Fun With Felting

Legoman had a girl's ten year old birthday party to attend last weekend. And as my girls are big, it gave me the perfect opportunity to do some girl crafting. (And more to come as Cuddlepie is attending a four year old girl's birthday this coming weekend - this will be sewing and embroidery though - coming soon!)

After checking with her mum, who said she likes birds and pink, I came up with an idea.
The Little bird felted tote from Knitty was perfect.

I knitted it using Murano from Bendigo Woollen Mills, home of the best yarn in the world! 

This is what it looks like as you knit it up.

Then the felting began.

I made this only the day before the party and started drying it outside on a drying rack.
But then . . .

As it was still not quite dry on the day of the party, I started drying it over the stovetop! This actually worked quite well, if you are particularly fond of the smell of wet wool in your kitchen, which I am!

Then the embellishment. I had already decided not to do the flap, but was intending on embroidering the little bird as in the pattern. But I decided it would not be visible enough on the multi-coloured fabric. So then decided to applique a little bird. After moving house though, do you think I could find any fusible web?!
I was looking at the bag, thinking how much I had missed doing felting, when it popped into my head - of course, needle felting!

So this is the little bird that I ended up with - and I love it!

Legoman thinks the whole bird should have been one colour, but I like it as is.

And the finished bag.

Apparently the birthday girl was happy. And one of the other girls at the party wanted one for herself, so that makes me happy!
And I loved making it so much, I think I will have to get back into felting and needle felting immediately. Anyone with any recommended patterns? (preferably free, due to the Year of No Superfluous Spending.)

Reading this week has been Our Spoons Came From Woolworths by Barbara Comyns. 

I am about halfway and really enjoying it. It is set in the 1930s, about a woman who married young, to a very self-centred man, and their lives in poverty. Actually doesn't sound very happy when you reduce it to a sentence like that!
I was particularly moved by her description of her childbirth experience. So unlike anything we are used to! The humiliation involved - shaving, enema, being yelled at by nurses for vomiting during labour. Then the baby was taken away and only returned to her every four hours for feeding. It just sounded like the worst ordeal when it is supposed to be such a joyous occasion. Thank goodness we have moved away from maternity wards like that.
Imagine having such a horrible birth experience and being dreadfully worried about your baby, to the point of thinking he had died, as the nurses had not yet brought him to you. Then your husband comes to visit.

'As soon as he came near I said 'Oh Charles, have you seen the baby? I know it is dead.' He said they would have told him if it was dead, and he didn't want to see it ever now it was a boy.'

The husband had said a little girl would be just bearable but he wouldn't be able to stand a boy. My goodness, as I am reading, I just want to give that Charles a good slap! I can't imagine how much worse he is going to become as the book continues!

Or whatever other yarn-related craft you undertake!

Linking with Small Things for Yarn Along.