Friday, October 10, 2008

Felting Can You Do It???

If you have read thru my blog at all, you know that I have really wanted to learn how to wet felt. After all, look at all the fiber I have left over!! I joined a Wet Felt yahoo group, unfortunately it is very quiet. But there is one member who just started her own Etsy shop. I went to look, how can you not :), and wow, she really has some pretty neat things! Now for those of you that know about felting, you know how much work wet felting is. For those of you that don't here Kim explains it her self.
"My passion now is making felt by the wet-felt technique. I sometimes use the felting needles. Thanks to my friend who moved to Sweden and introduced felting to me. A fine colleque helped me with different felting techniques. Felting is so much fun to do! It gives me new energy in this world where everything has to be done fast. Felting is physical hard work and can take a while before it's finished. Never the less Is felting something magic every time. Colors somehow mix together and become new colors.The process of felt making is as follow: Start placing the short wool fibres in opposite directions,Make it wet with warm water and soap,Place another 2 layers of fibres, wet it and repeat till 6 layers are done.Now the hard work comes: start rubbing very gently in the beginning, but more and more firm to the end. This rubbing helps the fibres decline together. After a while (mostly 3-4 hours depending how much wool)the wool is felted. Rinse the piece out and let it dry flat. It's a WET-FELTED piece now"
That's some elbow grease! Here are some pictures of a few of the things in her store.


This is made of wool and silk, you really need to go to her Etsy store, she tells how she made it!
Wow, it's gorgeous!


Are these necklaces not cool?

Need a crown for a Prince or Princess?

And who is this little Princess?
Here is a link to Kim's Store
Vilt A La Kim
Stop by and leave her some hearts and welcome her to Etsy!

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Look What They Made!!!

Well, to change the subject from yesterday :))

There is a lady Marie, in my South East US Group, puchased some of my yarn, and look what she made! Isn't it pretty? This is some of the Salish and look at the sheen. I just love that fiber! Here's her store http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6161285







Isn't this pretty?






I don't crochet, but I think I'm going to have to learn! Thanks so much for showing me what you made!



Well I just add to add to my post as I got another interesting email from Janelle!

She purchased some of my fibers I have left over from combing, I figured they were only good for felting. Well this little lady is very handy with a spindle and has a very creative side!

Click on the images !

Look what she has done!



Isn't that amazing? So now I need a picture of the project she uses it for :)

Some people can make a silk purse from a sows ear :))




Wednesday, October 08, 2008

I Don't Talk Politics!!

See this is the nice thing about having a personal blog, instead of a selling blog, I can talk all I want! I have so been trying to not go into this here. But I just can't help it. I'm not a big one on trying to "convert" someone to my side of things, which is conservative BTW. But I am so frustrated with this election, I could just spit. First of all, we have over 300 billion people in the US and these are the only 2 we could find to run?????? I am tired of voting for the lesser evil. I feel my choices are to vote for a candidate that wants to totally forget we have a constitution, by the people for the people, and a candidate that doesn't have allot of answers. but does have a voting record. I will premis this with I am voting McCain, but would have been a little more enthusiastic had he put up a fight for pete's sake. I don't know about you, but we are hunkering down for a rough several years. It's not going to be easy by any means, although I think allot of people don't stop to think, this type of thing has happened before and we are always fine in the end.
The minute you get the government telling businesses what they HAVE to do, we start having problems. Jimmy Carter put this 1977 law in effect that requires banks and thrifts to offer credit throughout their entire market area and prohibits them from targeting only wealthier neighborhoods with their services, a practice known as “redlining.”
This was during the Carter administration with a Democratic Congress.
Then in 1995, during the Clinton administration, the Democrats added new provisions that forced banks to issue $1 trillion in “sub-prime” loans. It doesn't matter if you can afford the house, we'll get you in with a cheap payment and then to make up for it, we'll raise the interest, then the government will buy the paper, at it's current worth! What you can't make your payment?! Well that's okay, the government has stepped in will take the loss, after all, they are the ones that made us do it. Have you noticed that government run programs are almost always filled with waste and deception? Did you know that banks couldn't even open new branches unless they had a percentage of their loans to people that could not afford a home? If you were a bank, what would you do? The birth of Fannie and Freddie. The sub prime and other junk mortgages that Fannie and Freddie bought ( the government, you and me) -- and the market in these mortgages that their buying spawned -- are the underlying cause of the financial crisis. These are the mortgages that the Treasury Department is asked for congressional authority to buy. If the Democrats had allowed the Fannie and Freddie reform legislation to become law in 2005, the entire financial crisis might have been avoided. How can people not see this as a problem?
Our country was founded on specific principles and our Representatives are not doing their job. This election could determine our whole direction of this country. If people don't wake up, and start voting from the bottom up and getting the right people in office, we are just going to keep seeing the same old thing! Don't people get it? How long have most of the Senators been in office? Congressmen? That's my point. If it's not working, fix it!! I realize that there is an important election in front of us now, but PLEASE, when it comes time to elect your Congressmen and Senators, lets see some fresh blood. I am to the point where I am going to vote for the other guy just to get some change and shake things up. I am not at all happy with either party, again, I am voting for the lesser evil, someone that will help save the few constitutional rights I left.
Okay, I'm done.