WoolPets

Woolly Bear Caterpillar Tutorial

If you're like me, you have lots of extra bits of yarn and string laying around your craft space. What to do with all that leftover stuff? Make it into pom-pom animals!

I've been waiting until fall to put this fun little tutorial together, since Woolly Bear Caterpillars are out in the late summer and autumn. But I've had the idea since early spring. 

You will need some black and orange-ish colored yarn, strong button thread and a needle, card stock and a pair of sharp scissors. I like to use the spring-handled kind for trimming the pom-pom animals.

I made a template with card stock. It's about 6" long and 2" wide, with a slit cut out of the middle.

First, wrap the black yarn around each end of the template. Then wrap the orange yarn around the middle of the template. Try to keep the orange and black yarn separate as you wrap. You don't need to wrap tightly, just evenly.

Next, use the strong button thread and stitch back and forth between the layers of yarn through the middle of the template.

Take your time and make sure you have stitched the layers tightly together.

Once you have gone back and forth several times, you can begin to cut the yarn away from the template.

Start on one end and work your way down the caterpillar's body and around to the other side.

Remove the paper template.

The caterpillar is probably a shaggy mess right now. Don't worry- it's time to give him a haircut. For me, this is the most difficult part. Mostly because I tend to get carried away and cut too much at once. Start by trimming all over the caterpillar, just a little bit at a time.

Here's a basket full of the trimmings. You can see that I didn't trim off a ton of wool. Just a handful to help shape the caterpillar.

I found that it helps to brush out the yarn while I'm trimming. 

Here he's looking pretty good. Nice and evenly trimmed.

Lastly, I sewed on a pair of tiny, round black buttons for eyes.

Here's Mr. Woolly Bear, hanging out under this incredibly ugly yet marvelous Shaggy Mane mushroom.

You can add a few stitches to sew him into place as a rolled up Woolly Bear.

If you have young children at home, you can teach them this little rhyme while playing with their Woolly Bear-

"Little Arabella Miller
Found a furry caterpillar
First it climbed upon her mother
Then upon her baby brother
"Ugh" said Arabella Miller
"Take away that caterpillar!"

I was inspired to make this woolly pom-pom animal after reading "Tasha Tudor's Heirloom Crafts" and noticing some pom-pom animals in the book.

And, I was given a really cool old vintage book about making pom-pom animals. It's still available from this bookseller.

Here are a few photos from the book-

The book has patterns and instructions for making several different types of pom-pom animals including a lamb and a lion.

I also found a Flickr group dedicated to pom-pom animals called Pompom-o-rama!

Have fun and happy pom-pom making!

Dragonfly Tutorial

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to contribute a tutorial to Little Acorn Learning -  monthly nature based guides for childcare workers, families and teachers. 

Dragonflies seemed appropriate since summer is just around the corner. I especially enjoyed making the wings using a little bit of Angelina fiber blended with wool.

This tutorial is a PDF document (1.7 MB). When you click on the link or stamp below you may be asked to "Open" or "Save" the file to your computer. Some internet browsers may display the file for you or you may need Adobe Acrobat Reader to view the document.

Without further ado: dragonfly tutorial.

Your finished dragonfly can be made into a pin, hair clip, plant poke, hung as a decoration. Share your photos of needle felted dragonflies at the Woolpets Flickr group.

Enjoy!

Twisted Tutorial

I was given this book a few months ago and the projects in the book use a tool called a Felt Twister. I found this tool for sale in an Etsy shop called From Japan With Love and here's how it works.

First, you take 3 long strips of roving and split them into thinner strips. The length of roving I used was 3 feet long.

Next, roll each strip of roving in your hands to begin making a rope.

The Felt Twister has two components. One is this piece which holds one end of the wool rope. You just twist the end of the roving around the tabs and then clamp it to a table.

 Wrap the other end of roving around the tabs on the twister part.

Hold the twister by the handle and roll it in a counter-clockwise direction.  This will twist each strip of roving individually. Make sure all 3 ropes don't get twisted together yet. We'll do that in the next step.

Now roll the twister in a clockwise direction and watch it twist!

Unwrap the ends of roving from the 'twisty tool'  and needle felt the ends to keep it from unrolling.

I decided to roll this one like a lolly-pop or braided rug. Needle felt the layers of wool to help shape the twist.

Ta da! A rug for Pixie.

  I think I'll have to make these next.

Felted Egg Tutorial

I'm going to offer tutorials on this blog, and since Easter is just around the corner, felted eggs seemed like a good project for today. My little friend Pixie is going to help show you how to make a needle/wet felted egg.

1. Start with a handful of roving. Fluff the roving by pulling the layers apart.

2. Next, roll the roving into a tight, round barrel shape.

3. Make sure to tuck the ends in as you roll.

4. Needle the surface of the rolled-up wool to help keep the fibers in place.

5. Get a bucket or bowl of warm, soapy water and dip the egg in. Try not to get it totally soaked.

This is Pixie's favorite part.

Except he likes to add too much soap!

6. Place the wet egg inside of two colanders and put a rubber band around the handles to hold them together. Then shake up the egg while singing 'Shake Your Booty'. The shaking will help felt the egg.

7. The egg might be more round that egg - shaped when you  remove it from the colanders. Roll it to re-shape.

8. After the egg has dried, use a contrasting color of roving and needle a design on the surface.

9. Share it with a friend!

Grandma Woolpets came up with another great way to make felted eggs. She bought some styrofoam eggs and needled wool roving over the surface to cover. Then, she stuffed the wool - covered egg into a stocking and threw it in the wash for 3 hot cycles. When she took the egg out, it was nicely felted and beautiful!

Have fun!