Get-a-jump on your holiday knitting and felting with the help of Knit Picks.  There are many adorable patterns and the yarns are affordable so you can stock up.   They also sell all the products for your knitting needs.   I know a friend that needs the oven mitts and I will be making a set for her.  All the free patterns are downloadable for instant gratification.  I love the lump of coal that could be placed in stocking as a joke.

This lovely pendent was found on “Resurrection Fern” created by a delightful artist who has been making things with her hands since childhood.  When not crafting she is a family physician in a small rural community.

This Snow flake Pendant Tutorial was inspired by the fresh fallen snow on the deep dark brown earth. It can be made in any color and with a simpler design. It could really be adapted to anything you or your children might be inspired to stitch onto felt.  Materials: box board, template for circles, pencil, scissors, felt, embroidery thread, needles and a length of wool, ribbon or trim.

Linda shows us via a video and pictorial tutorial how to make a Christmas Star with Felt the procedure is easy and very fast, you will need just a little patience in cutting the felt.There is no sewing and she assures us that within a half an hour we can have this Christmas decoration hanging on our door.  Visit her blog for complete  instructions for this amazing star.

About This amazing artist: Hello my name is Linda I have 29 years and I live in the beautiful medieval town of Ferrara since I got married. For now, my house is a mini apartment, but dreams of moving to a country house that has a garden full of fruit trees, perhaps with a pot of lemon next to the window sill.  My creativity  Even as a child I breathed in my family air creative: My parents and my grandparents were a great example for me and allowed me to develop my imagination and creativity. In a stimulating environment where I tasted a bit ‘of everything, I grew up and I appreciated the art of craftsmanship, DIY applied to the fields of early childhood education, but also in more specific areas such as the restoration panels.  I found myself with the maternity home to raise my child, becoming a mother made me rediscover my desire to create and so after some initial hesitation, I decided to open this blog to share with others my passion.

My blog: As you can see from my post I have a thousand different interestsFrom computer to crafting: I am always looking for new ideas and projects! In my blog I try to bring news I find the network, especially American creative ideas, Signaling the tutorials and creations that catch my attention and curiosity.

Sayra Adams of Idaho, United States creates the most stunning felted hats that anyone would look dramatic wearing. Sayra not only makes hats but she makes wool art batts, and spins yarn which looks like they would be lovely to work with.  Pay a visit on her Blog “Hat Diva” or shop her charming shops “Hatdiva Hats” and “Atomicblue fiber” and tell her you saw her on Craft Gossip Felting.  You can follow her on TWITTER too.

Take advantage of this special offer from the Funky Felter for holiday gift giving.

SPECIAL FOR THE WEEK OF 11/09 – 11/14 AT MY ETSY SHOP
FREE SHIPPING!!  All items ship for absolutely free this week!

From now through Christmas, I will be running weekly specials in my Etsy shop.  This week all items in my Etsy shop ship for free!  There’s just one catch – you must put the promo code “FREESHIPPING” in the message to seller at checkout.  After you’ve purchased your items, I will refund all shipping fees via PayPal.

I met Maureen Cracknell on Facebook and want to share this felting artist’s creations with you.  Check her out on Facebook and become her friend and keep up with all her new creations. She makes the most adorable “Heart Felt” dolls and “Felts Like Home” Dollhouse Ornament.  She just opened a ETSY shop called “Maureen Cracknell Handmade” and she tells me that she will be adding items daily for the holidays.   She also has started a blog called “Maureen Cracknell Handmade”.  Maureen is not new to crafting in felt.  Recently she finished up a toy line for the music duo Renee & Jeremy a unique collaboration and she thinks this is one of the coolest things she has gotten to make. All the items she created were inspired by the awesome animation for their music video for “It’s a big world” and the illustrations on their website, both done by artist Hsinping Pan. Check these exciting people and watch to the fun videos.

Maureen Cracknell Handmade is a home business she has recently started. With a desire to create and constant inspiration from her three children she began making clothing and toys and knew that if she was going to put anything out there, she wanted it to be green.

Learn to make felted balls using a new twist.  Feltable wool scraps, Styrofoam balls (1-3″ diameter… smaller balls are easier), old panty-hose, rubber bands, rubber gloves, pot, stove, dish soap, bowl, and slotted spoon.  I found this tutorial on Coco Knits who is talented knitting designer and teaching.  Take the time to read her bio she has a fascinating career.  

Chrissie the shop owner of “Make Your Presents Felt” does some wonderful designs with felt.  I am totally in love with this Felt bead and wooden petal choker necklace.  Her shop has some lovely items you have to see.  I also love her Nuno felted vessel with burlap/hessian collar, it is so primitive and would make a wonderful conversation piece in your home. Sorry, I just bought both pieces.  Chrissie: “Hello and thanks for looking! I’m a time-served Scots crafter (living in England) who has for the last 30 years lovingly made gifts for friends and family, or to decorate our home. I was always getting told off for “skiddling” when I was little (that’s ‘making a mess with water’ to anyone who isn’t Scottish!) so I’m in my element wet-felting.

I bought these adorable acorns from Kim Buchheit of Wildly Woolly and I love them.  I have a small black bowl filled with them on my coffee table and people always ask where I bought them.  I always tell them where to get them but I don’t know if they buy them, but I hope they do.  Now Kim is offering a video tutorial on just how to make these darlings and the process is clear and doable.  If you are not into making them you can always buy them from Kim’s ETSY shop “Kim’s ETSY Boutique” along with some of her other fabulous felted art.  Thanks Kim, for the wonderful video tutorial.

This tutorial for this adorable felted sweater floral earmuff /headband comes from the blog “Maya Made” is a very interesting and fun blog.  All you will need is: a felted turtleneck sweater, a scissor, thread, and a needle.  There is another tutorial and template from “Wise Craft” on making the flowers.  This is such a quick and clever idea that was made out of necessity.  Take a look at the blog and you can read how our designer was forced into making this headband.

Leah Adams of SpiderFelt is generously offering one of my readers a chance to win her lovely Verbena Felt Soap Kit, so fragrant and pretty. Leah is a talented felt designer who evolves daily in creating exquisite felted items to wear, hold, as well as kits for those who want to make their own felt items. She is an artist who has taken her felting art into brilliant realms. Her knowledge of felt is amazing and we are so lucky to be a part of her world. We would like you to become a fan of Leah’s SpiderFelt on Facebook. If you do not have an account, please think about signing up and joining us on Facebook. The giveaway will run for 10 days, from October 23, 2009 through November 1, 2009. To enter, simply go to Leah’s SpiderFelt Shop and select an item you like, then come back here and post about the item you love in the comment section here. This giveaway will end at midnight EST November 1st. Good luck to everyone.

Leah Adams of Spider Felt is offering some wonderful felting kits.  The soap making kits comes with three bars of Green Tea and Olive Oil Soap, three colors of roving and instructions. Leah is an amazing felting artist and is giving us everything we need to make soap or give a kit as gifts to someone who love crafting and has never tried felting.  She also has other felting kits, so pop on over and take a look at her lovely art felting and kits.

Leah enlightens:

“Why would I want a felt soap?” you ask. Have you ever dropped a sliver of soap in the shower and watched it slip down the drain? Never again. As you use your felt soap, the bar inside the felt package dissolves slowly leaving a hollow ball. Typically lasting three times as long as your average bar of soap, every last suds is used in this efficient conveyance. Plus, the felt gently exfoliates your skin as you wash.

These hats would be adorable for young children for Halloween.  Shown are an Owl and a Butterfly hat for a boy and girl.  There are downloadable templates and a video with step-by-step instructions.  Before starting this project, you will need to felt an old 100 percent wool sweater. Simply wash the sweater in a washing machine with plenty of detergent and hot water, and dry in clothes dryer on high heat.  The soap, agitation, and heat will cause the scales of the wool fibers to open up, lock together, and condense. Washing the sweater with something made of heavy cloth, like a pair of jeans, will speed the process. You may need to wash and dry the sweater a few times — every sweater’s different. Test your sweater for felting by snipping the edge — it should not fray. If it does, wash and dry again.

Here is a very diverse felted Oak Leaf tutorial that can be used this fall and into the holidays. Now is the perfect time to collect your leaves to use as patterns for this project. Lisa suggests that you scan the leaf to create your pattern. I know my yard is filled with beautiful leaves for this purpose.  Lisa of 5 Orange Potatoes, suggested that you can find any type of leaf for this project in your own backyard. I know Martha Stewart has and oak leaf templates on her site.  The headband that Lisa has made is just adorable and would be gorgeous to wear on Thanksgiving.   She also sewed one onto a bag and it looks smashing. Enjoy this tutorial and stop by and tell Lisa you found her on craft gossip felting. About Lisa:  I am a stay at home, nature lovin,’ felt lovin,’ vegetarian earth mama! I have two lovely daughters, a hard-working husband and lots of animals- turtles, cats and dogs. We love the outdoors and nature…which inspire us daily. I have a BA from Ohio State University and my Masters of Arts in Teaching from Mary Baldwin College. I have taught elem. ed. and preschool for about 20 years in schools and parks, my focus has always been science and env. ed. I have a great love of herbs and their medicinal qualities have been studying them for a long time and continue to learn all I can about them. I have been asked numerous times how I have raised such nature lovin’ and creative little ladies. This site is dedicated to those questions; this is how I do it!

There has been an interest in making mittens from recycled wool sweaters.  Following are the links to several good blogs and sites that show you just how to make these beauties.  I thought that I would post this early for gift giving and craft shows, so have fun!

 Video: http://studio5.ksl.com/?sid=4456414&nid=61

 Pattern: http://media.bonnint.net/slc/907/90740/9074084.pdf

 http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-Mittens-for-Buy-Nothing-Day/

 http://frugalliving.about.com/od/craftsgifts/ss/Sweater_Mittens.htm

 http://www.marthastewart.com/article/sweater-mittens-with-molly

 http://www.ehow.com/how_4668425_mittens-out-old-sweaters.html

http://www.scholastic.com/dearamerica/activities/crafts/storm_mittens.htm

 http://www.urbanthreads.com/pages?id=229

 http://breakingeven.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/01/too-cute-tuesday-felted-mittens.html