My daughter, Chloe Findlay-Harder,  has been organizing some things in her studio.
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,
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
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 …read more

Since the beginning of time, people have made baskets.
They are useful,
and can be embellished
in endless ways
to make them one of a kind.
There are a million ways to make a basket.
One of the most fun
ways of making
baskets is to spool knit them.
To make a
spool knitted
basket,
you’ll need to
spool knit a heap
of cord.
Luckily, this is a
very pleasant and
contemplative task.
Make a couple
of yards each of
2 contrasting colors.
I like to use my 2 peg
Cordelia spool knitters
as they are so speedy
when I’m spooling up lots of cord.
Making a basket
is much easier if
you have a mold
to shape it over.
So, for this basket,
I used an empty
olive oil tin.
Trace …read more

I am in the middle of trying to re-configure my studio so that the spaces work better.
I want to be able to get at my yarn and tools quickly and  easily, but keep them away from mischevious cats and small wicked dogs (yarnaholic animal companions are a pain in the skein!).
I am blessed with a large studio that we heat with a wood burning stove in winter and big south facing windows.
This is great, but oh so dusty, so I can’t have my yarn displayed openly.
Having a big studio means we have a tiny bedroom. That’s mostly okay, as I …read more

I’ve been working hard to get my studio more organized, and have put up a shelf full of boxes. They hold roving and fleece that I will be spinning (eventually… I am deep into meeting deadlines on my new book, and I am not spinning yarn for it, so the roving has to wait).
Even though I don’t have time to get to it, I still like to know what’s where.   I bought some of these thingies a few years back [for some wooden boxes that I've since given away]:

I took the bolts out and measured half way up the box

and …read more

I’ve been posting about organizing yarn stashes
Here’s one of my most favorite book cases. It’s GREAT for storing yarn and stashes:

We found it at a garage sale. For FREE! The lady who owned it reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hated it. (I didn’t ask why).
On the second shelf, I have a heap of yarn in wire baskets from a retired freezer.
They came from another garage sale.
They are good in that I can see the yarns and colors, but tend to latch onto one another and launch themselves at me if I pull on one of them without anchoring the others. erg. There’s …read more

A constant question for yarn aholics yarn afficianado’s is: ‘ACK!!!!!!!! My stash has eaten my house! HELP? ‘ um…. ‘How do I store my yarn so it’s easy to get to but out of sight of cats, dogs, friends and relations?’

Here are a few pics of some of the ways that I deal with my stash of yarns and rovings:
Rule #1 for yarn storage: Any piece of furniture that is high enough to have yarn stored under it is fair game in our house.

This pic shows the old family …read more

Suzanne Shafer-Wilson creates the most beautiful baskets in a medley of mediums.
Some of her baskets are made with copper and silver wire. They look like they could float away, they are so airy and bouyant.
Others are earthy and solid… being made of the stuff of life itself.
For your hit of inspiration today, definitely check out her website:
Basketry art