I was looking for how to create a DIY scarf similar to the “Necklush” and found this tutorial on “NASH ON FASHON”. You could use an XXXL tee in two colors or tie-dye a white to get more volume in your scarf.  Nash grew up in Southern California where she was inspired by the diverse and laid back styles of the West Coast. She was later inspired by her aunt, who works as a fashion designer in New York City. Nash now attends college near San Francisco and works as a sales associate at the fashion-forward company Forever 21, where she puts forth great effort to help people look and feel their best, most fashionable and body conscious selves. She mixes pieces from high and low cost fashion designers (including her own DIY projects) to create her own eclectic looks. Nash asks:

“Ever look at a magazine, a runway, or a website and think “Hey, I can totally make that!” Well, you should! I love to be creative, save money and look fashionable. Plus, what’s a better feeling than answering “Oh, I actually made this” when someone asks where you bought it. So let’s get started on some DIY projects because there’s really no downfall to doing-it-yourself!

I was searching websites online and found this website with a really interesting looking scarf created on Etsy called a ‘necklush’. I figured out how to make this ‘necklush’ and it is really simple. All you need is an old t-shirt and some good scissors”.

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.  

I found this tutorial on FaveCrafts and think this is one of the most adorable and clever projects.    Not only are you saving the planet by recycling the cans, you will be using up all those pieces of scrap felt that we all  save waiting to use them on this or that.   Here is the (this) you can use them on.  My baby is going to have a baby in March and I will be making one of these for her little boy, we just found out the sex.   This tutorial is offered by Heidi Borchers of Inspired at Home.

Julie Finn wrote this for Crafting a Green World and she shows and explains just how to create these adorable stockings.   Julie writes: Every Christmas Eve with my mom (you know about my mom, right?), she drags out these utterly godawful stockings for her grandbabies to use–quilted cotton with a printed image of teddy bears in bathrobes and slippers, bought sometime during the Reagan administration. From Wal-mart. On sale. Ugh. But how could I complain? I, who am obviously too cheap to pony up for non-teddy bear stockings for my own kids? All that will change this year. With four tacky wool sweaters and an easy-peasy stocking pattern, I sewed up a houseful of awesome, unique, sturdy and sophisticated stockings for the girls to…um, yeah, my mom? She always tells them to just set their stockings by the front door. So Santa can see them as soon as he walks in, you know?

I am happy to announce that Melissa Stander is the winner of this giveaway.  Melissa has just started a blog if you would like to visit her called “Felt so Good”.  I am not sure where she lives but I know she will be thrilled she won.  I want to thank Leah of Spider Felt for allowing us to hold this awesome giveaway.  You all put down some wonderful comments that I am sure Leah values your remarks.  I will be contacting Melissa today about her win.  Again, thank you for entering our giveaway.

I have never used Noro yarns or knit these patterns, but this book is filled with wonderful and fun projects for the fashion knitter and I will try one using Noro yarn.   The colors are amazing as are the patterns.  I did read some reviews on this book and most were 4.5 Stars on Amazon.  I really like this book. Any yarn with the same gauge as the featured Noro yarn can be used for these patterns. Most knitters are familiar with Noro yarns by name and by look, even if they’ve never knit with them before. These yarns are known for their vibrant colors, individual dyeing techniques and doing as much of the production process by hand as possible. Fans of Noro love to use these yarns for a variety of projects, and Knitting Noro: The Magic of Knitting with Hand-Dyed Yarns by Jane Ellison (a specialist at working with the yarn) offers Noro lovers new and old a variety of simple clothing designs to try with some of the company’s products.  The beginning of the book reads a bit like an advertisement for Noro yarns, which I guess the whole book really is, if you think about it. “Compare a hank of hand-dyed Noro yarn with a ball of man-made acrylic yarn and the differences between the two are immediately apparent,” Ellison writes in one passage. This book is beautifully done with lovely clear pictures and some trendy patterns.  Some of the wording  here is taken from About.com Knitting, by: Sarah E. White who has a great review for you if you would like to know more about this book.  I received this book form Random House and they mention designer Jane Ellison presents more than 30 patterns to knit with Noro yarns. Designed to let the glorious colors of the long repeat variegated yarns take center stage, the garments are divided into six classic silhouettes with variations for each. From the Pullovers chapter, readers can make a striped sweater with ribbed details or a turtleneck sweater dress; from the Classic Jackets chapter, both a zippered hoodie and a long textured coat can be made.  From tanks to wraps, the patterns are accompanied by beautiful photographs and clear instructions. The figure-flattering shapes of these garments and the vibrant colors of the yarns are sure to make Knitting Noro a book that knitters of all skill levels will come back to again and again.  If any of you have used Noro Yarns please let us know what you think of them.   This is a random drawing book giveaway that will run from November 1, 2009 through November 14th 2009.  Please type “Enter Me” in the comment area and good luck.

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.

There are so many incredible artists on deviantART and I love to introduce them to you.  This young person made this life-like Needle Felted Green Dragon for their mother and I think they did an amazing job. They tell us just how she made it.  Artist’s Comments: This is a very small needle felted dragon that I made for my mom, who wanted a dragon that could sit on the hand of a Super Dollfie. He also sits great on my fingers! More pictures of this guy to come as I take them. Needle felting, for those unfamiliar with it, is a technique that uses special barbed needles to essentially create a ‘wool sculpture’. It’s the same way they make the felt you buy in stores, except that by only using one needle at a time and adding wool as you go, you can control the shape of the felt. I’m still a beginner, but I’m working at it!

He is made out of natural wools from the Iron Horse Farm, a local fiber farm, and the Flying Ewe, a fiber arts website. He has a wire understructure through most of his body that makes his wings, legs, and tail moderately pose-able–the tail is extra long so that it can curl around the finger it’s sitting on. He’s got glass eyes held in by glue and wires, and his horns are made out of wire covered in epoxies sculpt, topped with acrylic paint and matte varnish. The wing membranes are actually white store-bought felt, which I then added a thin layer of pale green wool to. I thought it would make it stronger that way.

These are the cutest felted peas-in-a-pod.  Mr. MonkeySuite blog offers you a downloadable tutorial for this project.  You can let your imagination run wild using different colors for special occasions or these would make an adorable holiday tree ornament.   What a fun baby shower gift accessory.

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.

Discover this amazing felting and fiber artist’s ETSY shop call pillowhappy.  She make the most lovely pillows and other wonderful felted items.  Maybe her shop will offer you some ideas for holiday gift giving or to dress up your own home.  Take a look and you will not be disappointed.  Shop owners profile: One day I was sewing a slipcover for my couch. One day turned into a week as I went a little “slipcover happy” and slip covered virtually everything in my house. In the meantime, I needed to get some ideas of mine on “pillow”, and this shop was created! I’ve gone pillowhappy people! I hope you do too.