Felted Hats

Divella Delights has some beautiful new felted hats coming. This one sold in less than 2 hours so I guess I will be making more of the felted hats.
I begin with 100% wool, usually Cascade 220 but I do have some really yummy Lamb’s Pride wool as well. After I knit or crochet them, they are felted into a nice wool fabric. They take about 2 days to dry and at that time I form them to the shape I want. Next comes the embellishment phase, which is my favorite. This one was needle felted all by hand using a small barbed needle and a foam block. Some will have knit or crocheted flowers and leaves, some will have beaded flourishes. It all depends on what the hat tells me it wants! I will also be doing some clutches to match and I even have a pattern tucked away in my head for a scarflet. Check in often at Divella Delights, things are changing every day and it looks like the felted hats are going to go fast!

Felted Bags

I am very happy to report that the "Little Bag" series is a success! You can see more at Divella Delights as well as some larger felted bags and clutches. I love to have an excuse to knit so thanks to all my wonderful customers!
I really need to focus on getting some jewelry done but with the temperature dropping all I want to do is knit and crochet. The jewelry store is getting low on stock and it is not the best time of year to neglect that for sure. I suppose that in light of this I will be at the table creating designs of the gemstone variety this week when I am not at LL Beans answering phone calls!
As far as those wonderful Flapper hats I have some in stock already. Last year they took off suddenly and I was up until well after midnight crocheting like crazy. This year I have quite a few made up ready to go.

Grab a cup of tea and stop by Divella Delights and check out the new jewelry, hats and felted bags.

Small Felted Bags

Because I had a request from the local jewelry store to do these little bags I thought I would make some for my Internet customers as well. They are all hand knit with 100% wool and some novelty mohair and angora then felted. They have a heavy-duty snap closure and most of the embellishments are handmade by me as well. They are great for gift bags and perfect for business cards, money, credit cards, etc… I am also making a variety of other sizes perfect for all those pesky little items that get lost in your bigger bag. I use one to keep my GPS and digital camera from getting scratched. Lots more to come so stay tuned into Divella Delights for more felted bags and jewlery!

Hand-Made Hostess Gift

Hand-Made Hostess Gifts:
Sometimes coming up with an appropriate Hostess Gift is difficult at best. If they drink wine I can make some of those adorable wine glass charms with a theme to match a home or if it is a single woman I can make some sort of jewelry. If however, it is a couple and they don’t drink wine, as is the case with my brother and sister-in-law then those gifts are not appropriate. I wanted to come up with something for the home and I wanted it to be hand-made.
My sister-in-law is big on Victorian so has lots of pinks, creams and such in her décor. I make knitted hats and fulled bags in addition to my jewelry and had recently made a piece of fabric using some wool left-overs to cut flowers out of for my bags. This sparked an idea for the Hostess Gift I wanted to make.
When I got home I went to the yarn store and found some really pretty vintage rose colored wool and knit up a large piece and fulled it. I bought some creamy natural roving (unspun wool) for the needle-felting portion of the project. I thought about putting a little jeweled charm on the corner of each but decided against it because I was afraid it might scratch the wood on the tables. While the large piece was still damp I cut into 4" squares then let it dry completely.
I wanted to make them match but not exactly as is the Victorian era theme so I needle-felted hearts on each one with the cream roving making them each a little different. Then i just tied it up with a pretty satin ribbon...et voila!
I hope you like the outcome.
If you are going to make items such as these remember when you are knitting to allow for shrinkage. Generally speaking you are going to lose about 25%. The formula for that is to divide your finished size by .75. For example I wanted 4" square so I knit the fabric about 10 2/3 X 10 2/3. That gave me enough to get my coasters and trim them square. Or you could knit them at 5 1/3 each. I use a rotary cutter, which was a little pricey. If I did not have one of these I would probably make them one at a time, as scissors don’t really do a very good job.

New! Spring Knit, Felted Clutch

These beautiful bags measure roughly 10"x6"x2" and are felted very thick. First I hand knit them using exquisite woolen fibers then I felt them. After they are dry I add the embellishments.
I make the felted adornments as well and any items with needle felt are also done by yours truly. Naturally I also so all the beading. About the only thing I don’t do is raise the animals and spin the yarn.
This series will be going to the local shop when I get a dozen made. At that point they will no longer be available on line.
I am having a sale on my site at http://www.divelladelights.com/ on selected hats and jewelry so come by for a visit!

Felted Furry Friends

Do you have a furry friend that you adore? If so you can't miss this shop owned by Amelia Santiago. These "pets" are needle felted to the likeness of your own beloved buddy and the likeness is amazing. Amelia lives in Portland, Oregon and has a degree from Pacific Northwest College of Art in painting but finds herself almost entirely consumed in making her needle felted dog sculptures at the moment. While this seems to be her passion she also enjoys animals, records, drag shows, recycling, gallery strolls, going out to breakfast, roller skating to disco, Leonard Cohen, vegan cooking. Quite the lady! Be sure and cruise by her shop at http://www.ameliamakesart.etsy.com/

She also makes these wonderful felt soaps, a super gift. They are made from saponified oils of palm and coconut:fat obtained from the fruit or seed of the palm tree or kernels of coconut which lathers readily and cleanses skin glycerin: humectant, mild emulsifier, and emollient used to hold moisture. Available with or without fragrance and/or color some soaps contain Organic cornmeal & polenta or Oats. She says "Felted soap eliminates the need for a cloth or bath sponge. The felt is a built in soft cloth that shrinks with the soap as you use it and keeps it from slipping out of your hand. When the soap is gone, you are left with a tiny little scrubby . The soap will also last longer than an unfelted bar, just store it in a drainable soap dish. Buy some a s a gift or to treat yourself!

TENNIS BRACLETS THAT ARE CROCHETED?!

Why not?! This is an altered version of the bracelets I normally do, one with a and needle felted bead made by me and one with a beautiful lamp work bead made by Generations Lampwork found at http://www.generationslampwork.etsy.com/ They have a lot of sparkle as I use only genuine Swarovski fine Austrian crystals said to be the best in the world. You can learn more about them at http://www.swarovski.com/ They are priced at only $28.00 and have 31-36 Swarovskis in them depending on the size. The rest of the bracelet is made with professional quality seed beads handpicked, not bulk craft beads.

Felted Accessories

Because I love artisans and I love Etsy I am doing a ittle diddy on different artisans I find on www.etsy.com where you can find just about everything you can imagine (and some things you could NEVER imagine). This sweet little felted hair accessory was done by Julie's Creation Nation and can be viewed and/or purchased at juliepersons.etsy.com. She makes a wide variety of felted objects including nursing dolls, hair accessories, tapestires and jewelry. This is no easy task either folks. It requires pain staking (at times literally) repeated poking thousands of times with a special barbed needle and wool. I love felted wool and make handbags and I am just begining to take this on and I can't tell you how many times I have stabbed myself! Julie does beautiful work, check out her shop!