serendipity

free pattern: Dotty Necklace

"Know, first, who you are; and then adorn yourself accordingly."  --  Epictetus

I wanted a colorful accessory, something simple and not fussy - enter Dotty Necklace.  The colors reflect my love for spring, the soft greens of ferns and moss.  Each bead was needle felted following my pancake bead pattern. The directions I provide are for an 18" necklace.    

MATERIALS

16 pancake beads made from Clover's Natural Wool Roving in Chocolate, Mint, Moss Green and Off White

tiger tail or other bead stringing wire

2 silver crimp beads

2 glass beads to match roving

2  silver 5mm jump rings 

1 heart toggle closure

flush cutters

needle nose pliers

milliner's needle

 

DIRECTIONS

Using the milliner's needle, poke a hole through the center of each wool bead.

Cut a 24" piece of tiger tail.

Open one jump ring, slip one half of the toggle clasp onto it and then close the ring.

Thread the tiger tail through one crimp bead and the jump ring and then back through the crimp bead.

Squeeze the crimp bead using your crimp pliers.  Give it a quarter turn to round the bead.

Clip off excess wire.

Add a glass bead to the wire. 

Thread your milliner's needle with the wire and proceed to add the wool beads.

Remove the milliner's needle.

Add the final glass bead.

Attach the other jump ring to the 2nd half of the toggle clasp.

Thread the tiger tail through one crimp bead and the jump ring and then back through the crimp bead.

Squeeze the crimp bead using your crimp pliers.  Give it a quarter turn to round the bead.

Clip off excess wire.

making a needle-felted pancake bead

"Color is my day-long obsession, joy and torment."  --  Claude Monet

I love making these felted beads.  They are quick to make, easy to do and can be used in a variety of jewelry projects.  They are an offshoot of my other felting experiments and a nice alternative to the more common ball-shaped bead.  

For this particular group, I chose a woodsy palette in shades of green, chocolate and cream.  To get started you will need the following:

Materials

1 package each of Clover's Natural Wool Roving in Chocolate, Mint, Moss Green and Off White

1 Clover Needle Felting Claw & Mat Cleaner

1 Clover Needle Felting Mat (small)

1 Clover Pen Style Needle Felting Tool

1 1" biscuit cutter

Put your biscuit cutter on the mat and press it slightly into the surface to keep it stable.  Pull a tuft of the roving . Gently roll it into a ball shape and stuff it into your biscuit cutter.  

Using your needle felting tool, begin punching down the roving.  Move from the center to the edge of the circle and back.  I hold the biscuit cutter with one hand while punching with the other. (In the case of this photo, I was using my left hand to take the photo!)  Once you have a fairly uniform surface, lift up the biscuit cutter and flip it over and felt from the other side using the same process.  Continue until the bead is flat like a pancake and about 1/4 inch thick..

Remove the biscuit cutter form.  Hold the bead in place with the claw in one hand and continue felting with the tool along the edge of the bead to firm up the sides.

When the bead feels dense and firm, pull a thin tuft of a contrasting color and lay it across the surface.

Remove one of the needles from the needle felting tool.  Punch down in the center of the tuft to begin attaching it to the bead.  Twirl the tuft of roving around the needle and continue punching it into place.

It will soon form a dot.  Continue punching around the edge until the dot it is round and dense.

You now have a bead!  You may add another dot to the flip side if you wish.  

Glue your new creation on a pin.  Thread it onto a cord.  Add it to a jacket zipper. There are many possibilities!  

craft fair season + thankful

"Each day comes bearing its own gifts.  Untie the ribbons."  

--Ruth Ann Schabacker

It's craft fair season and I am busy in the studio.  The DIY Trunk Show broke all expectations! Thank you to all who stopped by my booth to say hello.  Your smiles were a great gift.  And to all who made a purchase, thank you again.  I woke up last week to find a giant puddle of water in the basement.  The leak was more than a leak.  Evidently everytime I turned on the bathroom sink, a huge waterfall came cascading down my basement wall.  What normally would have caused a major panic was offsett by such great sales and knowing I could easily pay the plumber.  So a mighty THANK YOU!

You can next find my work at the Out of the Box Holiday Gift Market (see image above).  I will be there 12/10, 12/11, 12/17 & 12/18 selling my beanies, berets, and bags as well as new charming paper ornaments made with vintage papers and colorful felted hats pins.

In the meantime, I am busy knitting more of the red "thread."  I picked up another 68 donated hats, so I guess that means another 68 yds of i-cord to knit over the holiday weekend.  Yeah!

My daughter and I have a tradition.  We make pumpkin pancakes followed by either pumpkin pizza or homemade pumkin ravioli (in a sage and brown butter sauce) followed by pumpkin pie.  Yes, being a vegetarian, it's a pumpkin theme around here rather than the focus on a turkey.  When completely full and barely able to move, we head out to the movies to watch the latest chick flick.  Unfortunately there aren't any chick flicks on offer, so I think it will be the latest Muppet movie.  While I will miss family in St. Louis, I am thankful for the down time we have together, giving us a chance to recharge the energy levels before holiday season swings into high gear.

 Wishing all of you a Happy Thanksgiving!

knitting pub crawl and a holiday market

Two great events this weekend!

The first is Unwind - a Knitting Pub Crawl with The Red Thread Project® - Saturday, 11/12, 3-6. Registration / check in is at the Rogers Park Business Alliance (RPBA) - 1448 W. Morse. You must check in and get a wrist band at RPBA, but then can travel to whatever bars in whatever order. The goal is to visit all 6 pubs. At each bar you will receive a playing card, the best poker hand at the end of the night at each bar wins a prize.

I will be rotating between these fine bars collecting hats for The Red Thread Project® and assisting with hat making queries. 

Participating bars: 
Act One Gastropub - 1330 W. Morse
Buffalo Bar at the Heartland Cafe - 7000 N. Glenwood
Chuckies - 1412 W. Morse
Duke's Bar - 6920 N. Glenwood
Glenwood Bar - 6962 N. Glenwood
Morseland - 1220 W. Morse

This event is presented by Rogers Park Business Alliance and Sifu Design Studio and Fine Yarns.

On Sunday 11/13 from 10-3 is the 3rd annual Holiday Market at the Emanuel Congregation, 5959 N. Sheridan Rd.  I will be there with new beanies, berets and bags, plus my latest line of hat pins and the ever popular all natural, moth repellant herbal sachets.  There will be many fine treats and a fantastic raffle!  Don't miss it!  And yes, I now accept credit cards.  Woohoo!  

Here is Mimi the Mannequin modeling Nixie, a deliciously soft beanie knit from Highland Peruvian wool, merino and a merino / silk blend yarn with needle felted dots for a bit of extra dash.  As always, my mission is to brighten the grey winter landscape with bits of bright color!

Needle Felted Christmas Tree

 

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."  

-- Charles Dickens

 

Mom's favorite holiday was Christmas.  She started getting ready in July and by late September all her presents were wrapped and packaged to send.  Though it seems a bit crazy to get started so early, the holidays were the busiest time with her catering company.  The only way she could have the energy to enjoy the season was to be prepared.  

For years I was the family holiday humbug, but as you can see, I've changed my tune.  This table top decoration is an easy weekend project that's fun to do, unlike raking leaves and painting the trim around the windows.  Leave those projects for another time.

 

Materials:

1     STYROFOAM™ brand foam 12" x 5" cone

2     24" of kelly green roving

1    4" of cream wool roving

1   3" each of assorted colors of wool roving - orange, pink, lavender, deep rose, red, blue, navy, forest green,  magenta.

1    Clover Pen Style Felting Tool (holds 3 needles)

1    Clover Felting  Needle Tool (holds five needles)

1    refill package of fine gauge (40) needles

i     Clover Needle Felting Mat (small)

1    miniature star cookie cutter

1    Felt, 9" x 12" sheet in kelly green

1    Aleene's Original Tacky Glue

1    extra long hat pin with a pearl top

1     scissors

1     ultra fine permanent black marker

 

Steps:

Place the cone on the green flat sheet of felt and carefully trace the base.  Cut out the circle and set aside.  

Loosely pull apart the kelly green roving and wrap around the cone, setting aside at least 10inches. Do not do the base.

Using the larger needle felting tool with 5 needles, begin felting the wool. Move your needles across the surface to adhere the roving to the cone without crushing it.  If you stay too long in one place, you risk weakening the foam base.  

Check for bare or thin spots and fill in with extra roving.

Pull apart the remaining roving (approximately 4") and roll into a loose log shape.  Place one edge of the log onto the mat and use the pen tool to begin felting a point.  This will be the top of your tree. Continue shaping, turning the work as you go for even felting to develop. Leave tails at the base to allow you to attach to the cone.  

Once it is fully formed, place ontop of the cone and felt into place.  You may need to add a little more roving at the join to fully adhere it and cover and thin spots.  The tip of your tree will feel softer and squishier than the base as there is no foam inside.  

Pull a small tuft of colored roving.   Place it on your mat.  Use one loose needle and twirl it onto your needle.  Needle felt it onto the cone.  For dimension of the dot, focus more of you needle felting along the edges rather than the center.

Continue adding more dots of color around the surface of the tree, leaving the bottom and very tip empty.

Place the star miniature cookie cutter on the mat.  Fill it with cream roving.  Use the pen tool to felt it. Use a loose needle to continue along the edges where the pen tool can't reach.

Remove the cutter.  Turn the star on its edge and use a loose needle to finish shaping.  

Glue the felt circle to the base of the cone.  Carefully trim off any overlap.

Add a pinch of glue to the base of the star.  Stick the hat pin through the top and place on the tip         of the tree.

Once the glue has dried, you may remove the pin or leave as added decoration.

habitual growth - a mixed media, collaborative installation

"Individually, we are one drop.  Together, we are an ocean."  -- Ryunosuke Satoro

Habitual Growth by Alexis Ortiz, Julia Gootzeit and Katie Schofield, is a a beautiful and seamless collaborative installation.  It was impossible to differentiate the mark of one maker's hand from the other.  More impressive was the how the installation took on nuance of such varied settings.

 Was I on the ocean floor?

In the forest?

Or taking a stroll through a meadow?

Think fungi, coral, bark.  As they write in their statement, "[The] work revolves around the process of creation in which ritualistic motions are repeated, producing an accumulation of simple forms. As the daily act of making becomes habit, the forms grow and intertwine. The different textures and materials are juxtaposed to create an imagined habitat of symbiotic relationships. Natural and industrial elements interact - eating, regurgitating, sheltering, mimicking, covering, and encrusting one another."

Habitual Growth is on exhibit at Fill in the Blank Gallery until August 20th. 

CHA Summer Trade Show, Designer Showcase

The Possible's slow fuse is lit
By the Imagination.
~Emily Dickinson

The last few days have flown by in a craft-filled whirl.  Oodles of inspiration, fab new products, reconnection with friends, I had a great time!  

This is only my second participation in a Craft & Hobby Association trade show, and my first time participating in the Designer Showcase.  For me, the event was 100% amazing.  I met publishers, writers, and firmed up connections with several companies.  Folks always ask me if such events are worth it and I have to give this one my double thumbs up.  If anything, the professional development workshops make attending worthwhile.  I learned tips from a PBS producer and two tv craft hosts on how to present my work for consideration, let alone how to be natural in front of the camera.  No, I'm not going on tv anytime soon (well, maybe YouTube...), but I stored the knowledge for future use.  

For me half the fun is in the preparation.  I had a blast designing what I presented.  Over the course of the next few months I will be posting full project sheets so you can make them too if you wish.  So stay tuned for them!   (See I'm getting the hang of tv lingo....)

The other half of the fun was seeing what everyone else has been doing.  My background is in textiles, but I am seriously tempted by all the mixed media that's happening.  Check out the work of Shannon M. Bielke of Sha & Co, www.shaandco.net.  

I love her journals.  They were shaped like houses and unfolded like one would take a tour through a home.  Too amazing!

Here's Laura Foster Nicholson of LFN Textiles, www.lfntextiles.com, at her booth.  She designed every bit of paper, fabric and ribbon featured on the table.  She's even wearing a jacket she made from one of her fabrics!  One of these days I really need to try Spoonflower.

Sifu Design Studio

"Wanted: a needle swift enough to sew this poem into a blanket."

 --  Charles Simic

My recent visit to Sifu Design Studio and Fine Yarns Store proves my theory that yarn stores reflect the personality of their owners.  Opened by Lisa Whiting just 4 months ago, Sifu is making its presence felt in the Chicago area.  

The shop is filled with both new and vintage yarns, contemporary and vintage patterns, buttons, threads, books and more.

Lisa is an established designer with several of her patterns having recently been published in Vogue Knitting.  

She brings her aesthetic to every aspect of her shop.  Mixed media these days tends to imply work on paper, but with Lisa it's the blending of knitting with embroidery, beading with crocheting, wire with buttons.  Anything and everything can go into the mix.  Don't you just love her rings!

 

She's recently received certification as an eco-friendly shop with her various green measures, including a small outdoor basket of thrums for the birds to use in their nest building.  No bit goes left unused!  

As a designer and artist, she supports others by featuring their work in her shop.  I LOVE these embroidered "patches."  I'm thinking that a small collection of them would look fab in my kitchen.

Sifu Design Studio is located at 5044 N. Clark in the Andersonville neighborhood of Chicago.  Hours are T-Th 11 to 7, Fr 11-9 and Sa & Su 10-6.  Call (773) 598-5797 to obtain a listing of her classes.

Chicago Craft Social, Needle Felt Gerber Workshop

"Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity."  -- Bo Bennett

I've been without a working camera for the past few months.  Though I have a cell phone camera, it just isn't up to the job, but I'm fortunate in that others send me pics they have taken.  These come from Alexis.  She and her mom were two of the 18+ participants in my  needle felted gerber daisy pendant workshop at the Chicago Craft Social this past March.  

As you can see, everyone had fun learning the technique and were successful in creating their own daisy pendants.  

Thank you to Clover for supplying us with their great tools and roving!

chicago craft social

"I affirm - simply, surely, and unequivocally - that I am a creative person."

 --  Eric Maisel

I love to make for the sake of making.  The process is like a journey with few signposts to guide you. Playing, puttering, sketching, dreaming, they are all a part of creativity.  

I came to fall in love with needle felting simply by giving it a try.   Since those first few studies, it's become a passion.  With just a few tools, I can fashion sculptures from roving.  I can embellish a beret or purse.  And I can make light weight, chunky colorful pendants.  

March 26th from 1-4, you will find me at the Chicago Craft Social.  I am so excited!  Clover USA is sponsoring my pendant making workshop, supplying all the necessary tools.  YEAH!  I used to sell oodles of Clover products back when I owned the Weaving Workshop, so it is a special thrill to be working with them in this capacity.  

You need to check out all the other wonderful workshops happening at the Chicago Craft Social.  There is time to take three workshops within the afternoon. Learn to make coin purses from duck tape or headbands from t-shirts, all while hanging out with friends and meeting new folks.