Sunday, December 24, 2006

Knitted Felted Ballerina Slippers


I have been making a few more pairs of the knit Felt Ballerina Slippers from Fiber Trends for the women in my family as Christmas gifts. I used Berkshire yarn from Valley Yarns. It is 85% Wool and 15% Alpaca. The Alpaca fiber felts very well.

The Berkshire yarn is a heavy worsted weight, so it was a bit tricky trying to get the sizing right. It was also challenging trying to get them to dry into a nice shape. I ended up using a two way shoe stretcher to dry the ballet slippers on.

I embellished the slippers with yarn in contrasting colors and commercial felt that I cut with pinking shears. I sewed the buttons to the strap, and sewed a loop of clear jewelry elastic on to the body of the slipper that loops over the button and strap. The stretch of the elastic allows you to slip the shoes on an off without having to deal with the button.

You can see the first pair I made here.




Monday, December 18, 2006

My favorite felt artists

Whether it be made from loose fibers, knit, crochet, or commercially made, I adore felt. Creating a fabric by wadding up a bunch of fibers seems like magic. I have created a few knit and hand felted items, like this, and this, in addition to a few scarves, but would like to explore the medium more. Here is a list of a number of felt artists that I find truly inspirational.

Lizzie Houghton
Gail Crossman Moore
Thomas Horst
Natalya Pinchuk
Jeung-Hwa Park
Ann Kyyro Quinn
Latifa Medjdoub
Sonya Mackintosh
Nicole Chazaud Telaar

The International Felt makers Guild has some good resources too. What felt artists do you like? The rose in the photo was created from a Two Old Bags pattern.

Friday, December 15, 2006

An Inconvenient Truth, the move.

A few weeks ago I had a chance to see the movie An Inconvenient Truth. If you have not had a chance to see this move, it is really important that you do. I highly recommend it. It simply explains global warming without making you feel guilty or stupid. As a result of viewing this move, I am going to add a few links to the sidebar that offer green products and articles.

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Knit Pattern: Mr. Hankey Christmas Poo

I decided to add a little humor to my Christmas decorations collection this year. This is what I came up with.

Materials:

Chunky yarn, brown

Worsted yarn, red




The pattern is now available at my etsy store:
ansleybleu.etsy.com

You can view more photos here.

This pattern is copyright by Ansley B. Davies and is intended for personal use only.


Monday, December 04, 2006

Holiday Art Boutique this weekend


Buy Handmade for the Holidays!

The San Gabriel Bead Company Holiday Staff Boutique

Featuring mosaics, ceramics, magnets, journals, sterling silver jewelry, handmade beads, beadwork, fused glass and more.

Friday, December 8th, 12 – 9pm
Saturday, December 9th, 10 – 6pm
Sunday, December 10th, 12 – 5pm

Featured Artists
Mariah Bonner
Ansley Davies
Jennifer Morris
Alice Neal
Shu – Shu Perugino
Shirley Whong

The San Gabriel Bead Company

325 East Live Oak
Arcadia, CA 91006
626.447.7753

This will be my last boutique for the season. I hope you can make it!


Felted Baby's Yoda hat

I saw a pattern for a knitted baby's Yoda hat today. You can find the pattern at Meandering.
Thanks Sunshyne!