NEEDLE FELT VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR

I bought this book called "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" at a thrift store for one Euro, and the Kiddo LOVES it. It's not a book I grew up with, but I've been enjoying it too. The caterpillar eats it way through various items of food and the book has holes in it for little fingers to poke through. Although, the Finnish version is for some reason translated from German (it's an American book I believe) and it's a bit weird at points (that's clearly a muffin, not cake).

But anyway! I thought the Kiddo might get a kick out of a very hungry caterpillar ornament. Ornament since these needle felting projects are really too fragile to play with.

 You take close ups and realize how fuzzy everything is. Yikes. 

Those tiny feet were a pain to make.

And if you have never read the book, this is what it's supposed to look. I think it's a pretty good likeness?

NEEDLE FELT CACTUS

Happy Easter! I needle felted a cactus. Nothing to do with Easter, but that's what I was inspired to do.

 Also, this too is going on my Christmas tree. So there.

But Christmas doesn't have to be all about snow and evergreens. It's celebrated in the dessert too!

That flower was so difficult to do. You wouldn't think looking at it, but it was definitely the hardest part.

Anyway, Happy Easter!

NEEDLE FELT LUMBERJACK

Hello.

I made a lumberjack!

With a tiny ukulele.

And suspenders. And a beard, you can't forget the beard.

He's shy.

No, really, back to reality. But isn't he cute?  I sort of love him and his worried eyebrows and little brown boots. 

If you want to make one, I tried following this YouTube tutorial by Shayda Campbell, but veered off course immediately. It's a good tutorial. I just kept adding details, like the nose and ears and the ukulele... I couldn't help myself. 

This is so going on the Christmas tree and my kid can marvel what a crazy mother she has.

This might be the last needle felt project for a while, because right now I'm knitting. Watch out, next pigs will fly.

NEEDLE FELT SWAN

I made a swan! Like I mentioned in the needle felted snowflakes post, I run out of white wool, hence a grey swan. I still think it came out pretty cute!

Wouldn't two of these make a great wedding cake topper (in white)? Maybe one with a tiny golden crown... Pity I'm already married ;)

This was the first needle felt project I used a skewer in. You take a skewer, wrap a sliver of wool tightly around it and then slide the skewer out. Poke the wool a bit so everything adheres together and voila! you have a neck! Or an arm or leg or what have you. You get the idea. If I'd known about this technique earlier I  could have made my narwhal's horn with it too.

Once I get my hands on some white wool, I'll make another one in white. Also, now I'm thinking: next, a flamingo!

NEEDLE FELT SNOWY OWL - HEDWIG

Hoo.

Next stop in my needle felting escapades: Hedwig! Or a snowy owl, but I'm Harry Potter obsessed so I think of this as Hedwig.

 Hedwig from the front.

 Hedwig from the back.

Trying to show how Hedwig would look like hanging from the tree.

I think she turned out very nicely, although brown spot might have looked better? I don't know. I'll still call this a cute success.

COOKIE CUTTER NEEDLE FELT SNOWFLAKES

This post is about... drum roll please... needle felting. Boom.

The first needle felting I tried was using cookie cutters as a mold. You take a cookie cutter, stuff it full of wool and stab away with a felting needle. I was inspired to try needle felting after reading this post on the Homesong blog, it made felting seem doable (she did it with her kids!). If you want a tutorial hop over to her blog.

The first few I made were stars for our Christmas tree, but when I went on to hang them on our tree they felt a bit thin and flimsy. I made a few white ones and then a gingerbread one, which you can see it here on my Instagram. The decoration or "icing" is a bit more complicated than what you see on these pictures.

Anyway, I wasn't satisfied with the way they looked and I decided to try again. I grabbed this pretty snowflake cookie cutter from the grocery store and felted away. This time I made the felt thicker, almost 1 cm, and I much prefer the chunkier feel.

I made the white one, was very pleased, and started to make another... and run out of white wool. Doh. 

So, I decided to make another gingerbread one. Luckily, I had a bit of white left for the icing. This time I made the "icing" thicker and design simpler and I much prefer it this way. I'm all about simple and clean.

Now, I want to buy all the cookie cutters and make a bunch of these! And order more wool. I so need more wool.

FELT BALL GARLAND + OUR TINY NURSERY

My felting obsession continues. This time I made a short garland for the Kiddos nursery.

This was the most fun, addictive project. Making needle felt balls seemed intimidating; how to get them round and the same size? But you just keep turning them and poke them evenly at all sides. And if one turns out smaller than others: add wool, if larger: poke more. Needle felting really is one of those things that seems difficult, when really it just takes time.

The colors have really no rhyme or reason, except I wanted to add some color to our mainly white nursery corner (but just a bit, I kind of love the white and plain style, very calming). I showed here the huge box of rowing wool I bought and I just kept selecting colors and making another one and another one until it was long enough to fit the space I wanted it to. 

And here's the whole nursery. It's pretty much just a bed and a chair for nursing. I love the salt lamp, it gives such a nice warm glow without disturbing sleep. The night stand used to hold some supplies, but now that the Kiddo can open the drawers it's empty. I made the "shhh" banner before she was born. Then there are some books and Hard Rock Cafe bears my in-laws have brought from their trips:) And that's it. We keep diapers and the changing pad in the bathroom and her clothes in a chest of drawers in our room.

I just love this. Being a parent can be a hassle sometimes and just looking at this space calms me. And the garland fits there very nicely, adding a bit of color and whimsy, while still keeping things neat and calm.

NEEDLE FELTED NARWHAL

It's a tiny narwhal.

It's official: I have a new hobby, needle felting. And I'm obsessed. 

Now I swim this way.

I still can't believe I made that, haha. I know there are amazing needle felt sculptures out there, but for me... I've never done anything like this and am just so stoked!

Boo.

I tried needle felting first about a year ago, doing a couple cookie cutter stars (you take a cookie cutter, fill it with wool and use it as a mold), and I loved it. There's something really soothing and addicting about jabbing with a needle... 

But I had a new baby and pretty soon I got overwhelmed with life. Anyway, babies and long needles don't really go well together. But the Kiddo got sick recently and pretty much slept the whole first day, and suddenly I had all this time, and I was like "what do I do, I never have any time!" So I tried needle felting again. And it's still so much fun. 

This is mah belly.

This time I just went free form, no cookie cutters. I wasn't sure if I could do it, doing a 3D sculpture seemed so much harder, but I'm glad I just went for it. Really, you can't mess needle felt. You can always add more wool or felt it tighter.

The horn, too. I thought a lot about how I'd get the horn to stay rigid and in the end the answer turned out to be: just felt it tightly. Doh.

Just swimmin'.

There are probably a lot of useful tricks and techniques that I'm  unaware of, but for now I'll just go with trial and error. And fun.

Really, i'm just so happy. I haven't felt this exited about a craft since my amigurumi phase.

Hello.