadblossom. I have finally posted pics of all my current projects, and I am especially enjoying the one above.

When I began knitting (for the second time, and the first time as an adult) I knew I would have to plod through the scarves and hats to get to what I really wanted to knit: anything and everything with lace. Well, here I am, 10 years later, I am finally having some very long-delayed gratification. I am knitting (a not all that complex) lace shawl for the first time. I would consider this my first REAL lace garment-- I learned yarn-over techniques on a sampler sweater, but it wasn't really lace all over, just interesting stitch patterns. This is the real thing, and I am soooo glad to discover that I actually really enjoy the process. How terrible if, after ten years, I tried it and hated it! Instead, I can't seem to stop; hence the long absence. At least I am sharing my excuses now!

It's not all that impressive yet, but I promise to post the finished project as soon as it's blocked to perfection.