Make It Monday: Needle Felt A Mini Unicorn!

Have you ever wanted a tiny unicorn? Needle felt one for yourself! 

Needle Felted Unicorn

Last week my lovely friend Yvette from 1000Crows.com came over to my house (This was not an unusual occurrence- we regally meet up to craft together in the evenings and chat about life over a far too sugary hot chocolate in a handmade mug) and she brought with her a tinie tiny little unicorn, made out of felt!
She had made it with some fibers as part of a felting kit that I gave her for Christmas, and had merrily stabbed away over the festive period to create the furball of joy that you see above. I begged her to take some pictures for me to write a tutorial for you all -  enjoy!

Felting Kit

What you will need: 

* Spin City Felting Kit (availible from spincityshop.com) , or stashed merino and wool fibres. 

* A standard felting needle

* A felting mat ( or thick piece of foam) 

* Small scissors 

* Love in your heart - you can't create tinie tiny Unicorns with an angry soul. It's just not possible. 

Ready, Steady, Go!

1. Select your colours. My unicorn was made with classic white for the body and hot pink for the tail, horn and mane, with a little black for the eyes. Why not go crazy and make yourself a rainbow'corn? She could look truly beautiful in stripes or spots.

 2. Start stabbing! Using your mat and needle, gentle smoosh and sculpt the basic shape. The more you stab, the easier it will be to define the contours. The body of my Unicorn is about 7cm long. Aim for a rough "n" shape (legs and back) with a little nobble on the side (neck).

3. Create the head. Take a smaller puff of fibre and stab at it until you form a small, oval ball. Add a little more fluff to create nubs for ears. 

4.  Define the two body parts. Continue to shape and stab, adding little bits of fiber to accentuate the different areas of your Unicorn. Use scissors to cut away parts that need more definition, such as between the legs and around the ears, until you have a shape that you like. 

5. Join together the head and body, buy placing the head ontop of the neck nub and stabbing your needle around and into the two shapes. You can choose how your 'corn will look by placing the head at different angles. Mine is fairly proud with her head angled upwards in a sort of "I'm watching the stars" pose.

6.  Now make your horn! First, rub together a length of fibre into a small tube, then stab away at it until you have the classic tapered shape. My unicorn's horn is as tall as her body. Join it onto the head with stabbing motions on and around the horn. 

7. Add some long, unicorn hair. My Unicorn has the same colour mane and horn - but you could mix things up a little bit. This might be a golden opportunity to use up some hand dyed wool locks or some shorter lengths of hand spun yarn. The hair was created buy pulling off a little bit of fibre and gently laying it in a sweet, slightly curved style around the head, ears and neck on one side only. 

8. Add some detail! Needle felt in a pretty swirl on your Unicorn's horn. This really brings her to life! Don't forget to add little black dots for eyes and a mouth. 

9. Et voila! You have just made yourself a tiny unicorn. Now, giver her to a friend to lighten up the dark days of January, or thread her onto a necklace or into some hand spun yarn for an instant good luck charm.  Why not keep her in your coat pocket as a secret magical pet to take with you on walks or on your commute? I keep mine with me on my desk or posed around my house - she makes me smile every time I see her, especially because she was made for me by my lovely friend Yvette. 

Pretty needle felted Unicorn

I Heart Unicorns

So there you go- how to make a little Unicorn in nine simple steps. If you make one, I'd love to see! tag me on @SpinCityUK on instagram or twitter. I'd like to say THANKYOU to Yvette for making me this Unicorn and for sending me over these pictures so that I could make a tutorial for you all.

If you would like to check out Yvette's blog, here is the link! Yvette is a vintage and antiques treasure hunter and photographer - she has impeccable taste and I always oooh over the things she finds. See her collection of curiosities in her shop! 

I hope you all have a busy, happy and craft filled January. 

Louise x

The Knitting and Stitching Show 2015 - My Spin City Stall and loveaffair with Ally Pally

So. Just over two weeks ago now I made the decision to take up a last minute stall the UK's biggest knitting show. This was both an exciting decision but also a very daft one, as at the time I was prepping for Yarndale and had no extra stock or contingency plan, but I just couldn't let an opportunity like this slip past me. *Spoiler alert* It was my best ever show!

Spinning on my Spin City stall at the Knitting and Stitching Show 2015, Photo by Its A Stitch Up

I first went to the Knitting and Stitching Show eight years ago, when I was a textiles student living and studying in London.  Just thinking back to arriving outside the palace on the W3 bus makes my heart leap just a little bit as I had literally been looking forward to going to the show for years. I was knitting and textile art obsessed, and the thought of meeting some of my heroes and being surrounded by yarn was too much to handle. I can still feel the excitement of walking through the grand doors into the glass atrium and being confronted by a giant knitted ship- I had docked at my sort of place.

The beautiful Ally Pally - worth visiting alone!

My 1920s inspired knitted dress with beads trapped in the fabric that I made as a student

Fast forward a few years to 2011 and I had graduated with a first class honours degree in Knitted Textiles from Chelsea College of Art, and applied to be part of the Knitted Textile Awards by UKHK which exhibits at Ally Pally- and I was accepted! I showed garments that I knitted and crocheted inspired by the 1920s, created on antique hand knitting machinery with sewing thread and embellished with macrame and beading. Ah, to be a student again! Here are a few pictures of the dresses I made and took with me all those years ago and took to the Palace...

So naturally, when a chance appeared to have my own stall at the show which had inspired me as a student and had accepted me as a graduate designer was one I couldn't miss for the world. 

My stall all set up at the show on the first day

I had precisely eight days between the wonderful Yarndale and the opening day of The Knitting and Stitching show. One of these days was taken up by travelling back from Yorkshire, and another would be taken up with setting up my stand in London - so that only left six days to get everything ready, for a five day show! I pulled out all the stops and with only a little bit of panicking and a lot less sleep  I managed to get enough stock together which I hoped would look nice on my stall (which was quite a bit smaller than my usual affair due to the prices, even at last minute rates!) 

Here is a little video of my space all set up and looking pretty:

My little stall with my handmade spindles, fibre and faux cashmere rovings

I was overwhelmed by the number of visitors to my stall and the enthusiasm people took to the idea of spinning your own yarn - it was something not many people at the show had really heard of before, and it was a pleasure to bring the word about my craft and teach people about it. 

Knitted and stitched fish by Kate's Plaice 

As usual the show was packed with eye candy and one of my favourite exhibits was the amazing "Kate's Plaice, The Stitch Mongers" which was a faux knitted fish market! The actual fabric of the individual pieces were exquisite - Kate had laminated her knitted textiles with plastic and then over printed with metallic foil and then stitched into them with a beautiful array of beads and sequins. It was quite something to see as all the facets of the sequins lined up so beautifully. I loved the fact that you could buy a couple of fish and Kate would arrange them on a knitted plate for you to hang up at home. I mean- who wouldn't want some knitted fish and chips on your wall?! 

It was constantly busy at the show, sometimes you could hardly move!

I wish I could have shown you more pictures of the week but I was rushed off my feet pretty much the entire time- quite unexpectedly! I sold out a few times and had to keep travelling back to Cambridge every night to pick up more stock. Thank you to everyone who came to see me and make my time at the Knitting and Stitching show such a success! I am genuinely touched by everyone's enthusiasm and support for what I do- so thank you once again!
I'm hoping to get a stall at the Harrogate show in November, so keep your eyes peeled.
Louise x

Yarndale - Preparing Fibre For My Spin City Stall

Batts on my studio shelves, including my new planet inspired colours! 

Yarndale is almost upon us! If you have never been, it is a crazy show full of colourful crochet and stuffed full of all the yarn, needles, fibre and patterns you could ever dream of. Even the crafters who turn up appear to be more colourful! One of the highlights for me last year was seeing all the gorgeous crochet cardigans and coats people were wearing at the show. There's a real community atmopshere, which is a pleasure to be part of. If you don't know already, Yarndale was created by the wonderful crochet designer Attic24, check out her designs for some gorgeous project ideas!

Wensleydale lock batts! Locks-a-licious! 

I've been working away in my studio at home in Cambridge preparing for the show- carding batts, dyeing fibre and making more spindles! 

I'm creating a range of batts inspired by the planets- in the first picture you can see the hot pinks of "Venus". I've also been going lock mad and carding up locks-a-licious batts chock full of Wensleydale curls or suri alpaca. These are proper art batts for free-form spinning! 

Dyeing Wensleydale locks in my garden 

Only four more sleeps until the show! I've got my Air BnB booked in a nearby village and new business cards printed, i'm almost ready! 

See you at the show! 

Louise x

Wonderwool Wales 2015

Ive just come back from Wonderwool!

Wonderwool was amazing this year! It was my second time showing there and I was in hall 3, which was new last year.

I took a massive stall and filled it with all my usual furniture, fluff and spindles!

Spinning on my stall

Wonderwool had such a great atmosphere, the people who I met were just as enthusiastic as me when it comes to fibre and spinning! 

One of the best bits for me was meeting some of my customers from last year, who came back to share what they had done or learnt! 

Here a customer of mine came back to show me what she did with a single (yes a single!!) mermaid batt, which she spin and plied with a commercial silk thread and then knitted into a gorgeous waterfall shawl! 

Waterfall shawl made from a single batt!

Lace pattern

Detail - spun from my Mermaid Batt

I love the way the colours stripe! 

My second favourite thing about ring part of Wonderwool is actually being in Wales! 

It's such a beautiful country- full of hills and greenery and sheep! Heaven! 

Below is a picture of Builth Wells where the show is held, which I snapped just before leaving for Suffolk again. 

I hope to go again next year! 

Builth Wells