stocking advent calendar

Last year I had a hard time finding the right advent calendar, so I made a clothesline of stockings. There are many variations on this, I have seen paper bags, paper cones, and small boxes. I selected socks including adult sized, holiday-themed and ones that will fit my son throughout the new year.

Supplies
24 socks
24 treats, toys, candy, coins
24 numbered labels (optional)
removable adhesive utility hooks
decorative wire or ribbon
clothes pins
decorations (optional)

The rest is simple, hang the wire, fill the socks, and enjoy the countdown.

winter wool play

There is still plenty of cold weather for more wool play. Here are a few of my projects that include felted wool with wool needle felted details.

Felting wool is process of compressing or matting fibers into a new dense wool fabric. You essentially lose the distinction of knits and purls. You may created felt by accident by running a sweater through the washer and dryer. The teddy bear below was made from my sweater that after a trip through the laundry would not have fit my 2-year old! You must start with fabric that is 100% wool, and it can be new knitting or second hand sweaters. I prefer recycling, all of these projects were made from second hand sweaters.

Needle felting is the process of using special needles to incorporate wool roving (not-yet-spun wool) into wool felt. Martha Stewart called needle felting "the new glitter" (that is before she brought glitter back with a vengeance). Needle felting is lots of fun and instantly satisfying. The needles are sharp, but older kids could enjoy.

So get our your wool and play before spring arrives!

In order to maximize the fabric, I disassemble the sweater before running it through the washer, removing arms and separating front and back. How to felt wool:
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/2259/how-to-felt-sweaters

http://www.woolcrafting.com/how-to-felt-wool.html

Needle felting tutorial. You can purchase a wool felting kit with a range of needles and a bit of square foam to felt on. I was inspired by this amazing wool artist featured on Martha Stewart:
http://rosensweet.com/sarah/index.shtml

Teddy bear for Max. The bear was made from a wool sweater. The pattern is Simplicity 9524 reduced by 75%. I love this pattern and have made several in the full size, but needed to reduce it due to the size of the sweater. His eyes and nose are needle felted.















Blanket for Audrey. The squares of this blanket are made from two different sweaters. The flower in the middle is needle felted. The binding is satin piping, and the back is solid satin.














Christmas stockings for my family. These stockings are made from secondhand store sweaters. The ribbing at the top of the stockings is from the neck and waistband of the sweater (no hem required). For reinforcement I lined the stockings with a cute winter print.














for baby














for daddy















for mama