Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Classic 'Crafty' Cardigan: Felting for Dumb@sses - Balls

To clarify:

Dummy - A beginner, novice; someone who struggles with directions laden with technical jargon

Dumb@ss - (see below image)

Figuratively, people. This furry @ss could be a genius.

Now, solve this riddle:

What does one call a person who (when it comes to felting) is both a dumb@ss AND a smart@ss?

OK, time's up. The answer is (see below image):

Behind those glasses, I'm winking hard. ;)

So. Now that we're clear on who this blog post is really about, let me give a shout out to the person who is responsible for my re-posting it for your enjoyment: the talented and lauded author of the hilarious novel What the Dog Ate, Jackie Bouchard!

"How is that?" you might ask.

Well, I'll tell you; just look at her comment on last week's Etsy giveaway post:

She (and her sis) make these ADORABLE wool felted dogs! (And one is a Cardi!)

And so, naturally, I wanted to re-publish this dusty old felting post of my own, because a) refer to both of the above images, and b) I'm too lazy to write something original.

Editor's Tip: When one is short on sheep's wool for felting, one can feel free to substitute DOG HAIR. Double-coated varieties (as in Corgi) work nicely.


Dog Hair Explosion Part II: Why the World Needs Crafty People

Okay, so this is what I eventually brushed out of Dewi the other day when his undercoat spontaneously disengaged from his skin and landed on my kitchen floor:

Probably enough to fill a regular-sized plastic Target bag

If I'd had the right tool(s), I'd probably have gotten a lot more. Well anyway, I'm certain that just about NONE of my wonderful readers are impressed with the size of Dewi's pile of hair, since I understand from Red Dog Mom - over at Life with The Horde - that entire trash bags can get filled up multiple times before the "blow" is all over (of course - at the time of this writing - she does have five Cardigans). But that's okay; I just wanted to use this post to show you all what I made with the pile of hair.  :)

A couple weeks ago, Boo's Mom over at Darby's and Pumpkin's Daily posted "Don't ask me why", which if you didn't see it, is just - in my simple opinion - one of the coolest "crafty" (felting) dog posts I have ever seen. Who knew that shedded Cardigan Corgi hair could be turned into something so adorably photogenic? (Boo's Mom: I would totally frame the second photo and put it on my wall!) And to think that I had all the resources to do it myself AND I could get all my kids to make some, too; and if it worked, I'd never have to buy another cat toy again! Suddenly, I couldn't wait to grab the slicker brush. "Jon FARLeighhh!  DEWIiiiiii!  Time for your brUSHingssss!" (Remember, this was a couple weeks ago, so Dewi hadn't started molting yet.)

A brushfull each of Jon's and Dewi's hair later...TA-DA! Felted balls!

Yes, I know the photo stinks; this was the best I could get
after about 100 shots with my crappy camera. :(

But, aren't they cuUUUute! Of course, the beige one on the left is Jon Farleigh's. :) My kids were fascinated, too (they take after me). Now, wouldn't it be fun (thought I) to make a great BIG ball (think baseball) for the cat to bat (pun intended) around?

Remember the pile of fur I brushed out of Dewi (hint: up at the top of this post)? Okay, here's what I "felted" with it:

Hint: It's the big NASTY thing on the right.

Note to self: Left-brained career choices are the best choices.

Addendum note to self (added 12/18/12): Any-brained career choice is better than NO career choice. [self-hug]

*****

Boo's Mom, Jackie Bouchard (and all you other crafty folk out there - see comments here for several good examples), I am your humble admirer!


P.S. Those two small balls are displayed prominently (on a shelf) in my kitchen. :-)

6 comments:

  1. Well, how nice is that? I'm thinkin' a bit of festive ribbon there and you got yourself a couple of ornaments! :D
    Thanks fur the crafty idea!
    Wyatt

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  2. We were going to say what Wyatt said. Our very own doglet ornaments. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
    Best wishes Molly

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  3. This is one of my favourite posts of yours. You are hilarious. Are you sure you didn't give up too quickly? Given how famous your pets now are, you never know what kind of crafting business you could start out of their fur.

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  4. Thank you for the shout-out! I think you felted a bird's nest there. The birds in your 'hood would be happy to have that! I bet it's darn cozy.

    My sis and I have talked about working a little of the dog's own hair into our designs. It was a default with Abby (my tripawd that I felted) as her hair was everywhere in the house anyway. It couldn't help but get in there!

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  5. I could make a lot of these with horse hair when shedding season starts...thansk for the idea!! LOL

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  6. LOL - you do make me laugh. If it's any consolation, I'm about as crafty as a three-legged wombat so you're still eons ahead of us here.

    Hope you're having a wonderful holiday season. All our best to you, the kids, the pups and the kitties, too.

    ReplyDelete

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