Sunday, February 17, 2013

Felt Birdhouse and Finished Socks


I showed this felted birdhouse as one of my pieces in the Vasaloppet Art show last week. I was surprised to see that it was among the top four vote-getters in the "viewer's favorite" category.  There were 150 pieces in the show.  There's definitely something special about those felt birdhouses!  I'm planning a project with them for this year, but I'm still waiting to hear if I'll get the grant funding or not before I can announce all the details. Suffice it to say that I plan to teach birdhouse classes at various locations in the state of Minnesota this spring and summer.


I finished my second sock last night while listening to friends playing music and playing cards.
Here they are.  Like I said, I couldn't wait to wear them!

The next pairs will be made using two strands of yarn with contrasting color ribbing at the top of the cuff and at the heel and toe. (I think I will do afterthought heels this time so they will be easy to replace.) Limiting color changes to just those three areas will involve a LOT fewer joins so I could incorporate some cabling or a stitch pattern. But I have to say that changing color every inch made knitting these socks go really fast. I Googled Socka Yarn and I see that it's known as Fortissma sock yarn now.

Poor Matt got stuck in the driveway last night.  I don't think it wasn't my poor plowing job, it was more of his fast backing up.  :-)  Hopefully we can get him out today. He's asking a few friends to come over and help push him out. If that doesn't work, we will get to learn how to pull the car out of the snow with the pick up truck. Today just happens to be Matt's birthday. I made him a cake this morning and I'll make some sloppy joes for his friends. Kind of reminds me of his birthday parties of years ago. :-)



5 comments:

  1. The bird nest and birds are lovely! I can see why it was a favorite. And I think I will knit some double stranded socks. I knit so slowly, it takes a long time to finish a pair. :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks to Terri D. for the comment, but I don't know why it didn't show up on here. Strange!
    I had to quickly knit up a pair of bed socks for my neighbor using Polarknit yarn I got from Louet. It's really soft and really warm. It knits up very fast at 2 sts per inch. The socks looks huge, but they are very comfy. I hope she likes them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I just love that birdhouse - so cute! Sometimes I think about creating a fake tree in my studio, as a sort of art/inspiration project. It would be cool to have a bunch of these hanging from it! Love the socks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks Claire. I've been thinking about felt trees too. Lots of ideas flow from the birdhouse pods. :)
    A couple years ago I collected several interesting small trees that the sheep had pushed over in my pastures (love how they clear the underbrush). I chose the straight ones with cool root formations. One of these days they'll get used in a felt project. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would have voted for the felted bird house too! It is so creative. A winner for sure. Congratulations Becky.

    ReplyDelete

Getting ready for Christmas Markets!

  I'll be doing two Christmas markets this year. The first one is at Sapsucker Farms in Brook Park, MN Nov. 18-19th. And the second one ...