Nature Tables and Playscapes

On Flickr, one can "curate" galleries of up to 18 photos. Since my daughter's class auction project is going to be a nature table display with four different playscapes (sewn, needle-felted, wet-felted, or knitted pieces that are essentially three dimensional quilts), I put together a gallery to show the other parents what the possibilities are. Inspiration, not imitation, is key. You might enjoy taking a look at the gallery as well:

Nature Tables and Playscapes

If you look closely, you will see one of my little dolls in someone else's winter nature table display.

I recently picked up a copy of The Knitted Farmyard by Hannelore Wernhard so that the knitters could have some guidance about how to make a playscape using knitted pieces. The blog Journey Seeds has a post on Knitted Farmyard Animals with a two page spread of what the final result looks like.

Here's a confession: at the last school auction, the third grade class made the complete knitted farm. As the bidding started, a friend and I started to talk about how we could win the bid and SHARE the knitted farmyard. Her husband had hidden her bidding card, but she waved the auctioneer over when her husband left the table to get coffee. The bidding came down to us and another family. As the auctioneer asked if we would go higher, a brief moment of clarity came to me: I was not wealthy. I had no business bidding on that farm. I shook my head, my friend told the auctioneer "No," and the auctioneer went on to the other table. That was a close call. There's a reason why stiff drinks are served at auctions, and it's not to help us make wise decisions.