We love the luxurious and all-natural yarns of Blue Sky Fibers. But how to choose…? Scoop up these simple to make kits and you’ll have a great gift on its own, or something that stitches up quickly so you can you give (or wear!) a great assortment of stylish handmade accessories this winter. The patterns are very approachable and the designs are timeless, plus they come in gift-worthy little packages and resuable bags.

Good news fiber artists! We know you love the Harrisville Dyed and Carded Wool Fiber for all your felting projects. After all, it’s a wonderful wool blend with touch of merino that comes in a staggering 56 different colors. Perfect for so many types of felted creations.

The wonderful and multi-talented Rose, who many of you know from calling the shop or stopping by, is guest posting this week to share this great new fiber item she’s just gotten ready for you – enjoy!

Sugar Skulls & Fuzzy Friends – Fantastic Felting Kits!

Celebrate Dia de los Muertos with beautiful felted “sugar skulls”

Ornately decorated sugar skulls often adorn altars as part of the Mexican Dia de los Muertos celebration. Festivities begin on the evening of October 31st and last through November 2nd. It’s a time of reflection as well as celebration, when families reminisce and share offerings to the spirits of the dead. Lost loved ones are honored with altars that often feature fresh flowers, food, photographs and mementos, beautiful fabrics, candles, and vibrant sugar skulls.

Create your own celebratory sugar skulls, in 100% wool! Our Sugar Skulls Needle Felting Kit includes everything you need to make four vibrant wool skulls in an afternoon. This is a great project to do together with a group of friends. These whimsical skulls are a great addition to your altar or they make a fun and spooky wall hanging or decoration as part of a larger piece, such as a pillow cover or bag. (Suitable for ages 8+ with adult supervision – and fun for anyone!)

More felted tapestries from Neysa Russo

Each kit includes everything you need to make these beautiful felted wall hangings. Needle felting is easy to learn and these colorful 100% wool “tapestries” make wonderful wall hangings or can be used to decorate other items like a pillow covers or bags. Make them all for a whimsical woolen series!

Looking for something a little cuddlier?

Try these adorable needle felted critters from Woolbuddy or Romney Ridge!

Each kit contains instructions, fiber and needles to make the cute animals you see here. You’ll just need a pad or other work surface. These little felted sculptures make wonderful little home decor accents, and are especially great for handmade Christmas tree ornaments!

Woolbuddies

We’ve been carrying several of the Woolbuddies needle felting kits in the store for a while now—you know, those little woolly animals with the big googly eyes and bright colors? We recently restocked the how-to book [Sorry, item discontinued or temporarily out of stock] , written by the designer himself, Jackie Huang. WoolBuddies has step-by-step instructions and photographs to help you create your own adorable Woolbuddies!

I know some people are intimidated by needle felting because it’s a very freeform craft. Pretty much all you have to do is repeatedly poke wool roving with a tiny barbed needle to create various shapes. Huang compares needle felting to sculpting with clay. There aren’t many hard and fast rules and you can make whatever you want! This is the perfect book for someone who wants to start needle felting but doesn’t know quite where to begin. It’s a guided approach to making a bunch of adorable woolly animals. But Huang also encourages readers to get creative with the craft. He wants you to feel free to change the color, the size, the animal, whatever, to really make it your own! The book is also great for experienced needle felters who want the inside scoop on how the Woolbuddies are created.

Before designing and creating Woolbuddies, Jackie Huang studied computer animation and worked as a 3-D story artist on the animated television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Woolbuddies started as a way for Huang to create durable, natural, handmade toys for his daughter. The Woolbuddy collection has over three hundred creatures, and this book has detailed instructions on how to make twenty of the best Woolbuddies designs.

The book is divided into simple, moderate, and challenging Woolbuddies, though the author asserts that all needle felting is simple, it’s just that some projects will take longer to complete than others. Each character has a name, a little story, measurements, and materials needed. Some of my favorite projects are Shana the Penguin, which was actually Huang’s first Woolbuddy character, Eunice the Sheep, a roly-poly sheep made from a bunch of tiny felted balls, and Jimmy the Giraffe, who is over a foot tall and has posable legs due to an inner wire frame. In addition to the twenty projects, there are illustrated tutorials on fundamental techniques like making a basic body shape, making eyes, making a flat shape, and making a clean line between two colors.

Needle felting is a great craft for all ages — though be sure to supervise children, because those needles are sharp! It also requires minimal materials! All you need are some felting needles, a foam mat or pad, and some fiber. Huang uses the Pen Style Needle Felting Tool — which is my favorite as it holds one, two, or three needles at a time. For a great assortment of fiber to make some colorful Woolbuddies, check out these Felting Fibers: Ashford Fiber Bag or [Sorry, item discontinued or temporarily out of stock] and create your own variations on these amazing creatures!

As we head into the holidays, these adorable woolly sculptures make great presents… The smaller ones are perfect for handmade tree ornaments!

It’s just like Christmas each time a new batch of Pulled Sari Silk Fiber, 1/4 lb bag color 0000 arrives. Every box unveils silky fibers galore in an array of colors. We never know what to expect. What fun! This time around we have a subtle fiber base reminiscent of pinky, gray granite in which a whole host of other colors are intermixed. It’s sometimes tricky to envision just how these fibers will play out in different mediums so we’ve done a bit of experimenting. Take a look, see what you think, and then get creating. Need a little incentive?  Remember, fiber doesn’t spoil so grab a bag or two to put away for a rainy day of playing with silk.

We carded the Pulled Sari Silk Fiber with black, grey and white wool, spun a few yards, then knit tiny swatches. Those of you familiar with Peace Fleece Yarn will see similarities. A great yarn for cool weather accessories like hats, mitts, scarves and cowls. Up next… felting. A fine layer of silk on the outer layer of balls and beads produces wonderful results. How perfect for felted jewelry. My favorite felt sample is a thin layer of silk on top of magenta wool. I see gorgeous felted bags and hats in the future. Now that we’ve got you started, what will you create?

You might also like…

Demi-Carded Silk Bundles color 0010 (white), Demi-Carded Silk Bundles color 0020 (rosegold), Demi-Carded Silk Bundles color 0030 (bluegreen)