winter tea towel by claudia pearson

i'm a huge fan of the work of claudia pearson--maybe in part because it all looks so darn good on tea towels, which i also happen to love.

this one is in honor of winter and its vegetables.

lately i've been too busy to cook properly as much as i'd like, but i am scheming about how to cook more veggies for bento lunches i'd like to make for myself. we'll see.

ginko

this is the project ginko leaf card, from architette on etsy.
just yesterday i was saying how it's not really that cold yet, although it's december. suddenly that has changed, and it feels like winter has arrived. i spent a bit of today under the heated kotatsu table, and that helped. for the last few weeks, the yellow ginko leaves have been blowing off the trees, and piling up on the sidewalks here and there. i love the shape and color of them so much.

cozy winter

january is passing quickly (at least it feels that way to me!), but it does not feel like winter is going to be over anytime soon. i've been noticing some lovely cozy wintery things online recently. above is the beautiful mast humidifier made of japanese cypress via spoon and tamago.
in the pacific northwest, humidity is not really an issue, but in japan, when the heater is on, it gets dry. i love that this humidifier doesn't use any electricity, as the water is wicked up and evaporates from the thin layers of cypress, which i imagine could also smell lovely.
a traditional japanese way of staying warm (with no central heating, most warming strategies are very very localized) is the hot water bottle, or yutanpo. in the olden days, yutampo were made of metal, could be warmed on the heater, and then you can use the water in the morning for washing up. these days, they are popular again, especially the plastic or rubber kind also used in europe. these super soft looking yutampo covers are from this sweet zakka shop.

this one was handstiched by the talented melissa at tiny happy.
and this one was knit by a stealer of hearts. i think i want to knit a hot water bottle cover of my own, i like how the stretchy collar is perfect for the neck of the bottle.

i actually haven't used my own hot water bottle yet this winter, maybe partly because of my excellent thermal treatment of my windows (involving quilts and layers). but maybe i will soon!

snowflake embroidery by resurection fern

just beautiful, including a tutorial. from resurrection fern, via craft gossip.

happy winter

happy holidays and happy winter to everyone!

i took these photos last week at the beginning of our epic snow storm in seattle.

this is what my street looked like.

after a busy december, it's wonderful to see visiting friends and family and relax at a slightly slower pace. yummy food and a little bit of craft time, even. i hope to back to more regular blogging after the new year, and i hope that where ever you are, you are also enjoying some winter coziness!

felt stocking ornament tutorial

this is a quick holiday project, perfect for someone who has tried a little bit of felt making, and is ready to try felting around a resist. it's a very small project, but once you know how to make this stocking, you can make the same project at a larger scale, or explore other projects that involve felting around a resist. these instructions are part of a 'how to make holiday felt kit' available in my etsy shop. feel free to use and share these instructions, but please link back here and give credit to felt cafe, thank you!

you will need a small amount of wool roving (less than 1/2 an ounce), dish soap, hot water, a waterproof working surface (tupperware, even a dinner plate works for a small project like this one), a small piece of bubble wrap to make the pattern. if you have never tried making felt before, i suggest you check out my felt 101 tutorial here; you can even download the how-to-make-felt pdf instructions for free.

make a pattern out of bubble wrap. the pattern will also be the resist, which you will be felting around.

lay out one layer of wool roving horizontally, as shown. try to have the ends extend past the bubble wrap resist, but not have any extra roving above or below. the key is that the roving should extend past the resist when it is perpendicular to the edge. when the roving is parallel to the edge, try not to have the roving extend past the edge.

lay out a second layer of fiber vertically, perpendicular to the first layer.

drizzle a little bit of dish soap and hot water over the wool. try to keep the it in the center, where the pattern is, and keep the ends of the wool dry if possible. press down on the wool, working the soap and water through the wool.

turn it over to the other side, the patter will be on top, over 2 layers of wool.
wrap the ends around the pattern.

the same way that you did at the beginning, lay out 2 layers of wool on the 2nd side, the 1st horizontal and the 2nd vertical, the same as you did on the 1st side. drizzle a little dish soap.
and hot water. press down on the wool as before.
turn it over, and wrap the ends around.

without turning the felt over, lay out another layer of wool horizontally. (this is the 3rd layer on the 1st side.) press down on the wool, and turn it over.
wrap the ends around.
lay out another horizontal layer or wool. (this is the 3rd layer of wool on the 2nd side).

turn the felt over, and wrap the ends around. press down on the wool, rub it in small circles with your fingertips. repeat on both sides several times. hold it flat between the palms of your hands, and rub them back and forth gently. all of these things are creating friction, and causing the wool to felt, which means that the tiny scales on the wool fibers are becoming locked together.
the felt will become soapier while you work it. continue to rub and agitate the felt until you feel that the wool fibers are joined together, and you can't easily pull them off individually.

trim off the top of the stocking with scissors. your felt will probably have grown a little bigger than the pattern you started with, so you will likely be able to cut straight across and not cut into the pattern (in case you want to save and reuse the same pattern piece). as you cut the felt, you may see that you are cutting through some but not all layers. you need to cut through all the layers, so trim it again if you need to.
when you cut through all the layers, you can see the bubble wrap inside.
take the bubble wrap pattern out, and continue to rub the felt as before, this time with 1 or 2 fingers inside the stocking, and your other hand outside. this is important if you want to keep the pocket part of the stocking, otherwise it will felt together. gradually rinse out the soap, continuing to rub the felt.
if you rinse out all the soap and you feel like the stocking is too fuzzy and not felted, you can add soap and hot water again and repeat the process of agitating the wool with your hands.

to make the loop to hang your stocking ornament, make a partial cut about 1/4 inch from the top of the stocking, and stop about 1/4 inch away from the heel side. lift up the part the you cut, it will become the loop. add a little soap and hot water to the cut edges, and rub them a little bit so they felt.

felt candy cane tutorial

this is an easy and fast way to make felt candy canes, felting around pipe cleaners to create the shape. no previous felting experience is necessary; this would be a lot of fun for older kids. for younger children, you could wrap the wool around the pipe cleaners and/or get them started, and have the kids do the last steps (roll them in soapy water).

this tutorial, and another tutorial for mini felted stocking ornaments are both included in the holiday felt making kit in my etsy shop, where you can also order felt candy canes.

UPDATE: thanks so much to everyone who has commented, and big thanks to everyone who has linked here. feel free to share this tutorial, i would like to please just ask that you credit me and the felt cafe blog, thank you!~

you will need some pipe cleaners (cut in half) and some wool roving. the amount pictured is about 1/8 of an ounce, which is enough to make at least 2 candy canes. you also need dish soap, hot water, a shallow waterproof dish, and a towel on hand.

take a strip of white wool. starting at one end, wrap the wool tightly around the pipe cleaner.

overlapping the wool, wrap the wool diagonally along the pipe cleaner, working your way to the other end.
make sure to completely cover the end.
wrap back in the other direction, making 2 layers. when you reach the first end, turn around and wrap a final 3rd layer of wool
completed 3 layers of white wool wrapped around half a piper cleaner. if you've wrapped it tightly, it will be easier to felt in the following steps. some unevenness in the layers of wool at this point will not be a problem.
take one strip of red wool roving, about 1 and a half times longer than the white wool wrapped pipe cleaner.
wrap the red wool once or twice around one end.

and then wrap the red strip diagonally along the length of the pipe cleaner, leaving white spaces that are the same width as the red spaces.
wrap the red wool one or two times around the end.
wool wrapping completed.

put a little hot soapy water in a dish, and roll the wool in it. using your fingertips or palms, roll the wool back and forth, as if you were making a clay snake.
the fibers will begin to join together. continue to roll the wool.
you can continue to work the wool: hold the stick in one hand as shown, and close your other hand around it. keeping your hands flat, rub it between your palms. you can keep working the wool as you gradually rinse out the soap.

your felt candy cane will probably have stretched a little past the wire and become longer. if you want flat ends, you can trip them off with a scissors, being careful to cut beyond the end of the wire.
bend to make a candy cane shape.

you can use the same process to make larger or smaller candy canes, or peppermint sticks (just don't bend them), or twist them into a circle for napkin rings or tiny decorative wreaths.

thanks to everyone who has left comments, i love reading them, and i love that you are trying this tutorial and having fun with making felt candy canes.