Crafting On :: More Magic Wool

I often tell my children that we are homeschooling because of the Magic Wool books.  They are unassuming titles, to be certain, just a few dozen pages each.  Long before there were main lesson books on the table or pentatonic songs, these books were introducing me to the nature table and a kindergarten world that was completely different from my own.  They spoke to me in a way that I am still seeking to understand, ten years later.

As enduring has they have been on my shelves, there are still projects from them that I have yet to make.  Feeling out of sorts after our time away, opening them seemed the only fitting thing to do: return to where we started.  As you can see, we made a big bouquet of the flowers from More Magic Wool.  These are simple--just wrap long-stapled wool around a ruler (big or small) and then slip a threaded needle in between.  Tie it off and add a stem in the middle--a pipe cleaner with some wool on one curled end. 

We also made the sweet gnomes with their pocket home, a long-admired project.  This took a LOT of wool, to be sure, and I could have used some more!  Wet felting is not my favorite, I'll admit, since I like things to stay where I put them and to be even. ;-)  Still, leave it to Floris Books include the details that make things successful.  Sewing it onto a blue "silk" as recommended gave it the stability it needed.  The picture still needs a tree or two, but that will come in time.  I have folks here who are keen stick-finders.  The foliage and the ground can change with the seasons.

These little fellows that go inside the pockets were made using the pipe cleaner bodies detailed in the book.  They were fun to make, since I very much enjoy needle felting.  I guess I like wet felting, but it can be a little unpredictable and there is always some roving that just won't stick (short stapled wool is best of for this and I didn't have a lot of that). 

And here is something that is, surprisingly, NOT wool.  This is my Cyclone hat, moving much more slowly than its namesake.  This is some acrylic that I came across, probably forty years old.  It's finer than worsted weight and has the subtle variations in texture that make it more like wool and less like the acrylic yarn that is sold today.  I am so pleased with the emerging pattern in the second half of the hat.  My only complaint is that the ends of the round don't come out as I'd like them--jogless join or not.  Oh, well, it's still a beautiful hat and will likely become my favorite across the years, especially since carpet beetles won't munch on it. ;-)

Well, time for Cream of Wheat around here.  For more crafting, visit Frontier Dreams.