why hello there mr. gnome

i've been quite enamored with needle felting for a bit now- those woolen sculptures, some of them with such life-like features, leave me in awe.

well i just so happened to meet up with a needle felter who was vending farm day at flanders nature center.  and she just so happened to be teaching a class that friday on making gnomes.  and so at that moment i decided that i must take the class.  going into the class i couldn't imagine being able to create those tiny life-like features out of wool.  i thought those needle felters must have some sort of magic in their fingers.  magic that i probably didn't have.  but thanks to the help of a great teacher named rachel, i discovered that i too had wool manipulating magic in my fingers.  the class itself was so much fun, there was quite a bit of giggling going on as we transformed our wool into sometimes funny looking things.  but with a little more poking of those needles they would transform into just what we wanted.  i quickly learned that my teacher rachel was right, needle felting is quite forgiving.

and quite addicting. yes definitely addicting.  the next day i finished a second gnome.  and i'm just about to finish up a third in just a bit.  i love that i can carry my little bag of wool around with me as i chase the boys.  and when they decide to settle on an activity for a bit i can settle in with my needles and wool.  and when they decide to leap into the next activity on a drop of a dime, i too can stuff my work back into my little bag and leap along with them.

if you are local to western connecticut and have any interest in learning to needle felt, i highly recommend taking one of rachel's classes.  she's a great teacher.  her work is amazing.  she brings chocolates for when you poke your finger.  and her kits are very generous (she says there's enough for two creatures but i have just about finished my third and i still have a bit of wool left over).  she is teaching at flanders nature center in woodbury, the smithy in new preston, and the golden button in southbury.

these are a couple of the amazing pieces of rachel's- that hen is life sized!