Cats + Felt = Love

I tend to make a lot of felted items. I love how they look and how durable they become after the felting process. Little did I know, cats seem to love felted items as well. Doesn't matter where I put them, one of the cats seems to find them, curl up and sit/sleep on them. Below is some photographic proof.

Two kittens, one bag.

James just chillin'.

 Tiny Magnets lookin' pretty adorable, if I do say so myself.

Vega gets into the action as well.

Magnets figures that there is room for her as well. "Move over Mom!"

The bag is smaller than Vega but she tries anyway.

Maggie tries this one out as well.

Now don't get me wrong, the furry little buggers lay on everything. Coats, pieces of paper, flyers, projects I'm currently working on, everything. But something about felt just draws them to it. And it's the WORST fabric to try and get cat hair out of.

Until next time! I'll probably post about my attempt at auditioning for the Food Network's Recipe to Riches! And no, I didn't make it on the show. Jerks.

 **** Come visit my new site at www.thecraftinista.com ****

And.......GO.

Alright...so I'm sorta getting back into the swing of things. I've completed a few projects that were started months ago and I've been doing a lot of baking. A lot. My baking skills continue to grow and I'm trying new techniques and recipes that I would never have bothered with before. Recently I've made a couple batches of chocolate chip cookies, a few varieties of cupcakes and even tried my hand at homemade tortillas! Both the cookies and the cupcakes turned out awesome and the tortillas were pretty good, that is the 3 of the 6 that I rolled thin enough! At least next time I know how thin to make them.



These were a French vanilla cupcake with white chocolate buttercream frosting. Yes, I did say white chocolate buttercream frosting. And yes, it was delicious if I do say so myself. And I do.

But wait....



What is that I see? Oh yes, a surprise inside too! Field berry curd! These turned out to be a winner and I saw many being inhaled when I brought them to work.

Also...delicious cookies...



I'm really in love with this recipe that I've tweeked. I've made about 3 or 4 batches of them so far and every single one has been a complete success. This time I made them with ghirardelli chocolate chips, white chocolate chunks and pecans. If these don't give you diabetes, I don't know what will.

I've been busy with the craft side of things too! I've finished two handbags that I had started six months ago. Both of them were completely crocheted but needed liners and decorations of some sort.



I love shell stitch, I really do. It works up quickly and gives a nice texture to the fabric that it creates.



Ooooh, I even tried fancy stitching!

I also got around to finishing a bag that I had finished crocheting back in May but put aside and was forgotten about. It's another Starling Bag that I've done a million times. For this particular bag, I had to hand dye it black because for some strange reason, I have never been able to find black cotton yarn in this city. Ever. I'm positive that it doesn't exist. Don't try and prove me otherwise! And I loooove the fabric for this one. I actually bought it over a year ago but was waiting to use it until I found the previously mentioned non-existent black cotton yarn.



The embroidery on the front is kind crap but I'm still learning. I wish now that I could redo it. Oh well.



A pocket!



The inspiration for the embroidery on the front.



There is also some needle felting on the front too!

And now I must go watch last night's episode of Glee and get to bed. I wish to run in the morning!



Captain Claws says Goodnight!



**** Come visit my new site at www.thecraftinista.com ****

Starling, sweet starling.

I made some bags. I've actually made a tonne of bags but they are all in different stages completeness. Most are like 90% done - add handle or maybe a liner, embellishment, that sort of thing. I know I should finish one project before I start another one but it's not the way I operate. I get bored easily. When I start working on a project for a couple days in a row, I tend to put it down and work on something else for a bit. Below are three bags that I made from futuregirl's Starling handbag pattern that I pattern tested for her back in the spring. Loves.



Now this one I sorta, technically made for my sister. And then I sorta started using it so I'm keeping it for myself. Sorry Beck, I'm sure I'll make something to replace it. Promises.



The reason I kept it was because of the fabric inside. I sooooo love this fabric.



I like this one, it's a little more reserved.



It's even classy on the inside.



This one I made on the 6 hour train ride I took from Halifax to Miramichi a couple weeks ago when I went to go visit my parents and check our their new house (which is awesome by the way). I think I ended up making three or four bags that weekend. My wrists were burning by the end of it. Burning.



I think I might use this fabric again for another bag but one in white or black. Ooooh, black, yeah, black. Now I just need to find some black cotton yarn in Halifax. I swear, I can't find it anywhere.

I'm so gangsta', I felted soap.

First off, I'd like to say that I miss actually making soap. I made it for years when I lived in Calgary which makes sense considering I worked at a soap store. Unfortunately I haven't really been able to find the supplies that I need to make soap here in Halifax without breaking the bank. Second off, when I moved into my new apartment I had the chance to go through some boxes that I hadn't really looked at since I've moved to Nova Scotia. In one box I found a couple bars of cold process soap that I had made a few years ago. Score!

Hello Felted Soap!

I've decided to write a little tutorial on how to make it. It's easy. It's so easy that a kid could do it. And why might you want to felt a bar of soap, you ask? Because extends the life of your bar of soap and it's like having a self lathering washcloth to wash with each day.

Supplies

A bar of soap (obviously I used my own handmade CP soap)
roving
water
a pair of hands



Cut a piece of roving that is long enough to wrap entirely around the bar of soap. Cut a second piece of roving to wrap around the bar the other way.



You want enough roving to completely cover the entire bar. You may need to add an additional layer depending on how covered your bar is at this point. Use different colour roving to create different looks! I went with a pink and black scheme because it would match my bathroom.



Time to get the bar wet! Put it under as hot water you can handle and get the bar wet but not drenched.



Holy wet cat! Time to start the felting process. Carefully work the wool around the bar but be careful not to expose the soap underneath.



Now the bar should start to lather. Keep working the wool while adding small amount of water into the bar. The wool should also be shrinking to fit around the soap by this step.



Continue doing the last step until the wool no longer seems to shrink. Tada! Felted soap!

Just lay to dry and you're done!



Close up of the finished felted texture



I've also seen some people that used a felting mat, sushi mat or some sort of textured mat to quicken up the felting process by rubbing the soap against it once the wool starts to shrink around the bar. I just used my hands as I liked the process and it created a lot of lather. I like bubbles :)

Okay, I'm back. You can all calm down.

It's been a crazy week and a half. I quit one job, moved into a new apartment and started a new job. Everything has changed.

Good news - I heart my new apartment. It's twice the size of my old place. So far the new job seems alright. I love walking to work.

Bad news - I've done very little crafting over the past week and a half. It's been itching to get out but with everything in boxes, it required more effort than I was willing to give. Except for today. And today I sorta cheated. Really, all I did was cut apart two previous necklaces that I made and never got around to wearing, and made something new with them. It happens frequently. I figure if I don't get around wearing it 6 months after I made it, I probably never will. So I just end up cutting them apart and reworking them. For this project I just used the felt beads I made previously and mixed them with some polymer clay beads that I made from a rainbow skinner blend.

Now my itch has been scratched. And that's how I roll.

Finally!

I finally finished the felted bag that I made for my sister with only 20 minutes to spare before we had to drive her to the airport so she should catch her flight to Newark (followed by a flight to Seattle followed by a flight to Anchorage and finally to Fairbanks, AK). The handles are no where close to what I wanted but I just wasn't able to find what I was looking for locally. I may need to look online and order some in for next time I make one. I ended up using a small knitting loom to make some rope and then just did a large chain stitch with my fingers and sewed it into the inside of the bag. Either way, she seemed happy with it (even if I wasn't 100% happy with it). And here she is with her bag in her new favourite pose (see here, here, here and here ) and her newly acquired Nova Scotian tartan beret tam (thanks for the correction Julie). What a a goofball. She is clearly related to me.

I had a fun last day with her in the city. We caught an early afternoon showing of Star Trek. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough Simon Pegg. Love that man. Then we did some shopping along the waterfront and then had drinks at a pub downtown where my friends met up with us so that they could meet her for the first time! We intended to also take a tour of Halifax Harbour on the Harbour Hopper, we had missed the last tour. Maybe they should update their website with the correct times. Oh well. It was great having her home and I hope that next time she can stay longer (or stay forever!).

A rather productive weekend AND I was out of town!

To be honest, I am quite awful at both reading and following patterns. I find that a lot of patterns look like they are written in Greek and the few that I do understand, tend to slow me down. I like getting caught up in a project and not have to constantly refer to a pattern to make sure I'm doing it right. But when I came across Alice's handbags over at Futuregirl.com, I had to make one. They are super cute and quite simple looking without looking boring. So when she was looking for people to be pattern testers before she released the pattern to the public, I jumped at the chance. I'm glad I did because her pattern was super easy to understand plus it forced me to learn the foundation single crochet stitch which is bloody amazing. There is nothing that I hate doing in crochet more than having to crochet into a chain. So painful. But no more! I ended up making two bags this weekend - both the small and medium sized bags that she wrote patterns for. I was also down in the Annapolis Valley this weekend visiting my parents and sister (she finally arrived from Alaska on Thursday) and found this adorable black, purple and pink (my favourite colours) fabric with guitars on it. Perfect for a bag lining! I stitched up a lining and finally attempted some needle felting on a finished product. Functional and cute. Two of my favourite things!

Blue (felted) balls...oh and purple and magenta and orange and....

Finished up the felted beads project late last night. They may a nice quick project when you're looking for a little instant gratification of finishing a project.

Once the beads were felted and dry, I simply strung them on some bead thread with some seed beads and shell beads that I had from an upcycled necklace that wasn't really my style. In the end I think it turned out pretty cute. And I gotta say, I love the new roving that I got. The colours are super vibrant and it's super soft. Such better quality than the roving that I've found locally. Next I'm going to try needle felting.

Today Lamb and I went on a shopping and lunch date. We stopped by Michael's in hopes of finding a wooden bag handle for the bag that I'm making for my sister. Unfortunately the few they had, weren't going to work. They had a few wood ones but they looked like bamboo and it just wouldn't have matched the style of the bag. And there were a few plastic ones that I could have worked with but they weren't as wide as what I needed. Back to square one. I'm going to try and make a trip downtown tomorrow afternoon to check out the yarn store and see if they have anything that might work. If not I'm going to have to reconsider my design. Args.

Although the search for a handle failed, I did some across a few good books that I was interested in. I got Not Your Mamma's Felting and Beautiful Knitting. Beautiful Knitting looked helpful in improving my sub par knitting skills.Right now they only thing I can knit is scarves and scarf shaped items. Not terribly useful.

OMG! I've finally finished a blanket.

I've tried to crochet a couple of blankets in the past but I've never been able to sit down long enough to finish one. There are a few partially finished blankets in my apartment at the moment and I know that there have been others that I have had to get rid of for some reason (like moving clear across the country) or another. A couple of days ago I was going through a box with a bunch of partially completed projects and I came across a blanket that I had started about a year and a half ago. I figured rather than start something new, I'd finish something old. So two days ago I pulled the project out with the intentions of finishing it AND I DID IT!!!! Insert the sound of a cheering crowd right now. Thank you. I just bowed to the crowd. The pattern was stupid easy. Single crochet rows back and forth and then a couple times around once it was the size that I wanted. I used a huge crochet hook (I think it was a 15mm) so that the blanket would be super airy and light and not heavy. I originally made it because it matches my bedroom colour scheme but more interestingly enough, it matches this website. Not the raddest thing I've made but it works well for it's purpose. Which is to keep me covered yet still keeping me at my preferred body temperature.

I arrived home from work today to find a parcel waiting for me from The Rainbow Room. It was some merino roving that I had purchased a couple of weeks ago! I was super excited for it to arrive because there were a few things I wanted to try out with it. First thing up was making felted beads. Super cute! I am most definitely making more soon.

Success!

My felted bag experiment finally worked. I was so happy how it turned out that I kept it next to my bed the first night it was complete. Seriously. I wouldn't lie to you. Or would I?