For the last few days, I have been posting about spinning paper yarn from streamers that I brought home from the Blue Man show.
With the upcycled paper yarn,
I wove a Unicorn.
crocheted a fairy
and crocheted a basket.
I am down to the
last of the Blue Man
streamer paper yarn,
so I feel like I want to
make something
that is a ’statement’ piece…..
I have been mulling and mulling it over… after all, this is quite special yarn, so I want to design and make something that is worthy of the yarn. I also want it to be fun, and quirky and funky and tongue in cheek.
A …read more

A few weeks ago, I was enchanted by finding this adorable little vintage Sunbonnet Sue Needlebook in a second hand store:
Poor little thing… she’s very stained, and rather frayed around the edges.
Even so, she stole my heart, and I knew that I just had to see if I could rescue and re-create her.
If you are wondering what a needle book is, it’s a rather sweet bit of stitchery history.
Needlebooks are small ‘books’ with cloth pages that are alternatives to pin cushions.
Needles are stored in the inner pages of the needlebook.
Her front and back are way out of kilter with each …read more

When my daughter got married a couple of years ago, I carved her a one of a kind crochet hook. I wrote on it:
Wherever you go
whatever you do
be happy
and know
that
I love you…..
Guess you can tell that I adore her….. LOL!
I took pics of the process of carving the one of a kind crochet hook, and have  just put them together as a video tutorial.
Remember: Always wear safety equipment and work carefully!
Carving a handmade crochet hook is a slow and meticulous process.
You will need to work carefully, using close grain hardwood that can sustain the pressure of the carving, and even …read more

Last Sunday, when my husband, Jim’s trio was playing at the Blue Chair, I brought along my little Flip video camera, and taped a few lovely moments to share….
I was weaving away on my potholder loom, so there’s even a little fiber content in the video!
Jim wrote ‘Gypsy Girl’ for me…. sigh……  having him write music for me is one of the most incredible gifts I have ever received!
I was sitting quite far away from the bass player, so, sadly, you don’t hear much of the bass.
I was sitting with one of my closest friends, who hadn’t heard ‘Gypsy Girl’ …read more

Contemplative Crochet: A Hands-on guide for interlocking faith and craft by Cindy Crandall-Frazier
is a lovely book, that is indeed true to it’s title: It is deeply contemplative.
Cindy Crandall-Frazier has written meditations that are linked to key issues in the life of anyone who is looking for ways of deepening their spiritual path.
Ms Crandall-Frazier writes from the perspective of being a Quaker, and her book reflects the gentleness and respectful approach to life of the Quaker’s path.
The book has 10 chapters. In each one there is an exploration of a spiritual concept, and musings about artists who are embodying those themes …read more

Have you ever had a day that wasn’t really all that different from any other day,
and yet….
somehow….
it filled you with delight….. just to be alive?
A few years ago, I was working away in my studio, and was in a state of pure enjoyment,
as ideas were flowing and projects were just chugging along and everything felt
wonderful!
I grabbed my sketchbook and made some quick drawings of how I felt about the lusciousness of a day of happy work and feeling blessed.  Then, I made a doll-
that was the first of many, many variations on the drawings. The photo to the right is …read more

In March, I ran 3 contests on Hankering for Yarn.
One of the contests was the Compassionate Crochet contest.
The winner of that contest, Barbara Pretzsch, has proved herself
to be a winner in more ways than one!
Barbara has used the kit that she won to create a whole collection
of compassion caps and has shipped them off to the Knots of Love folks
so they can distribute them to cancer patients.
Bless your heart, Barbara, and thank you!

Yesterday, I began the ‘Face of Joy Challenge’. So, that has me thinking about how to show the Face of Joy in as many ways as possible.
It’s a F A C E of Joy challenge, right?
Soooooooooooo…..
that means that the face doesn’t have to belong to human being.
AND……
I did say that for this challenge,
WIRE counts as yarn, right?
So……..
my entry for ‘The Face of Joy’ challenge for today
is
A teddy bear that I crocheted from 28 gauge coppper wire.
He has a big heart and a happy disposition.
He’s got wooden beads inside his head and his tummy to keep him
from squishing flat when he’s …read more

Any month that starts with with a day of foolishness deserves to have a celebration of playfulness, doesn’t it?
I’ve been reading up on ‘play’ (click the link to read what wikipedia has to say about play)
and playfulness.
Expert after expert has talked about the importance of being playful
for our entire lives.
There was a wonderful conference about Serious Play last year.
All the experts agree:
Play is essential to our well being, in body, mind and spirit – as individuals and as communities.
Being playful can alleviate all kinds of stress.
Playfulness increases resiliency and flexibility….and, whew… do we ever need to be flexible these days!
Because …read more

Okay… now, here is an invitation that is hard to resist….
The invitation is  from Luib na Lùban, (Lùban air an Drochaid in Gaelic, pronounced, roughly, “Loooban er n drawkitch”),
which translates to: In Amongst the Stitches.
They are  a new textile art group in Skye, Scotland, that is inviting all Scots, ex-pats, Scotophiles and any other stitching folk  to take part in a wild and woolie project to cover the Skye Bridge in knitting and crochet.
On their Ravelry page, they have listed the dimensions of all the pieces that they need. (They need a lot, and don’t worry, the pieces won’t be …read more