HOMAGE TO AUTUMN.

August 8, 2014August 9, 2014Out of the Thistle Leave a comment

These are the hot and humid Dog Days of Summer, the days that seem to drag by while we wait for Fall. I can’t wait for the moment that I wake up one morning and feel the cool breeze, or to realize that the days are getting shorter and cozier.

Don’t get me wrong, every season has it’s perks but Autumn is by far my favorite. As Albert Camus said, “Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.” It’s those inspiring colors that make it such a lovely time of year…the trees sing of God’s Glory in such radiant tones. And the scents– don’t forget those fragrances! The pumpkin-clover-apple-cinnamon-y goodness just seems to fill the air! The stone fruit maple-y sweets! Handmade caramels! As you can tell, we get psyched about this stuff. A LOT.

So, in honor of the soon-coming season, we thought we’d get you psyched for Fall as well with some of our Homage to Autumn snapshots, both new and old favorites.

ALSO: We thought we’d sneak in a little tip… to our followers, keep an eye out for a GIVEAWAY in the next post!!!

Happy Friday!

The Thread Bears® Family

Woolgathering.

July 30, 2014July 30, 2014Out of the Thistle Leave a comment

It’s no surprise that we love wool around here, which is why most of our creations are made from wool. We love it’s resilience, we love that it’s natural. We love that it can be dyed or felted. With all the various types of wool, the outcome of each endeavor is different. So, we thought we’d start a little segment here on our blog to demonstrate the different outcomes of using different types/brands of wool: Woolgathering. We’ll show you how certain wools take to felting.

We recently launched our two newest crochet patterns: The Felted Hare and The Felted Bear. You can use any type of yarn to create these items, as long as they consist of about 80% wool (though 100% is ideal). You can use any colors or any weight yarn, but your outcome will be different. We were curious about using and felting a “marbled” wool that has a sort of ticking-stripe resemblance on the skein.

So, we thought we’d share our findings with you. We used the Paton’s Classic Wool to make a little sample, and we love the outcome!

After the wool is felted, it does have a “marbled” appearance, which would make a pretty awesome creature!

We hope that our research can help you decide which yarns you’d like to (or not) use in your felting projects, and save you the time and expense of researching it yourselves.

Thanks for reading!

The Thread Bears® Crew

The Felted Hare and the Felted Bear

June 13, 2014June 13, 2014Out of the Thistle Leave a comment

During the last few years, pattern designing has been on hold due to the number of artist bears and dolls I created and sold. Of those many, many characters I’ve sold, many of them were finished using a process known as fulling.

“What is fulling,” you say?

Well, you see these little gems below? Those furry friends look soft and fuzzy, unlike traditional crochet or knitting, because they were fulled.

We’ve talked a little bit about fulling (also known as felting) on our blog here a while back, so we’ll give a refresher course. We said: “The technique widely known as “felting,” is a process of basically making wool thicker, softer, fluffier, more durable, and more solidified. Since [2011], we have experimented with MANY ways to full our products. Unlike needle felting or wet felting, fulled crocheted/knitted bears aren’t a commonly offered product. Now, from our experience, there is no exact science that makes each product turn out a certain way. Take into consideration that many variables contribute to different outcomes. Felting/fulling has these basic variables: moisture, temperature, and agitation. Though it may seem simple enough, a certain brand of soap or slightly-off water temperature will give you different results, and many types of wool felt up differently.”

Now that you are up to pace… I wanted to share my experiences in fulling/felting with anyone interested, so I put them into a couple of NEW PATTERNS! “The Felted Hare” and “The Felted Bear” PDF patterns for crochet are now available! The instructions for the bear also include how to create and pose the bear on the ball! You can purchase them by going to our website, or by clicking any of the images below to purchase from Etsy. I’ve been working the last few weeks on a variety of these adorable, easy-to-make little characters to show how versatile they are.

Thanks for looking, and I hope you enjoy creating these unique items, using this interesting process! I love the results!

Hugs, Sue

Sand and sun.

June 7, 2014June 7, 2014Out of the Thistle Leave a comment

We have been soaking up the sun and thoroughly enjoying every minute of it. We have constructed sand castles and indulged in cold and creamy desserts. I managed to snap a few photos of our sun-fun, and these photos are the inspiration for my newest design which is (hopefully) ready to be revealed in a few days.

I hope everyone is enjoying the lovely weather–get outside, soak up some sweet vitamin D, and thank God for these beautiful days!

Rhonda

“Claire the Hare.”

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014Out of the Thistle 19 Comments

“Claire the Hare” Knitting Pattern is now available as a PDF Pattern! This little bunny was so much fun to design and create. It’s the perfect size for my daughter to tote around, and it makes the perfect little shelf accessory when not in use.

This vintage-style knitted rabbit doll measures 16″ from head to toe. I love her pigeon-toed stance, and her long, lanky body. Her face is detailed just enough to have the perfect bunny-faced pucker. I think I enjoyed creating her little overall dress the most. It has tiny crisscross straps in the back and a teeny tiny pocket right at her hip.

The biggest bonus of this pattern: it is knitted completely in the round. NO SEAMS! Makes for a quick and easy knit. I created this pattern using Knit Picks’ “Wool of the Andes Sport” yarn because of it’s beautiful heathered coloring. I love how rustic it is.

Be sure to check back for updates on different knitted outfit patterns for “Claire,” and even a fella friend! You can substitute any yarn for this pattern, but just keep in mind that you will have to use yarn with the same exact gauge for any new outfit designs in the future, so make a note of any alternative yarn you use!

If you would like to purchase this pattern, follow this link to my Etsy shop. It’ll be available there until our new website update is complete! We’ll keep you posted!

Again, here is the listing: https://www.etsy.com/listing/189763054/claire-the-hare-knit-pdf-pattern-instant

Thanks for looking! Rhonda

Wooly, wooly.

May 14, 2014August 1, 2014Out of the Thistle Leave a comment

A few weeks ago we shared some teaser photos of a few fiber projects we’ve been working on. In what miniscule amount of free time we’ve had in-between helping care for new grandbabies, and renovating/landscaping our homes, we have made some progress on our handmade projects. We are so excited to show off the final products for some of our new patterns! We have been daydreaming of new designs for Thread Bears®, and it is so satisfying to hold the final products in our hands!

These new patterns will be for knitted items, and even felted friends! I have offered felted bears and rabbits for a few years now, and I am so excited to share my techniques with you!

Some of these patterns will be made available tomorrow, while the others are getting a once-over. I hope you enjoy making these items as much as we have had designing them.

Hugs, Sue

out of the thistle

the blog

Author: Out of the Thistle

HOMAGE TO AUTUMN.

Woolgathering.

The Felted Hare and the Felted Bear

Sand and sun.

“Claire the Hare.”

Wooly, wooly.

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