Felting With Needles:
Margery and Norah's journey of discovery....

Dear KnitBits® Subscribers,

I wish you could have seen the excitement in the office the day Margery and I were first introduced to needle felting. Samples of the new Clover felting needle tool and the brush that accompanies it appeared in our office early one morning. After a few disorienting minutes figuring out this new (to us) concept, we were off and running, attaching yarn embellishments to every knitted or felted surface we could find. Our first "victim" was an old wool sweater. The two of us alternated possession of the much coveted tool, covering the sweater with experiments - rose shaped swirls, abstract scribbles, serpentine lines. I even tried script writing. We applied Memoirs™, Hip-Hop™, Medley™, Vibe™, anything within hands reach. We couldn't resist showing off every new discovery to the whole office. Every "looky what I did" from us was answered with a chorus of, "wow, cool!" Here's a snapshot of our learning "sampler."

The long and the short of it is that these tools make it possible to easily and very quickly embellish a sweater or felted bag with yarn and have it look like beautiful embroidery. We brought our easy cowl neck pullover "Kouri" (booklet #249 Keltic™) to new heights with a simple needle felted rose and leaf design. Last week's free patterns included Taiga - a felted bag with a similar but more freeform design. Both of these embellishments were made by laying down our multicolor, thick and thin wool yarn Hip-Hop in a swirl design, placing the brush underneath the knitting to cushion the needles and simply poking away at it with the felting needle tool. Here's a picture of the process, above.

This week our three free patterns are based on one design. A basic cardigan pattern, March Basic knit in Ultra™Alpaca, is shown unembellished. We then applied a contrasting knitted braid with the needle tool to make March. The braid is tacked down with a running stitch after being felted in place with the tool. A pumpkin colored version, Nelly, is sprinkled with felting needle applied daisies and stars made from snippets of Foliage™ and Hip-Hop™. The small shapes are felted quickly and easily and stay in place well. Clover offers felting needles in two different sizes. We did all of our work (play really) with the smaller needles that come with the tool.

WIN A FREE FELTING NEEDLE TOOL AND BRUSH!  It's time for another treasure hunt. A treasure hunt icon, shown right, is hidden somewhere on the Berroco website. Follow the clues below to find the icon and enter to win. Each line of the "poem" leads you to a new page on our website. When you land on the correct page for each clue, you will see the next clue.

• This adventure begins at home
• Enlightenment is tucked in the far corner of the big picture
• Little things count in this interesting life
• I'd like to be the first to know
• What gems sit ahead?

Have fun following the clues of our treasure hunt and trying your hand at needle felting!

Ten free felting needle tool and brush sets will be awarded. Winners will be selected randomly from individuals who correctly respond by email received before midnight (EST) August 7th. Must be a resident of US or Canada. Employees of Berroco are not eligible.

Several of our KnitBits subscribers have asked questions indicating that they might not be clicking on hotlinks in our KnitBits, e-newsletter.

As you move your arrow cursor over a page of text and images, you will notice that the cursor arrow sometimes changes to a hand. When this occurs, it indicates a hotlink in that spot. Clicking on the link will bring you to a further page of imagery and/or information. We don't usually use the words "click here" in our newsletter. Because we have so many links embedded in the text, the graphic layout would be a mess. You will enjoy our newsletter so much more once you realize that every time the hand appears, there will be more to see or read if you click.

In KnitBits, clicking on our magnifying glass will also take you to more information and/or pictures.

All the best,

Margery Winter Creative Director

Norah Gaughan Design Director

How to become eligible to win a Free Sweater Kit:
All KnitBits subscribers will be automatically included in our bi-monthly drawings for a free sweater kit from our newest collection. Your current subscription serves as your official entry. Please do not attempt to re-subscribe, as this will not increase your chances of winning. Good luck!

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