One of the important keys to creativity is to give ourselves the permission that we so desperately need to simply play.
Play? Yes!
It’s essential to be willing to break through the rules and conventions we set up for ourselves
and to be willing to try new things.
We need to be able to take artistic risks and
to suspend judgement long enough to experiment with new approaches,
new techniques, new thoughts…
or to look again at the ways we have always worked and
to see if there is a hidden treasure waiting to be re-discovered, re-invented, re-created.
So, give yourself permission to play, play and play some more, …read more

The oddest thing happened with one of my knitted doll designs…..
One of my most favorite designs is for a doll I named Lily.

The pattern for Lily sold really well. I kept having to reprint her, but then a strange thing happened.  The masters for the pattern simply disappeared! pooft!
Vanished.
I ripped the studio apart…. no Lily masters.
So, sadly, I took her down off my website.
As I was working on the Elspeth and friends dolls 
and then Esperanza,  I thought: I have GOT to find the  Lily masters!
Well! I tore the studio apart looking for the masters.
No joy.
I looked for the Lily doll.  …read more

Yay! I have finally finished the PDF for the Knitted Esperanza Doll. I’m doing the happy dance. )
I’ve been working on this PDF for ages. But, you know how it goes….. deadlines and a million other things come up, and things get pushed to the edges until they fall off the radar screen.
Last night, a note popped up in my email, saying that a lady wanted to order the pdf. Yoicks!
I pulled up the file and realized that it was no where near ready to go!
I looked at the charts and went: Phooey! NOT …read more

Lately, I have been posting lots of my ‘easiest ever’ designs.
Crocheted caps,
and  mittens,
and easiest ever knitted bears, dolls and toys 
So, I have decided that it’s time to post a more involved pattern.
I am going to be uploading the pattern for my design for a knitted fairisle pattern doll, Elspeth…..

So, if you’re up for a slightly more challenging knit…
stay tuned!

When I was a kid, and someone would skip classes, they were said to be ‘playing hookie’. Do they still say that?
Anyhow, while the servers were down, and I couldn’t work on my blog, I finally got to work and pulled together all the pics of the new crochet hooks  that I have been carving.
I had kind of lost track of them! LOL!
I had to rummage around the studio to find them and get them organized and measured and photographed and photoshopped and finally up on my website.
(I have been neglecting my website because of focusing on blogworld, so when …read more

I am a total Jane Austen freak.  I got addicted to Jane Austen when I was 11 years old, and I have re-read her novels hundreds of times.   I still have my first copy of ‘Pride and Prejudice’ that I bought from the book club at school.
I have designed all kinds of dolls in homage to Jane Austen, including a :knitted Jane Austen doll:

Sooooooooooooo………
I am utterly ecstatic that PBS is running a series on Masterpiece theatre, showcasing all her novels.
Persuasion  was brilliant. Perfecto!  
Ditto for Northanger Abbey. In fact, it’s my least favorite of all her novels…. BUT, this …read more