I got a chance this weekend to visit Crafty Planet in Minneapolis. What a cool store. They have a great yarn selection, tons of books, embroidery patterns, fabric and more. I'll definately visit them again. They also expressed interest in making a kit with my dragon scarf. That would be cool. Vickie Howell is going to be there on Feb. 16th before the big Knit Out event at Mall of America. My husband has such a crush on her...he has suddenly developed an interest in going to Crafty Planet too. Last weekend I took a class on felted flowers with two very talented ladies from Wisconsin. You can find their site here. They have 2 books coming out soon that are sure to be a hit with needlefelters. Check out their site for some very unusual embellishing techniques.Yesterday I hopped over to a local thrift store to search for wool sweaters to felt. I found two sweaters, a really cool scarf and a few demin items to practice some needle felting embellishment. I'll post some pics of my finds soon.
Here they are...still not 100% finished. First dress to the left in the heavy cotton and dress to the right in lighter weight cotton/acrylic blend. My crochet edge around the sleeves on the yellow dress is way too tight. I'm still looking for a way (non crochet) to edge the sleeves on the striped dress. Then I just need to add my knitted flower and I'll be done. 
This is a photo of some of my thrift store finds. I love the yarn the pink sweater is made with. I can't wait to felt it. The other sweater is already pre-felted. I'm sure by mistake. And..I just couldn't resist the embroidery on the infant jeans for $1.50. I have a great purse in mind for the sweater and embroidered jeans. It'll be way too pre-teen for me, but I bet I can find some little girl who will love it. Top left is a little denim dress I plan to embellish somehow!?!? I'm trying to finish current projects and get reorganized. I have been very bad about starting a project before the next one is ALL the way done. I got a couple of really good books recently. The first one is Color Works: The Crafter's Guide to Color by Deb Menz. I'm the kind of person that can sit and stare at a wall of yarn for an hour and walk away with nothing. I love color, but have grown frustrated trying to coordinate certain projects. This book is simply amazing. I'm already looking at color so differently. It comes with color wheels you can remove from the book and take to the yarn store with you. It shows color examples in different crafts such as quilting, bead embroidery, knitting, spinning, etc. I highly recommend this book! The other book is from Indygo Junction. It's called Bag Boutique. There are some nice solid purse and tote designs here that can serve as a blank canvas for your own creative ideas. I need to ramp up my sewing skills....but I'm looking forward to giving these a try. 
