heart-felted friends for adventures near and far

Just as in our post about creating animal ornaments with needle felted wool, we began our hopeful emissary with a chenille stem armature wound with 100% wool roving. Once the form was fleshed out, we sewed on glass bead eyes, then felted on wool ears, paws, and pink nose. In order to replicate a true field mouse’s coat of browns and greys, it was necessary to comb together a blend of wool fibers.

Undermouse ready for felting on the details! Needle felting uses a special barbed needle to entangle the fibers together pretty permanently.

This entanglement allows for great details. The more the fiber is felted, the tighter the wool. Light felting allows for fuzzy fur etc.

We added nylon thread whiskers as a finishing touch! We were following the model of Augustine Mouse from the Instagram account story unfolding @augustineamouse, but this little one went as an encouraging pick-me-up to a good friend and Augustine fan working through chemotherapy in lieu of flowers or a card.

The original Augustine and her stunt double, Resilient Mouse hanging out between takes.

Resilient Mouse (above) in her duplicate gear heading out to bring some cheer.

Augustine rolling along in her story post.

clever no-sew hat ornament from leftovers

If you have learned one thing about us, it is that we are going to reuse the HELL out of the contents of our recycle bin— especially the cardboard tubes from toilet paper rolls. After all, they are a constantly renewing resource! We saw various posts for adorable hat ornaments made from leftover yarn or string and parts of toilet roll tubes and thought we would give it a go.

Gather materials:
yarn or string— preferably thick enough to grasp easily and cover the cardboard
scissors
toilet roll tube
some bit of time— this takes more time than it looks!

Cut toilet roll tube into approx 1-inch sections. Cut lengths of yarn into 10-11 inch segments.

Fold lengths of string or yarn in half, then wrap the loop formed at the halfway point over the top of the cut section of toilet roll tube. Slip two ends of yarn or string through the loop such that the knot formed snugs up against the two tails at the base of the tube section. This is called a “Larks Head Knot.” Looping the loop over the back and pulling the tails through allows the two sections to lie flat in closed lines. If the knot is tied incorrectly, the lines will be divided and open. Correct ties are shown on the left of the tube. An incorrect tie is illustrated on the left of the picture above.

Correct formation of the Larks Head Knot for this project shown above!
Using a approximately equal lengths of yarn or string, continue tying knots until the tube is completely and snuggly covered.

Once the the tube is completely covered, you either have the beginning of Cthulu, which is a great way to go, if you have a mind… or the next part to the hat.

Hat?
Ok.

Push all the lengths of yarn through the tube, out the top (opposite the knots) and straighten. We know… Cthulu STILL a possibility! But, onwards.

With a length of matching string or yarn securely tie the gathered spaghetti monster…er… strands into a cinched area about hat height from the toilet roll tube brim.

We wrapped twice securing with a non-slip knot like a square knot (right strand over left, then left strand over right).

Using cotton balls, cotton salvaged from medicine bottles, or wool roving, stuff the inside of the hat form.

Trim the top strands to a pom pom or tassel shape. Add a bit of string or twine as hanger.

Adorable lil hat on the tree— squeeeee!

meant to bee

While we are not fans of time change, early in and out of the chilly darkness, DOES mean it's time for small projects that can be done cuddled up with a blanket on your lap! These "gathering wool" sessions are for a purpose... handmade ornaments are lifetime keepsakes. Knitted, crocheted or felted wool are some of our favorites— but they could be quilled or cut paper or wire and beads!

Here is a knit bee from a Claire Garland pattern available from her website or on Ravelry.

Claire Garland has tutorials available for her techniques, so knitters with basic skills can learn new ways to create for charming results!

Little projects are a nice relief from a long knit, use small amounts of yarn, and building new skills is so satisfying. We really love the lifelike results... bee happy, friends! 🐝

Needle felting wool is another way to make easy, manageable projects like personalized ornaments from sustainable materials.