Osborn Fiber Studio

The angel Gabriel has arrived on the scene! Our Nativity scene, that is.

Every angel should have a halo, right? So I picked a fuzzy yarn to give his tunic some glow. This special yarn was spun from the coat of my friend’s white Husky, Styles. The stripe of green at the bottom is from my first handspun sweater, and the headband is from the Finn color study of lo, these several years ago!

The wings are a little something special. I wanted something airy and diaphanous, and pale green to mimic gold. So I used the super-fine merino lace that was my “finest yarn” spin. I held another special yarn together with it – the tog, or outer coat, from an icelandic fleece. Those wiry, fine singles would help the wings hold their shape after blocking. Because both of these yarns were so thin, the wings came out super-small! So I made them look bigger by strategic sewing placement.

Angel
Tunic: #40 Husky Dog
Tunic stripe: Lincoln
Wings: #49 Finest Merino and #5 Icelandic Tog
Hairband: Finn Color Study

For all the dolls, I still used these:
Hair, eyes: #7 Icelandic Both Coats
Mouth: #30/31 Merino/Silk
Bodies: Chrysler Spin

For our shepherds, I elected to make a father/son pair. I went for more rustic, warm colors for dad.

Robe: Shetland-Alpaca Woolen
Scarf: #19 3-Ply
Belt: #18 2-Ply
Beard: #13 Icelandic in the Grease
Headscarf: #14 Yarn I Processed Myself
Headscarf stripe: #30/31 Merino/Silk

For the junior shepherd, his robe uses the same oranges as his dad’s accessories, but I let him have a little more blue. I imagine the women in his family had access to a small and treasured quantity of rich blue dye, that they saved to make their youngest something special. And the royal blue reminds me of Jesus’ ancestor, the king who got his start as a shepherd boy.

Robe: #18 2-Ply
Headdress: #14 Yarn I Processed Myself
Scarf, belt, and headdress stripe: The Blendlings

They will have shepherd’s crooks, but right now they are just brown noodles. They will take shape when I solve the question of what wire I use to make these figures poseable.

And the sheep! Oh, the sheep. True confessions: It was looking at my 51 Yarns collection, and wondering what I would do with boucle, that I first got the idea to make this Knitivity. So here they are, two black-faced primitive-breed sheep in need of shearing.

Body: #23 Mohair Boucle
Heads and legs: #13 Icelandic in the Grease
Faces: #4 Down Suffolk

There’s something very satisfying in making sheep out of sheep’s wool. There’s something more than a little odd about making sheep out of mohair… which comes from goats. But they don’t mind! Look at their cute faces.

So now, the shepherds can look adorably pleased as they are shocked out of their socks by the appearance of an angel. Oh my!