photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Bless her heart,

she gave me a couple more

of the fab wire baskets

that she made a few years ago.

Here’s one of the

new ones,

sitting on the

shelf that lives

on my knitting machine

table.

When I was

busy admiring

the new baskets,

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I realized how  much

I love using baskets

for organizing studio

stuff, and that I have

baskets by the dozens.

(There’s another one of

Chloe’s baskets in this

pic, too)

So, I started taking

photos of some of

the baskets in

my studio,

and before long

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I had taken

almost 50 photos….

I won’t bore you

with photos of

all the studio

baskets, but

there are a few

baskets that are

dear to my heart…..

The blue wicker basket

is an old one that I bought

when I was a teenager. I painted a sheet of masonite with a homage to oriental carpets, and wired it to the top and used the basket as a table. Now, it holds a huge whopper of a melon basket that I found at a garage sale this summer. They are both great for yarn storage.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I thought that I would

also include a pic

of Ms Kitty examining

a couple baskets

that I have just recently

made.

I posted a tutorial

on how to spool knit

the basket that is full

of spool knitters.

The crocheted basket is made

with yarn that I spun from

paper streamers from the Blue Man Group show last month.

Baskets are one of the most ancient ways of organizing the stuff of our lives.  They are also a wonderful way of expressing creativity, because every handmade basket is, by it’s very nature, completely unique.

Do you have any favorite baskets?

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

But, the boxes have a baffling oxymoron-

a photo of a crocheted granny square,

which could lead people to assume

that the Magic loom produces

crocheted granny squares.

They don’t.

But you can make wonderful squares

with Magic Looms, and then

combine those squares

to make other charming things.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Like this

tiny bog coat

that I made with

four little squares

from the 2 inch

Magic Loom.

Here’s the link

to that tutorial:

Bog Coat on the Magic Loom

The coat in the photo is about 3 inches tall, but, you could make a full size Bog coat for yourself with the Magic Looms.

I’ve made a video tutorial explaining how to work with the Magic Loom: Hope it’s helpful!:

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

It’s a little

robot with

lots of  articulations

that allow the

arms to be

manipulated into

any position

that you need.

The little robot

introduced me

to the wonders of the

alligator clip.

Well, perhaps it wasn’t truly an introduction to the alligator clip…. wikipedia says that alligator clips are often used by dentists to clip the bib around the victim …erm… patient’s neck.

So, I guess I would have been in close contact with alligator clips before my husband’s spiffy little gift revealed the wonders of the alligator clip to me. But, I am a whole lot more relaxed in the studio than the dentist’s chair, so I am not in the least bit surprised that the dental use of the alligator clip seemed particularly novel to me when I looked them up on wiki.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I googled to see

if alligator clips are

available online,

and yes they are.

You can also get

them in hobby shops

and hardware stores.

This is good because

they are so handy.

See how I have a

curtain hook in one of them?

Why?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

That’s because I like

being able to hang

things that I am

painting or

varnishing while

they dry.

The alligator clip

holds things beautifully

in it’s fierce little jaws.

This makes drying

paint and varish

so much easier.

Many hands make light work.

My mother always used to say that, and I agree, but if you only have 2 hands, adding  a few alligator clips will also make light work!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

For instance: Alligator clips are great at

holding onto

paper and small objects.

I glued the alligator clips

into the heavy wire from

wire coat hangers.

Then I cut and decorated

the bases, and glued the wire

into the base.

The clip holds papers, jewelry,

(and other goodies)

securely.

Ms Kitty approves.  And, so do I.

So, there you have it. Another great little tool that helps to make life flow more easily in the studio.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Check out her website: Nicky Epstein

copyright Sixth and Spring Books

If you are already a fan of Nicky Epstein,

you are going to be thrilled with

Knitting a Kiss In Every  Stitch:

Creating Gifts for the People You Love

And, if you weren’t a fan before,

you most certainly will be

after you see this lovely,

delight filled treasure of a book.

This is a book that is

all about love:

The love of knitting,

the love of great, and inspiring

designs, and the pleasures of  putting love into action by making wonderful gifts.

It’s a beautiful book, built on an excellent concept, and filled with gorgeous photos of inspiring projects.

Here’s A knitting tip from Nicky Epstein: Update With Embellishments
“Make knitted flowers, leaves, tassels, balls, pom-poms or corkscrews to add interest to pieces that you have already made, such as baby sweaters, hats, bags, socks and slippers—or you can even add them to purchased items such as handbags, shoes, scarves, socks or sweaters. Also, you can use them on gift-wrappings or as luggage identification.”

Here’s a link to order Knitting a Kiss in Every Stitch: Sixth and Spring (The publisher supplied the review copy, but I do not profit in any way by listing the link to them)

Knitting a Kiss in Every Stitch is a winner, and will be a perenial favorite.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

You can make a right proper

hodgepodge of most things

‘fiber artery’,

and mostly,

not booger the blazes out of the yarn.

And the best part is…

with most of the fiber arts

(except for tatting, which

is lametably un-rip it rip it rip it-able)

you can ‘frog’ that

messed up project

right back down to it’s yarnie little zero state, and start all over again, no harm done, kiss and make up and better luck next time!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I did some

serious ‘frogging’

today…..

‘rip it rip it rip it’

(ribbit ribbit=frog it).

Several years ago,

I wove a couple of

boring, bland, unlovely

3 inch wide weft faced bands.

Why?

I have absolutely no idea.

Obviously, I recognized that I had gone off the rails, because I cut the warp off the loom, rolled the poor misbegotten mess up and stuck it away in a drawer.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I’ve been working on

a ’stash buster’ piece,

and have busted my stash

quite effectively.

As I was rooting

around the studio,

convinced that I had

more #10 crochet cotton

in my stash (I am sure I do!

WHERE did I put it? ack!)

I discovered the horrible

roll of pathetic weaving.

Most sane people would have tossed it.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Not me.

Nosirreee….

I wanted stash busting cotton,

and by gum,

stash busting cotton was right at hand,

although,

it  kind of got out of hand

every once in a snaggly while,

as I patiently, obsessively

un-wove the bands (there were 2 of the dadgummed things!

I ask you…. what ever possessed me?)

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Anyhow,

with patience

and persistance,

and yes,

a whole bunch of

forgiveness,

I have ended up

with some

deliciously enticing

cotton, just beckoning

me to play with it.

And, no, I will not be making a frog with it.

Yes, frogs and frogging  are definitely a wonderful metaphor for forgiveness:

After all, how often do we get a second chance to weave something new from the tatters of an old mistake?

Sure, it might have knots and wavey bits, but those are just a reminder that we can indeed let go of our ‘oopses’ and make something new, in a new way. Here’s to forgiveness!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Chloë  has 2 offerings for the Artsy Bloggers links this week:

Arts & Crafts Examiner :
The latest Twilight Movie is coming out soon – celebrate the launch with these fun New Moon crafts.
Celebrate-the-release-of-New-Moon-by-making-your-own-Twilight-crafts

Gadabout Media DIY :
You don’t need any fancy gadgets to make round yo-yos – Chloe shows you how with this easy tutorial.
tutorial-of-the-day-round-yo-yos/

Cyndi has some beading tips for you:

Beading Arts :
Make a batch of little beaded flowers, and before you know it you’ll have a necklace!
making-floral-necklace.html

This week, my contribution to the Artsy Bloggers is also a necklace:

Hankering for yarn :
Noreen has designed a gorgeous new Celtic Interlace necklace that gives a whole new way of looking at spool knitting!
spool-knitted-celtic-interlace-necklac/

Eileen has a fun tutorial for a wreath wall hanging:

The Artful Crafter
Make a pretty fall triple wreath wall hanging for your own wall or as a housewarming gift. With a little imagination, you can adapt the design for Christmas or just about any other occasion/season.
fall-triple-wreath-wall-hanging.html

And, we are welcoming a new member to the group:

June has designed a new card:

Creative Dreamer:
June  designed, and is offering a free file for a card on her blog:
invitation.html

Speaking of new members, we are also open to accepting new members into the Artsy Bloggers group…. What do you need to do to be part of the group? Well, you have to be regularly blogging about the arts and crafts and to be willing to post a link to the group each week and then to post the collection of everyone’s links to your blog once a week.

If you are interested, send me an email with a link to your blog, and I will pass it along to the moderator of the group!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

copyright Sixth and Spring books

Are you familiar with Kristin Nicolas’s work?

Check out her website: Kristin

And, now, prepare yourself for a treat!

Color by Kristin: How to design your own beautiful knits

by Kristin Nicholas has just been released and it is gorgeous beyond belief!

It’s a gloriously, deliciously inspiring book by master knitter and designer, Kristin Nicholas.

Do yourself a favour and buy yourself a copy of this book- call it a holiday present for yourself, because you’ll be transported by the beauty of the photographs. That’s a very inexpensive holiday, isn’t it? Open the book, get swept away? Sounds good to me!

Besides, you will want to make almost everything in the book as gifts for your loved ones, and okay, you’re going to want to make at least 3/4 of them for yourself, too….

The designs range in difficulty from entry level right up to advanced level knitting. There is everything from the world’s neatest knitted slippers (The Shepherd socks- ohhhhhhhhhhh I have to find time to knit some of those……..)

Recently, I asked Kristin a few questions about her work.

Here are my questions in green and  her responses:

I suppose it is the need to be creative. Somehow, someway, I try to be creative every day. It isn’t always about knitting or textiles. Some days it may be taking photos for my blog, cooking a good meal, rearranging stuff, sewing a shirt or pants. I think it is the act of creation that I like the most (including writing blog posts and photographing things for my blog).

I like to work on big projects that take a long time (i.e. a book, redecorating a house). Even though it seems that no progress is being made, eventually the whole thing is done and it is time to start something else. A book is a very cool thing because you have something that you can hold in your hand. I can look at it and say “I made that” and it feels good (usually).

2] What do you feel is the most delicious thing that is capturing your attention for future design work?

I am still in a color crazed knitting mood at the moment. I have people asking me to do my old stand-by’s “cabled designs but I am resisting. I am so much loving the color thing. I can’t get enough of mixing colors together whether it be striping, Fair-Isling, embroidering or painting my house.

3] Do you have any stumbling blocks in your work that tend to trip you up? AND- are there any ’saving graces’ that get you out of design dilemmas?

Procrastination – that is my worst stumbling block. I leave everything to the last minute and then panic about the deadline.

As for Saving Grace – Deadlines!

If I didn’t have a deadline, I never would get anything done.

4] Does where you live have an impact on you as a designer?

I live on a sheep farm in rural New England about two hours from Boston and 3 hours from New York City. It surely isn’t the fashion capital of the world. Our house is very old (for the US, that is). It was built in 1751 and parts of it are rather drafty and down-right cold. All winter long, the three of us are covered in woolens – sweaters, hats, afghans, throws, winter wooly coats, hats, mittens, gloves. You get the picture.

There is also about 6 months of gray when all the leaves are off the trees, there is snow, rain, or sleet outside. Our dirt road is made of a gravel in a neutral gray color. All winter long I have to find color other places. Color makes me feel happy and safe and warm. My family and I are surrounded with color everywhere we look and we all love it. And so, that is why I knit with color all winter long.

5] You are obviously passionate about color. What else do you savor and focus on in your design work?

I live on a farm at the end of a dirt road and natural materials abound. I like working with natural fibers whether they are wool, cashmere, mohair, alpaca, and cotton in my fiber/knitting/embroidery life.

But in my other life (my husband and I are sheep farmers), I love all the natural materials including seeds, the dirt, sunflowers, hay, leaves, raw dirty fleece. I love how natural things feel and sound when you work with them or just plain observe them – snapping twigs, leaves crunching underfoot, corn shucks twisting and folding, the wind whipping through the trees. I like to do flower arranging, gardening, interior decorating and use authentic things in those works.

(A couple of Christmases ago I did a tutorial on my blog on little birch houses and I still get numerous hits from it each week.)

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Well…. I didn’t  think that the buttons were hideously ugly…. just kind of

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

hopelessly kitschy.

I certainly wouldn’t

have bought them….

but the upcycler in

me just could not

resist the challenge.

I wondered if I could ever use the buttons in a reasonable way.

Hmmm… I could cover them with fabric, if worst came to worst…

This evening, I was looking for something else, and found the poor much maligned buttons.

I thought…. why don’t I use a flower from my flower looms and a little spool knitting and make a flower doll?

Why not indeed?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

So, I spool knitted

2 cords- an 8 inch one

and a 4 inch one.

And, I took one

of the flowers

that I had previously

made with my flower loom,

and plugged in my

hot glue gun.

I don’t usually use a hot glue gun in doll making, but, I was feeling kind of , ‘ah, what the heck’- so, what the heck?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

First,I glued the face button

to the flower.

Then, I folded the

8 inch cord in half,

and glued it to the

flower.

I made feet on the long

cord and hands

on the short cord

by folding the ends over,

wrapping and gluing to secure them.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I glued the arms to the

body and made a little

paper heart by

punching out a heart

from a piece of junk mail.

I glued it on, and

Voila!

A surprisingly sweet

little flower doll.

So, the next time someone

says to you:

“Blech! This is soooooooooooo ugly I am going to throw it in the trash!”, you might just want to think for a moment before you let them toss it.  A very sweet little doll might be hidden in the “ugliness”.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here’s another of my

most favorite tools

of the designer and author’s trade.

What is it?

A spreadsheet.

Why is a spreadsheet

such a big deal?

Believe me…

it’s truly one of

my favorite tools for a lot of reasons!

This is the spreadsheet from my latest book: The Woven Bag (the link is to Amazon, but it’s not one of the payback links…. it’s just the only link that I can find to the book at this point…. )

Anyhow…. when I am creating a book, there is a TON of information that I need to organize. I designed about 37 bags for the book. I needed to keep track of a whole bunch of things for each of the bags….. a million piece of information were flying and whizzing around my head, believe me!

As well as all of the information about each of the bags, I also had all kinds of other things that needed to get into the book- all manner of how to’s and illustrations and charts.

There were different deadlines that had to be met, and because I was zipping stuff off to my editor all the time, I needed to know when I sent what.

So, you can see why I would love spreadsheets so much!

It gives me a chance to break down and organize a mountain of information into an easily accessible, visual format that lets me pinpoint everything I need to keep track of.

There are categories like chapters, projects, which looms are used in which bags, what fibers and embellishments, whether illustrations and charts are done,  the dates when different deadlines are met, as well as text requirements for each piece.

I also like to establish codes that match up on the spreadsheet, to help me with the whole organizing process.

For me, working on  a huge project like writing a book requires that I summon all the organizational skills that I can muster.

A book may look like it’s just a collection of some projects and that the author probably had lots of fun whipping it up, but the truth of the matter is that the creation of a book takes monumental effort that is almost mind boggling.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

copyright Taunton Books

I hopped up and down,

pointing at this totally

awesome book that I

bought more than 15 years ago.

Luckily,

Hand Manipulated Stitches

for Machine Knitters

by Susan Guagliumi,

published by Taunton Press,

in 1990, is still available.

This book is stuffed full of

useful ways of maximizing

the creative possibilities of working with knitting machines.

It’s one of those ‘foundation’ books that you just have to have if you are going to be using the knitting machine as a tool in your fiber arts.

I am soooooooooo glad that it is still in print, and I hope that it will stay in print for a long long time…. this book is an excellent textbook on making gorgeous, complex fabrics on  the knitting machine. The secret is in  using simple tools that you use to move the stitches around in logical and fascinating sequences.

I’ve been working with knitting machines for decades. I actually bought my first knitting machine when I was 15 years old.

I have owned many different knitting machines over the years, and at this point, am down to just one- a rather simple bulky style machine that doesn’t read cards, but still allows me to make all manner of fun stuff.

Here are a few links to posts that I have written about  few knitting machine projects:

Working short rows to knit a round baby blanket: a-baby-blankie-for-fathers-day/
and here’s a quick tute on a super simple lace edging:
a-lace-edging-worked-on-a-knitting-machine

Using a knitting machine to make the edging for handwoven placemats: knitting-machine-edging-for-woven-placemats/

Knitting machines have much in common with looms, and many weavers are quite fluent on both knitting machines and looms. Both have so much potential for creating absolutely glorious fiber arts. Bliss. Pure bliss.

Post from: Hankering for Yarn