Friday, June 8, 2007
Felt Play Blocks - Step 1
My next project from Tara Jon Manning's Nature Babies is going to be felt play blocks. The instructions indicate that you can felt old wool sweaters - which I did. Back when I was pregnant with Spunky I took some time and went to Value Village, a local thrift store, and picked out a number of what I can only describe as "Cosby Sweaters" - anyone who has ever watched High Fidelity with John Cusack and Jack Black will know what I'm talking about here. BananaMuffin and I spent a morning hanging around the washing machine while they agitated and felted. I took them out and laid them as flat as possible to dry. They were stiff as a board. There was no way I was going to be able to cut them into squares (6 per block) and pass a needle through them to sew them together. I did notice that the sweaters that did keep some softness and pliability were ones with a bit of spandex, nylon or other synthetic in them (a word to the wise). So I called my mom.
My mom is a knitter. She knits every day for several hours. She knits socks, sweaters, blankets, dish cloths, finger puppets, hats, scarves, you name it, she has done it. She also, by default, has bags and bags of scrap yarn in beautiful colours. So I asked her to knit up some of her wool scraps, mostly consisting of Briggs and Little wool from New Brunswick. She knit me six squares as shown in the photo to make one block. They are quite pretty. Step 2 will be to felt them in the washing machine. Then they will be sewn together, stuffed with wool, and offered proudly to Spunky as he learns to grasp and play. Soft, natural toys. I can't get enough!Labels: Playtime
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