To Da Beach!

In just a few short weeks, I'll be heading down to the Outer Banks to attend my first ever knitting retreat!  I'm very excited. Not only will I have a fun filled, knitting weekend, but I'm also going to be spending time with my sister AND my Aunt Linda AND Debbie (from our MLK weekends).

Oh yeah, and I'm going to be teaching a class and a demo!!  I'm going to be teaching a needle felting class, where we'll all create a beautiful felted scene, and then I'm going to be teaching a demo on how to create a felted bar of soap. That's where you wet felt wool around a bar of soap...it's like a wash cloth and soap all in one!

I'll be vending Purl & June soaps, lip balms, and lotion bars there as well.  My aunt had the great idea to create a custom soap for the retreat.  She suggested something beachy, since we're going to be on the beach.  I thought that was a fabulous idea, so I started doing some planning.

I came up with something really special, and I cannot wait to bring it down there to show everyone!

I did some experimenting with colors and tried to create a beach sunset scene! I think it came out pretty well, especially for my first try!  It's a Beach scent, which smells like warm sand, surf, and a hit of sunscreen. It really makes me want sunny days!

And today, since I was home (snow day, yay!) I spent some time making up needle felting kits for the class.  I'll also have some for sale in the Etsy shop fairly soon.

I color coded the different needle sizes, since you can't tell just by looking at the needle which size it is.

Now the kits are just about finished. 

Oh, and I recently did another needle felted scene.  I was inspired by a picture someone posted on a fiber arts forum on Facebook.  She dyed some yarn, using the picture for inspiration.  Here's the picture she used:

And here is my needle felted version:

I guess I've been in beach mode since thinking about this retreat!