Day 156 - How to make a penguin ornament

September 2nd, 2012

How to make a penguin ornament

Prepare for Christmas, with these adorable, little penguin ornaments. They will be a cute addition to any tree. Although Santa, angels and Rudolf are often focused on during the holiday, we should not forget our little friends from the Antarctic. They can be given as gifts or used as a stocking stuffer or to simply decorate your own home.

You will need:

Black felt or fleece

Yellow felt

White felt

Needle & thread

Scissors

Stuffing (polyfil)

Ribbon or ornament hook

Pins

Step one:

Using the pattern provided, cut out to two black body pieces, one white tummy piece, two feet and one beak.

Step two:

Place the tummy piece on top of one body piece, pin it and sew it in place. The stitches should be showing.

Step three:

Place the feet between the two body pieces at the bottom, pin together tummy facing up. If you are using a ribbon, make a loop and pin it between the two body pieces at the top of the head. Sew close to the edge with the stitches showing until you have a half inch gap. Stuff with polyfil to desired plumpness then stitch closed, tie off.

Step four:

Taking the triangle beak piece, fold in half, pin in place then sew along edge. Turn beak right side out, stitches should be hidden. Fill with stuffing about 2/3rd full and fold down excess, sew close, stitches can show. Centre beak on penguin face and stitch in place, hiding your work if possible.

Step five:

Add any extra embellishment you may like such as Santa hat, scarf, bow or mittens.

Step six:
If using a metal ornament hook attach at top of head or nape neck, if penguin is wearing a hat.

Step seven:
Hang on tree or inside your home, enjoy for the holiday.


 

Day 155 - A month of How To's

September 1st

How to felt a wool garment. 

Felting is often used to create a uniform finish on a wool item. It create a fuzzy and soft surface. It shrinks the pieces, usually by 85% for the width and 75% for the length. Keep this in mind when knitting your item. (statistics provided by Patons classic wool - Classic Holidays projects to knit and felt)

You will need:

A garment made of worsted weight yarn.

A top load washer

A buffing garment (jeans or large towel)

Baking soda

Step one:

Place your knitted items into the washing machine add your buffer garment and baking soda, 2 tablespoons for a small load, 3 tbsp for medium, 4 tbsp for large. Run a hot/cold cycle using a low water level. The wash should only run for 15 minutes. Remember you can felt more than one piece at a time, you just have to check each piece individually for the result you want. 

Step two:

Check the size before the rinse. Repeat step one if desired effect is not achieved.

Step three:

When the sizing and felting is achieved, run the rinse and dry cycles. This helps lock in the felting and washes away the baking soda.

Step four:

Lay your garment flat to dry, make sure it is not in direct sunlight and away from any heat sources. Shape your garment, this will prevent wrinkling. If you notice the edges begin to wrinkle, you can always run a thread through the edge and gather it in. Removing it after the piece is dry should create a straight edge. Shaping the garment is an important step as it will be very hard to change the shape after it is dry. It is important to let it dry naturally, using a dryer of any kind will continue the shrinking process.

Step five:

If you need to trim the edge, use chalk to mark it and trim with scissors.

Step six: 

Enjoy!

Before

After

Caring for your garment

Hand washing or use the delicate setting on your washing machine, set on cold, is the best way to care for you garment. Iron with steam when needed but remember to put a towel between the iron and the garment. Tread lightly and do not press, this will create a mark on the wool. Using a brush, cat or otherwise can make the felting more uniform. Do so when it is needed.

(Sorry this was not fully published yesterday. It was an error on my part. I was super tired and didn't notice I only cut and pasted a portion. Sorry again.)

Day 154 - Adventures in Serging

        My serger kept breaking a needle so I decided to take it in for a tune up to Yarn forward and Sew on. Only problem, I don't have a car, just a motor scooter. To get it back in time to have it for my Friday off I had to have it in Wednesday. So I rush home from work, stick it in a backpack and hop back on my bike to zoom back downtown. It was going well and then I took a wrong turn at Albuqerke, well Elgin. I turned on Elgin instead of Bank. I had to go over the bridge then down a side street to try and turn around. Which did not go well. Now you have to remember that I am top and back heavy. It was super windy and each turn a little tricky. A little to low etc. It sucked. After this lovely little detour I finally get to the yarn store just before closing and my back is killing me. The next day I am about to go home when I got the call. Machine's ready! Yay. Zoom zoom zoom. I have my backpack  and serger on my back and I am off. Then I hit traffic. Damn Rideau street traffic. I finally get home and need a crazy massage. Remind me to never never never do that again. But works pretty beautifully now.

Day 153 - Priorities

        I know I have been somewhat neglecting my writing duties on this blog lately. But honestly I just don't have the time. I work most weekdays only getting home 6ish and after cooking dinner and running messages I have maybe 2-3 hours a night to write a post and complete any project I am working on. Just never enough time. I only sleep about 5 hours a night and yet I seem to never be able to get a lot done, not unless I have the day off like tomorrow. Anyway I am sorry and will make it up to you diligent readers, I promise. A month of how-to's are coming up. But tomorrow I have a pretty entertaining story about a serger to share. So hang in there. And have a great night.