Craftacular - finishing with Felt

I'm finishing off the week with a book on felt:

As the title states, Feltique is a book that covers a variety of techniques and projects in working with felt. The book features projects from various artists - including some adorable softies, some great neclaces (see covershot!), various bowls/vessels, a sweet owl coinpurse, and a needle felted dog by Laurie Sharp of Woolpets!

Projects are separated into chapters by technique and are varied for a wide range of skill levels. The first chapter makes use commercial felt - these projects generally involve cutting and sewing sheets of commercially-made felt. The second chapter focuses on wet felting - a fun, if sometimes messy endeavour. Chapter three is all about needle-felting - great for getting out aggresions, but probably not suitable for small children without supervision due to the use of a sharp barbed needle-felting tool. The fourth chapter is about fulled felt - projects that involve throwing knitted or crocheted objects into the wash with the intent of shrinking it down into a denser fabric - if you don't knit, worry not, some of the projects make use of already knitted sweaters - thrift store finds or even rescues from your own closet. The last chapter combines various techniques into one finished project.

I thought this was a fun book that definitely opened my eyes into new ways of using felt as a fabric/medium. Would you like my copy? US only please, leave me a comment and make sure I can figure out how to find you to let you know if you've won. The Random Number Generator will be pressed into service for this book next weekend.

Craftacular

A trio of crafty book reviews coming to you this week - each focused on a different tecnique, and all great for embellishment projects.

The first book is definitely focused primarily on embellishment, rather than on projects that can stand alone:

Ribbon Embroidery focuses on simple stitches that can be used to personalize anything that you could embroider upon. After a brief introduction identifying tools and materials and reviewing some tips and techniques, the book is separated into three chapters beginning with: Small Repeating Stitches, followed by Line Stitches, and finishing with Filled Stitches.

Each chapter opens with a large photograph of a sampler, illustrating a variety of the stitches taught in that chapter. Within the chapter, each stitch is demonstrated in a variety of sizes and ribbons, followed by step by step instructions, each illustrated with a photograph. In most cases I had no trouble following along - however the technique of making french knots still manages to elude me (yes, believe it or not, I have actually tried my hand at embroidery before!). My favorites of the stitches are the woven wheel (looks like rosettes when executed in ribbon), fishbone stitch, fern stitch, and couching stitch.

Overall, if you're relatively new to embroidery - or looking for some inspiration, this book is a good one to add to your library. Would you like my copy? Please leave me a comment - and a way to get a hold of you in case you're the winner - US only please, on account of the postage. I'll dig out the handy Random Number Generator some time next week.

Jump for Joy...

We have a winner :) Uh. Yeah. That's me, getting in a random self portrait...jumping on a hotel bed...more about that Later. Congratulations to Nikki - I'll send you an email so you can let me know where to send The Best-Dressed Knitted Bear off to :)

Dressed and Accessorized

Need some ideas for fun knits for gifts? Well, whether you're knitting for a kid or a teddy bear afficionado, this book may be right up your alley.

The Best-Dressed Knitted Bear is a great book for making a variety of softies and includes patterns for six styles of bear (small, medium and large of varying complexity) along with outfits and accessories for each (a total of 18 different costumes). The bears' costumes/themes include the hula bear cover model, a bear ready for a safari adventure, a princess, a ballerina, a wizard, a dashing pirate, a cowboy and more. While the outfits in the book are designed to fit the knitted bears, there's no reason you couldn't knit these costumes up for a like-sized doll.

The small bears are about 8-inches in height, the medium bears about 11-inches in height, and the large bear about 14-inches in height.

Would you like my copy of the Best Dressed Knitted Bear? Leave me a comment and I'll do a random drawing in a couple weeks! (US only please)

Intermission

We interrupt this blog stream to announce a winner...


Congratulations, Abby! You've won my copy of Knitting and Tea! Email me and let me know your mailing address and I'll pop it off to you shortly :)

And now...we return to our semi-regular programming.

Knitting and Tea

Tea or Coffee? I seem to enjoy them both...though when I've had a stresssful day, I'm apt to curl up with my knitting and a nice cup of tea by my side.


Knitting and Tea combines both.  Each of the six chapters reveals information about a type of tea or the traditions that have sprung up around it, and are followed by patterns, a recipe and a bit more information about a "site of interest".  Patterns in the book are classic and retro in nature and run the gamut from accessories for the home (egg and tea cozies, a cushion, and a tablecloth),  to accessories for wearing (gloves, socks, wraps, a hat and a purse), to the expected sweaters and cardigans.  Skill levels range from Easy to Experienced and patterns are included for men, women and children (though the patterns for women are definitely by far in the majority).  Each of the patterns has at least one large shot of the finished project, and often has additional smaller detail images include.  Charts and diagrams were clear and included as appropriate.  I really enjoyed paging through this book, and learning a bit more about tea. 

I'd like to offer this up to anyone interested - US only please, just leave me a comment and a way to get a hold of you should you be selected by the random number generator!   You have til April 5th to leave me a note :)

We have a Winner!

Congratulations, Angela :) I look forward to reading about your Gingerbread adventures next holiday season with your little one!

Houses for Hansel and Gretel...

I've always had a fascination with Gingerbread houses - both from the gingerbread baking and the building and decorating aspects. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to indulge in my creativity this holiday season. Had I been able to do so though, I probably would have attempted a variation of one of the houses found in this book: The Gingerbread Architect - it contains recipes and instructions (and blueprints!) for twelve different gingerbread houses...it all begins with an introduction, a 7-day schedule for the building of your gingerbread home (I had no idea it would take 7-days - but this is also why I didn't get to it this past holiday season) in addition to tips and commentary on the use of the templates, making the dough, assembly, and decoration. While all the houses in this book are 100% edible, there are also some tips on preservation, should you opt for saving your gingerbread house rather than nibbling away at it as did Hansel and Gretel.

House styles represented in the book range from relatively simple projects like the rustic adirondack, classic cape cod, and old west dawson-city houses to the very intricate classic carpenter gothic style house. The book has designs that are suitable for all range of bakers. Simply flipping through the book was a pleasure, seeing all the fine details on the roofs and yards of each of these homes brought a smile to my face - a particular favorite yard decoration were the pink flamingos of the South Beach house.

Now then...since I'm guessing next year may well be just as crazy as things were this year, I'm not sure that I'll be able to take advantage of the great ideas in this book. If, however, you are game to take on the challenge, I will offer it up along with my copy of Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse. Just leave me a comment before January 18th - make sure there's a way to contact you if you should be the lucky winner. Shipping only within the US though, I'm afraid.

Taking me back...

Various things trigger memories - I didn't expect it from a cookbook - but what a delightful surprise, to find myself reminiscing about trips to Spain while flipping through my new copy of Made in Spain. Since I am a food-tv junkie but don't have cable, I have to satisfy myself with programs available via my local PBS station - Made in Spain is one of those programs that I've enjoyed watching.

The book is arranged by food "courses" and region parings - starting in the very south of Spain, in Andalucia (and Salads), wending its way through and around the country, each chapter is introduced with a brief personal story from the author and chef, Jose Andres. In case you're wondering, the other pairings/chapters are as follows: Madrid (Soups), Pais Vasco (Snacks), Navarra (Vegetables), Cantabria and Extremadura (Cheese and Eggs (a perfect pairing, if I do say so myself)), Valencia (Rice), Murcia (Fish), Galicia (Seafood), Cataluna and Castilla y Leon (Pork), Aragon (Other Meats), Asturias and Castilla La Mancha (Sweets), La Rioja and Baleares (Drinks) and Canarias (Sauces).

In addition to the clear instructions and ingredients, most recipes are accompanied by an enticing photograph of the finished product. Along side the recipes, is typically a tip from the chef in addition to a little back-story on the recipe. While some of the ingredients may be difficult to find locally, there are some merchants listed in the back to assist you in your search.

The recipes in the book are simple and straightforward in execution and there's a wide variety to satisfy both conservative and adventurous eaters alike. If you've never tried Spanish food before, this book has a great variety to choose from. I'll even make it easy for you ;) Leave me a comment (and make sure there's a way to contact you should you win) before Sunday November 30th, and I'll use the ol random number generator to select a new lucky owner. US only please, unfortunately international postage on a heavy book like this one is a bit much.

Wet Blanket

...well not for long, what with the dry air of the desert!

cats, as usual, included for scale - Finished in less than a month...actually it appears (according to Ravelry) that I may have finished in about a half a month! As you can see, the blanket is rather non-aggressively blocked - I figure as a blanket, it will just wind up relaxing back down rather quickly, so I didn't bother getting out all the pins to pin it out like a trampoline - though I'll bet that if I did, I'd gain another foot or more of diameter...in case you're wondering, that blanket is already just over 6 feet across - my cat is very very long. As always, you can find more details on the finished objects blog :)

oh, and congratulations to Eva for being selected by the random number generator - the book is on the way :)

there's always room for dessert.

If you seem to always have room for dessert as I do, or wonder what the fascination is with sweets, you may enjoy this book: The Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair with Our Favorite Treats. A fun, relatively quick read (unless you keep getting distracted by bringing your knitting to bed like I did), it provides a glimpse into the science and history of Sweet.

Incidentally, now that I'm finished reading my copy, I'll happily offer it up those of you who are interested (US only please, I'll post it off via media mail) - if there are more than one of you, I'll trot out the old random number generator. You have until the end of next week (August 18) to express your interest :)

Happy Summer Solstice!

Summer is officially here, and with temperatures soaring here in the desert (so far something like 8 days in 2008 over 110 F!), I think it is fair to say summer has been here for a while.

But I still play with wool anyway. 3rd time is the charm right? I sure hope so - I reknit the hem, and sewed it up on my koigu sweater, only to discover that it still wanted to flip upwards. I don't know if it's because I didn't knit it long enough (that's what I suspect) - but I picked it out last night and I'm switching to 1x1 rib. Now I just need to figure out what to do to edge the sleeves....

I find it slightly humorous that on a day when temperatures are 111 F and still climbing, I am doing a drawing to give away a knitted hat book...ah well, the projects are small, and perfect for knitting during the summer months to prepare for the cooler seasons!

I fired up the Random Number Generator



And it picked Angela/Oiyi as the 15th person to comment. Angela has a beautiful daughter to knit for - she's got a great blog for those of you who haven't discovered it yet. In her most recent post she shows off her sewing and baking skills with some awesome animal cookie cutters. Thank you all so much for stopping by and playing :)

Knits for Kids

Well, I wasn't sure if I would post a review on this book, but this is uh...my 6-hundred-and-66th post. So I thought, in my own sick and twisted manner: my goodness. How fitting, to blog about knitted critters :)

Now then, if you've ever wanted to deck out your child (or someone else's child - or perhaps even someone who is *not* a child (by age anyway)) but didn't know how to go about it, this is a nice book for inspiration and basic instruction.

As clearly stated on the cover, there are 40 animal-themed accessories in the book for you to shake your sticks and yarn at. The patterns are broken into three categories: Beginner, Easy and Intermediate, and as you can imagine, the book is loaded full of smiling children sporting these pieces of work. Each section begins with the photos, and are followed with the patterns. My personal favorite is Rory, the Lion (found in the easy section).

As I mention above, the book is good for inspiration and basic instruction - I highly recommend checking size, gauge and adapting as required - most of the hats definitely appeared to be too small and/or not deep enough to stay on a child's head (or they simply didn't pull the hats all the way down in the photos - as many are just grazing the tops of the kids' ears). In my (admittedly) very limited experience, the deeper the better when it comes to kids hats - otherwise they seem to sproing right off!

Anyhow, seeing as I don't happen to have any children to be knitting for, I'd be happy to send my review copy onto someone else who might find better use for it. If you'd like to be included, please leave me a comment (and be sure to let me know how to contact you should you win!) and I'll use the trusty random number generator to fire it off. I'll leave this open for oh a week or so (closing June 20th) to accumulate names. Don't forget to tell your friends :D

We have a Winner!

Congratulations to Tamara - she wins the copy of Little Cakes - Tamara, if you're reading, I need your mailing address :) I've emailed you too...

It's been a day of good things - while Tamara gets a copy of Little Cakes, it was a really good mail day for me...I got my long awaited Wollmeise yarn...all in super dark saturated colors - in both sock weight and lace weight :) (sorry no photos - camera is not cooperating) Shortly after signing for the Wollmeise, the bell rang again, and it was UPS...with my new skeiner! I'm calibrating comparing it against my current skeiner as this one will be moving over to a friend's place to live with my other swift so I can either drive them batty with the clicking of the counter, or they can wind in exchange for yarn ;) I'll be putting everything to the test in a couple weeks (I hope)!

Cali for the Cure

One of the fine folks I've met via the internet is planning on participating in her local Breast Cancer 3-day...and she's needing some help raising her funds. To make things interesting, she's offering up a contest with wonderful fibery prizes. (speaking of contests, don't forget - if you want in on the Little Cakes drawing, you need to email me! I'll be closing up the contest at the end of this week)

As the donations rise, Cayli is planning on adding more skeins to the mix - and if she manages to get to the $500 point, she'll be adding her Secret of the Stole ii to the heap!

Incidentally, this Cayli is the same one that one of my new colorways is named after - she had put in a request for a colorway, and voila, here it is:

On that field of green lace, it reminds me of fresh spring flowers. Speaking of Spring, it's finally here down in the desert - the hillsides are covered in wildflowers :) I love spring in the desert - the days are warm, and the nights are still cool enough for knits.

Who wouldn't like...

Little Cakes, or Swift Knits?! I'm a sucker for both :)

As I mentioned recently, there was a time when I actually entertained the thought of doing some pastry cheffing, and around the holidays, I usually am looking forward to fancy sugar cookies and the decorating of said sugar cookies. This book, Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse is a treat to look at. I am especially enamored of the various flower cupcakes...and I really like the looks of the Caramel Popcorn Cupcakes (scroll down for recipe, or read the whole interview!)

The book starts out with basic information including tools of the trade, baking tips and notes on ingredients. It also has basic information on frosting and decoration - my favorite part of these little treats! There's even a color mixing chart - that I might find cross functional use for for some of my colorways :D

For recipes, we start with the frostings, then head into the muffins and mini-coffee cakes, special occasion cakes (mmm strawberry shortcake and mini cheesecakes...not to mention the devil dog and twinkie-alikes...) and then we have the cupcakes - I'm extra happy to see a recipe for red velvet...course, I'm not sure I could bet Melati's Red Velvets...

As an extra sweet treat, the publisher is allowing me to offer up a copy of this lovely book to my readers...if you're interested, send me an email (woodlandsprite at gmail dot com) and I'll use the trusty random number generator to select the lucky winner at the end of next week.

Now then, in addition to small cakes, I also appreciate a nice quick knit. That's where Twinkle's Weekend Knits comes into play with 20 patterns to choose from, each knit (mostly) from fast knitting bulky weight yarn. The projects range from the expected scarves and hats, in addition to some wonderful sweaters and other accessories. Photos for this book are lovely, and right up front in the book, on glossy paper - the patterns are referenced clearly and are presented in the back of the book on matte paper. The patterns themselves appear to be well written, though it should be noted that most of the sweaters assume you're comfortable wearing knits with negative ease. I've got some bulky yarn in my stash that I've been trying to figure out what to do with - and I'm especially interested in some of the sweater designs :)

If the thought of working with bulky yarn wigs you out now that we are hopefully moving into the spring, don't forget about that scarf book I reviewed not too long ago - it's now available and has projects perfect for the warming weather!

Spin Out 2007!

Cara over at January One has done it again - she's organizing the 2nd annual Spin Out with a huge prize stuffed raffle to benefit Heifer International. Every year, a portion of Spritely Goods sales are donated to Heifer International, and just as last year, I'm happy to be a part of Spin Out by donating some goodies as a prize. I wish I could attend in person - but alas, I fear a trip to NYC is not in my near future.