My husband has been president of our local land and waterways conservancy organization.  Somehow I have become involved in planning the group’s annual banquet.  For the 2007 banquet, I made a large felted birdhouse for each table.  The yarns used were all hand-spun wool, mostly from the scrapbasket, though some colors were spun new for this project.

The birdhouses were designed by Lisa Runstrom and the pattern was published by Fiber Trends.  Each took about 7 hours to knit and used 195 to 250 yards of yarn.  They were machine felted.  To get them to hold their shape, I used black plastic “canvas” used for needlepoint, cut to height, rolled into a cylinder shape, ends overlapped and stitched together.  Purchased birds either sit inside the houses or perch outside.  A small twig is added as a perch.

Each house sat in a wreath of grapevine, to which fresh vinca was added for a touch of greenery.  Table numbers were glued to florist wire to which a purchased “bee” was added for decoration.  All sat atop a simple square of fringed natural burlap.