Recently,  I mailed a crochet hook that I had carved to England. It’s an homage to  Jane Austen, and Carolyn won her in The Faces Of Joy Challenge.
I asked Carolyn to please take some pictures of the Jane Austen hook when it arrived in England.  I was delighted that Jane Austen was going home, and looked forward to seeing the hook in England.
WELL!
I was completely awestruck and enchanted when Carolyn sent me photos of Jane Austen REALLY going home!
Carolyn made a trip to Chawton, just so she could take pictures of the Homage to Jane Austen hook ‘at home’ in …read more

It’s been so crazy busy around here that Jim and I have not had much chance of keeping up with our spool knitters.
A few weeks ago, I begged him to puhleeeeeeeeeeeeeeze spend some time at the lathe for me… so, bless his heart, he picked up his chisels and started turning….. yay!

Ah, bliss….. I love having all that ‘blank canvas’ potential!
And here’s what I’ve been up to in betwixt and between meeting book deadlines…
A Fairy Door Mighty Mamma…..

There were 2 Homages  to Jane Austen, but one of them has already flown away.
This Jane Austen is wearing a blue cloak.

And, last …read more

What on earth does Jane Austen have to do with Panda Bears?
Here’s the scoop – I have been working on a new Jane Austen spool knitter for weeks now.
It really hasn’t gone well. I have drawn the face at least 7 times, and each time, I have ended up sanding it off the spool knitter. argh.
I ended up painting layers of gesso on the spool knitter and just leaving the white ‘ghost of spool knitter future’ sitting on my desk.
I asked Jim to turn me another Jane Austen and he looked significantly over at the verrrrrrrrrrrry blank one. Oh …read more

I am just loving working on this series of Jane Austen spool knitters.
It just delights me every time Jim comes in from the workshop with a new ‘Jane’ that he has turned.
At some point, I am actually going to get to live with one of them. But for now, they keep getting adopted and flying away.
Hmmmmm…… I suppose I really ought to design a spool knitted Jane Austen doll…… hmmmmmmmmm

For the last week, this Jane Austen spool knitter has been sitting on my desk, unpainted.
I have been waiting for the perfect moment  to start drawing  the image on it.
All of a sudden, today it just seemed like the right time to draw her…. so  here she is!
Homage to Jane Austen in a lace trimmed cap………

An ‘e’ friend of mine, Marian Clark, has the most extraordinary collection of spool knitters I have ever seen.
 
She fell in love with the Jane Austen with a purple cape Spool knitter and bought it. She also bought the -next-
Jane Austen, even though I was still working on it, and hadn’t photographed it yet!
 

One of the things that is a bit tricky about being a designer and author and dedicated blogger, is that I can’t talk about the new designs that I am working on, until they get published.
So, I am steaming along on new work that has got me just beside myself with excitement….. and I can’t say peep about it!
BUT, luckily, I am working on other things that I can chat away about like mad.
One of the things that I am sooooooooo excited about is our new series of Jane Austen Spool knitters.
Jim’s really busy these days, so he doesn’t have …read more

I am just in seventh heaven.
PBS is having a Jane Austen extravaganza that has me completely blissed.
I’ve been a Jane Austen fanatic since I was 11 years old, and still have my first copy of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ that  started my addiction.
 
I’ve been working madly to deadline on new design work, so haven’t had time to get to the Jane Austen spool knitters that I have been languishing to start.
 
I met a pile of deadlines this week, so I took a breather, and finished up this first Homage to Jane Austen spool knitter.
 
I made a Jane Austen crochet hook a …read more