Sticky Fingers....Or Maybe Stuck Fingers?

Wanted to share with you today something that I am trying. Needle felting. It has been around for a long time, but has just recently taken off in the last few years. It is still a little hard to find the supplies locally, so if you are interested your best bet may be the internet. I have found most of the supplies at Hobby L-needles & wool roving -I am just using some decor foam for the foam base. The hardest thing to find is the core wool. You want to use core wool for the inside because the dyed wool is a little more expensive. Needle felting is just what it sounds like-punching the needle into the wool hundreds of times to get the desired shape that you want. I am so new to this that I only started needle felting yesterday for the first time. After many band aids and thousands of punches later I still feel like a newbie. It might be years before I get the hang of this, but I am not going to give up! The finished product is so cute that I am not going to give up (deja vu-think I said this about crocheting too-I can crochet "ok" now at least I can understand the instructions).

It is funny, in all the felting tutorials or helpful hints I have read they always say "Whatever you do, don't stick your finger. It hurts!!". Well, duh....you can't help but to get your finger stuck. Just like when you are pinning a pattern to fabric or sewing, you know you are eventually going to get stuck. But this needle hurts!! It has barbs on it to lock the fibers together. And you have to jab the wool to shape it. You turn yourself into a  slower version of a sewing machine. The motion of your hand and needle is up and down, just like a sewing machine. The more you jab the faster you get and then ouch, before you know it you have jabbed your finger ten times! Now you look around and all of your pretty white wool has droplets of red on it, oh well, maybe you can make a zombie teddy bear or some kind of other scary thing that is suppose to look like carnage. At least I bought the extra large bag of wool :)

Above: Here's the weapon of choice. You may not be able to see the microscopic barbs but trust me they are there.

Above: Here's the reason for my self mutilation. Aren't they just adorable. My hubby asked me "Why would you want to make sad looking mice?" Hmmm..not sure how to answer that one. I think they are just

coo-tee   pa-toot-ees. I did try and make my mouse more happy looking.

Above: Here's the body wrapped in wool and that cocoon looking thing is he head.

Above: Here he is all dressed in the little gnome outfit. He is rather small, see the thimble.

Above: See he is smiling. He has one of those smiles that makes your eyes disappear.

Above: His head is a little long to me. Maybe it will look better once his hat and eyes are in place. That is the correct size for his head. 1 1/2". Remember the mushroom pincushion, I made him to go with it. The only problem that I have with the little mouse is the fuzziness of his head. I am not sure if I jabbed him enough or maybe it is the nature of the wool that I am using. Anyway I will post a pic of him when he is all finished.

Bye for now and keep those hands busy,

Holly