New Felted Bowl

In preparation for the upcoming holidays, I made this felted forest green bowl with Christmas in mind. Imagine it filled with peppermints or pinecones. It just makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

But really... just for holidays? I think not! This bowl will look fantastic year round holding anything and everything... everything except your breakfast cereal, that is!

New Felted Bowl

A couple weekends ago, my husband and I went for a drive and we spent the afternoon at the Hardware store in Old Forge, NY.

Now, if you haven't been there before, you may think that this was a very dull trip, but I really LOVE going there. Half the building (a HUGE building) is hardware, tools and all that stuff that men love. The other half has sections of kitchen ware, rustic furniture, a HUGE book store and of course, my favorite ~~ a wonderful yarn section. So this is one shopping trip that we both enjoy and we have been known to shop for hours there.

The local ladies knitting circle was having a meeting while they sat around the table knitting away and as I slowly browsed through the fantastic yarns, I must admit I was listening to everything they were chatting about. It makes me think that I would like to start a knitting circle in my town and already I have ideas on getting one started.

I found some fabulous wools and picked up some colors that I don't normally have on hand... I really like these two together!
What do you think?



Valerie's Gallery on etsy
Valerie's Gallery on artfire

Sunday Morning

After our first gorgeous sunny and warm day yesterday we woke up to drizzly rain this morning. I am sure there are more nice days to come, but that was just too much of a tease!

Last week was another busy week. I experimented with a new knit cowl pattern and although it didn't come out quite right, I think I know how to change it up so it will work. I'm rather excited about it, but that won't be ready for posting for a few weeks. I'm also working on an afgahn for my son's new appartment. I'm only about a quarter of the way done with that and hope to finish it up quickly.

My newest listing this week include:

Basic Wool Bowl in a lovely oatmeal


A bright blue knit cell phone cozy:


A pretty pink felted flower hair pony:


A brown felted wool coffee cozy:


A very cute lime green felted wool bowl:


And a bright red knit wool wine bottle cozy


I hope you will stop by etsy and artfire and browse around a bit!

Experimentation

On of my 09 resolutions was to experiment with the goal of improving the end product. So I have been trying alot of different things and my most recent discovery has proved a success!

One of my goals is to make felted (fulled) bowls sturdier. I learned that by adding a strand of fingering weight yarn to worsted weight that it really added some beef to the bowl (see previous post). But then I thought.. what if I double the double? So I set forth by making two bowls, one slightly smaller than the other, attaching them together and putting them through the felting process.

The result ~ A REALLY thick felted bowl in contrasting colors...
This one is done in greens and has a very striking result


This took about two weeks to dry completely after several cycles of processing. I have some great ideas for color combinations but would love to hear from you with what colors you would love to see. Please leave a comment with color choices and be on the look out in my shops for some more.

Don't forget to visit me on etsy, shophandmade and artfire!

Snow Covered Berries ~

My newest bowl arrives just in time to celebrate winter as Central New York woke up to over a foot of snow yesterday morning.

Yes, I did say over a foot...

Here is a picture taken Sunday morning and the same area taken on Monday morning ~~












And here are a couple shots just to give you a reference for the depth:















But this one is my favorite.. one of the old apple trees:
























And so I dedicate my newest bowl to snow. I love how it clings to every tiny branch and blankets nature for the winter. The design on my bowl reminds me of a forgotton berry bush sprinkled with the white stuff deep in the woods. I hope you will enjoy it as well!



Available for purchase at valeriesgallery.etsy.com.

Red, White and Blue ~~~

Just feeling a bit patriotic on election day this year and showing my colors!











Hoping that everyone will get out and vote today!

EtsyHookers Creative Challenge #4 - Hearth and Home Comfort Crochet

I just entered EtsyHookers Creative Challenge #4 - Hearth and Home Comfort Crochet


For this challenge members are being asked to create an item in autumn colors that represent their idea of comfort and that can be used in the home. Each entry also includes a short description of the creators idea of comfort and how it relates to the item that they have crocheted.

I came up with this sweet felted bowl that has an oak tree is all it's autumn glory. The tree is complete with a woodland animals nest making the tree home for some lucky creature.

As I look out my living room window I am grateful to have a marvelous view of several aged maple tree that turn an amazing color in the fall. Although this bowl is an oak tree, I find comfort in knowing that nature will continue to show us her beauty no matter what life throws at us. For me, the bowl symbolizes rhythm, beauty and consistancy within the ever changing seasons.


This bowl is available for purchase at valeriesgallery.etsy.com. If you are intrested in having a similiar bowl made just for you, please feel free to convo me through etsy.


I hope you will come look at other entries in the challenge as well. The voting poll will open by 10 am EST on November 10th, and will close on November 17th at 10 am EST.

Bowls

Here are a few of the felted bowls available in my esty shop.

Nesting bowls are great for keeping all your little items organized and still have a coordinated look. These sets are great for home or office and will hold everything for you, ranging from paperclips, buttons, candy and more.

Designer Bowls make beautiful display pieces. These are one of a kind bowls that are beautiful in any room of your home and are great for displaying just about anything, ranging from fruit to nuts.

Simplistic Bowls are perfect for decorating your home in the Adirondack or Rustic themes and look wonderful holding acorns, small pine cones or arranged with other rustic items.

These are all available for purchase at: http://valeriesgallery.etsy.com/.

Please feel free to contact me if you have a particular shape or color in mind.

Blooming Roses

I made a recent on-line order for some fabulous wool yarn. Actually, quiet a large order and I just love all the beautiful colors and shades. You can't imagine the ideas that ran through my head when I opened the box.

One of the first projects completed with this yarn is a set of nesting bowls named Blooming Roses and I just had to give this it's own space on my blog.

In my eyes, I see a beautiful pink rose in the peek of bloom. I hope you enjoy it as well.

This set is available for purchase in my etsy shop: http://valeriesgallery.etsy.com/