Tag Archives: crafts

A New Piece of Kit

I will admit that I do find stabbing away every afternoon making my hand-felted sheep quite difficult at times. I have a terrible habit of tensing my jaw while gritting my teeth and this is not good.

And then, a few days’ back, it suddenly dawned on me (and I have no idea why I didn’t know about these things), that I could possibly buy some contraption that could do the stabbing for me. Surely something had been invented.

I did my research, watched endless YouTube videos, and looked at various options and decided on this nifty piece of kit – A professional hand held needle felting machine. The seller was very helpful and I liked the fact it came from Ukraine too.

Oh yes, this bad boy is going to change my felting life.

And it does! Obviously it took a while to get used to a new method and I soon realised that my days of bingeing on Netflix series were well and truly over as it is also has the potential to be a very dangerous piece of kit if I’m not concentrating 100% on it – think tattoo gun only 1″ deep, ouch, ouch, ouch!

The “felting gun” operates from slow to fast with a “volume knob” and my afternoons are much easier now. I don’t soley use it and alternate between using the gun and then stabbing by hand with my original needles to make my sheep. Each method does a different job.

Does it cut down the time (each sheep takes about 2 hours to make)? – not really, but it does make things much easier. I 100% recommend this piece of kit. It is well worth every penny.

I also listen to the radio in comparative safety with no lapses of concentration.

Veg Peelings for Ponies

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I realise I didn’t feature Ted in the Christmas photos yesterday so here he is today, just after his rather soggy-doggy walk.

Ted’s eyes are always grot because he has KCS ( Keratoconjunctivitis Sicca) or dry eye, which has plagued him for most of his life. We put in regular eye drops to help and luckily he is very good about this.

(and the divine Miss Pepperpot. Just because).

Anywho, today has not been great, weather-wise. Dreich. We all felt it in our bones. I spent my morning trying to make space in the fridge by cooking soup (curried root veg, thank you for asking). I ended up with a good pile of edible veg peelings in a dish for later – that perfectly good piece of parsnip (top right corner) was found in a dogbed and even I declared it inedible by hoomans! I have a standard, low I admit, but one none the less.

While I was going over to my shed, I noticed that the Shetland ponies were all down by the house, so I scrambled over the garden fence clutching the dish, and threw the veg overboard.

I might’ve been a bit of a bad shot as Waffle was wearing some of it. He will wonder why he is so popular for a while, I think.

Everyone was very grateful for the peelings.

I was going to give them the pumpkin rinds but the last time I fed them, Storm came down with colic the next day so these days I am a bit wary.

I left them all picking through the grass looking for nice bits of vegetable to eat.

And then I went into my shed to make that sheep. Probably the last of the year.

To the Clickimin Craft Fair 2025

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My Saturday afternoon is usually spent playing flute duets with Mandy so we went to the Clickimin Craft Fair instead, which is another of our annual traditions. We both like a good craft fair, we do.

Although nicely busy, we wandered easily around looking at all stalls. I did some Christmas shopping, took photographs, saw old friends and generally had a very good time. I had to keep reminding myself I was buying for friends and family and not myself.

I am a bit craft fair’ed out now, read exhausted, so I think I will just leave all these photos here and you can enjoy the craft fair too.

And what I take away from going today, apart from buying Lovely Things, is that the amount of creative talent in Shetland is absolutely outstanding. For such a small place, there is a wealth of innovation and artistry.

Buy local is my Christmas motto (and also I need a cup of tea, please!)