You gotta be a football basket...

...To get along with a cute little girl.

So Amy said, upon seeing a picture of Suzanne's Easter basket, "I wanna buy that one, tomorrow." The felted football basket. I'm quite proud of this creation - it's my first attempt (prototype, if you will) and not perfect - but it sure does look like a football - and that was my goal.

I used the basic "concept" of the easter basket, but, instead of a square base I made an oblong one. I picked up the stitches around the base and knit around until the length from the base was about 5 inches. I then began decreases (using psso) - to make the "points"; I did overstitching to make the "college stripes" and laces.

I was so nervous putting this one into the washer. First of all, it was the first basket to be felted after the washing machine was fixed - and I had no idea what was going to come out of the machine once the fibers had been fused.

But it turned out great - I did have a little trouble finding something to "shape" it with (as I could not - no really - I could not find a football in the house, anywhere) - and I might have, in retrospect, made the white stripes a little thinner - other than that - I was very pleased (almost giddy) with the final product.

Hail Thee Festival Baskets!

Easter was a wonderful day - In spite of the cold weather, the egg hunt was a great success. Suzanne and I were a little nervous about the number of children who would show up - but it turned out perfectly. We got some confused looks, ooohs and ahhhs and hugs from the "grown ups" from the Church - and great big eyes, thank yous and hugs from the children.

We had about 300 eggs to hide (yes, in the grave yard) - the kids from the

youth group and some adults helped scatter the eggs. There weren't a lot of "clever" hiding places but quantity of eggs definitely made up for the lack of quality hiding spots. As the children arrived they went down into the Sunday School area for a "Lesson" - and then they went outside - they had the "little ones" go out first - "little one" was supposed to mean "under 4" - but Katie (who is almost 5), as you can see by the photo, decided that she should be included in the group - it didn't really matter, there were plenty of eggs.

The kids were instructed that, in addition to eggs, little bunnies (masterfully assembled by Suzanne) were hidden around the yard - and that each child could find one bunny - and once a bunny was found (or anytime thereafter, and yes, I think I did use the term "thereafter") they could come inside and get a prize. So the kids came in at different times, which made it easier to manage at the "prize table." We did have some pre-designated recipients of specific baskets - and yes,

the distribution of the baskets was totally subjective - but that's okay, really, it is.

It all worked out quite well - and the kids seemed to enjoy it. We (the adults) were just as excited as the children.

just a couple more...

They'll all be gone soon. I'll miss them.

Stripey

The remnant basket - made from the scraps of yarn left from some of the preceding baskets - There was a lot of left over pink and purple for some reason - no green and very little yellow. I do love the resulting basket - one of my favorites!

A tisket a tasket

Actually - I didn't make a green and yellow basket - huge oversight! I did, however, make a green basket AND a yellow basket (lyrics of song to be modified, a la American Idol). There are more baskets - more pictures need to be taken - more baskets to be felted - but otherwise... they are FINISHED!



Turquoise with green eyelash

Turquoise with green Twister

Blue with Fun Fur Stripe

Icy Blue with navy Disco

Green with white Carmen

Pink with blue TuTu

Lilac with orange

Light Blue with pink boucle

Yellow with multicolored boucle


Purple with "pansy" ladder

Grape with pansy & eyelash

Indigo with "jeans" ladder

Fruit Punch with cables

Orange with bobbles (and bunnies)

Purple alpaca with boa

Green alpaca with pastels (and bobbles)


Blue alpaca with ribbon

Natural with blue Fancy Fur

Pink with green eyelash

Cherry with turquoise eyelash

Pink with purple eyelash

Blues & browns

"blues" with mockingbird boa

"blues" with Figi Fun Fur

"blues" with martitni

"blues" with yellow eyelash

"neon" with orange eyelash

Purple with blue TuTu

Stripey

So we got

more yarn - wool, that is. Stop it - it's not too much. We talked with the church ladies and they are anticipating 20 kids, or so for the egg hunt - Not that every kid needs (or, for that matter, wants) a hand knit and felted easter basket - but I already have so many "done" that it seems sad to not have one for each kid, if we can. If there are extras, bully for us.

We didn't get that much yarn, any way. The "commercial" stores are not the best for brightly colored wool - most of it is heathered and earthy - sweater colors, I guess - so there wasn't much to choose from. We got enough for 7 additional baskets. Some pretty "ordinary" purple, royal & light blue and hot pink from Patons "classic wool". Suzanne found the Carons "Felt it" - yarn - especially for felting in verrigated colors - no twisting of the fibers - for a smoother "felt" - very cool. It's quite thick so, instead of using 2 strands of the Felt it, I'm pairing it with a "regular" worsted weight yarn - the color combos are, so far, fun.

The Orange (kool aid) basket is completed - it turned out to be a very ambitious venture - hand dyed yarn featuring bobbles (I LOVE felted bobbles) and top stitched designs - my very own spin on a "bunny" - it turned out good - except that it isn't "centered" - oh well - it's all just a learning experience.

Amy's basket

Although Katie had dictated that Amy's basket would be blue and yellow - Amy chose this basket for herself. I had it at the office (yes, showing off) and when she saw it, her eyes got big and her voice got soft. I asked her if she wanted it to be her Easter basket, and she nodded - a minute later, regaining her composure, she asked her mom "is Easter tomorrow?"

She (and Katie) have been playing with it and going on "pretend easter egg hunts" (ie, paperclip, pen, hairbrush, etc hunts) around the office and the basket is holding up great.

Amy now thinks that we know the Easter Bunny and Santa. Yeah, we're cool like that.

And there's more

ba bam ba bamp ba ba baaa

CHARGED!

I've added some photos to previous posts - and some here, as well... you see, there are a lot of baskets...

My name is Madgirl

I am a yarnaholic -

This is the first step to recovery - but I don't want to get better! I've been buying wool like crazy these past few weeks so to make the easter baskets - Knitpicks.com is my current favorite - I'm addicted. They have the prettiest colors at really reasonable prices - and free shipping for orders over $45. I've also been over at Smileysyarns.com - where they have the craziest prices on "name brand" overstocks - fancy fur for $.99!

I'll stop - some day - but not today - and not tomorrow (or the day after that).

So, I gifted all of the felted projects

and didn't take a picture - oh well - I got more wool for christmas! the felted trivets worked out really well, although Mom kept burning her hand when she (about every 2 minutes or so) would lift the crock of onion soup to check if the table was getting hot - it wasn't - so she's a convert.

I saw Aunt Donna's felted hats - before and after - they're awesome - totally awesome - I told her that I need the pattern. Unfelted they look like rastapharian caps - felted - they're tres chic.

I'll be sure to take some pix of the next felting projects (Mom got me a book of felted purses) -