I was lucky enough to come home to a shiny new copy of Warm Fuzzies waiting for me on my doorstep the other day. My coffee and I had a nice long look. Betz
has become a friend through the blog world and I was anxiously awaiting
her book. I knew she would have some great projects to get me
reaquainted with the pile of felted sweaters I have in my studio
closet. And January is just about the perfect time to get a book like
this. I jumped into making her cupcake pincushions. (Work? What
work?)
Such a great first project to try from the book, fits right
into my need for quick little projects this week. I love that the
outside of the cupcake is made from the sweater ribbing (which is
quickly becoming a favorite part of any felted sweater I use.) I have
always wanted to try her teacup pincushion
(be sure to click on the video to watch one of these being made), it
would be a great way to use all those fair isle patterns I have.
These were made from scraps, and both together took about 45 minutes total. Looking at this, I remembered I needed to put more white "sprinkles" on the larger one, but you get the idea. For anyone unsure of what I'm talking about when I say "felted sweaters", I mean an all wool (or almost all wool) sweater that has gone through a washer/dryer cycle and has come out very small and dense feeling. Ruined, at first glance. Or is it? If you've ever done this to one of your sweaters, you've got yourself a cupcake pincushion just waitin' to happen. So easy to use this way, felted wool will not ravel. Betz has several tutorials on her site to help you get started using felted wool. In Warm Fuzzies, she thoroughly explains the art of felting and deconstructing a sweater to get the most out of it.
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Over at eight by eight, its still white talk for me, and its many variations...
