There’s the Ladybug Valentine Heart hook

and a few other ones

AND…. I have just finished painting and burning one of the new Heart hooks:

I have been mulling over and contemplating lots of issues-

Like….. what is home……. (we’re in the process of getting ready to move a BIG big move…). How do we create home when we leave a place that has been home, to make a new home….

Also, a door just snapped shut on a project that I’ve been very hopeful about.  Rats.

So, to re-group, I have really needed to spend time thinking about what it is I love to do.

And, to spend time DOING what I love to do.

So, I have been weaving up a storm on my small looms, and even if I say so myself,  I have been doing some REALLY terrific new designs.

And, one of the other things that really helps me get my head on straight again is to spend time working with wood.

Anyhow………. so………. I have been really thinking and doing stuff that is vital to my sense of self……

and here’s one of the things that has come out of that response to the pain of disappointment, rejection and frustration:

It’s my way of saying: I just have to stay with what I love, and find my way home in that feeling of love……….

Yep. One of the heart shape crochet hooks now has a portrait of a little house in the woods

The flash on the camera washed it out. Also, I photograph them before I varnish them, as the varnish flashes out, too, so the richness doesn’t show up.

Anyhow. This crochet hook says: Home. Love…..

and on the back:

a dragonfly. Because my best friend and I both saw a dragonfly on the uncarved hook.

So, the dragonfly stands for love and friendship, too…..

I have several friends who feel very strongly about dragonflies.

I am always awestruck when the dragonflies hatch and whirl and flicker and investigate their newly found wings.

It’s like they are saying:

‘Ah, so this….. T H I S ! is what I do now!

Yesterday, I lived in the water,

today I live in the air!’

Hmmm…. seems like a pretty good metaphor for someone who is wondering,

‘What next?’

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I’ve got a real bee in my bonnet about heart shapes on hooks, so I have been working on the two hooks from that posting. Now, there are 2 more that I have just started- I am learning how to turn crochet hooks on the lathe.

Here are the ones that I have done a combination of turning and carving on:

and here are the first two that I was wondering about before….

Now…… I need to start drawing, burning and painting the images on them.  The second one from the left is just begging for beads……

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Especially since it was a fairly arduous journey to get to the shape that I loved for the hooks!

I had a happy old time out in the workshop:

and eventually, another fine and fancy feline was beaming out at me!

Mrow!

Speaking of cats and all things feline, did you know that b5, the blogging company that I write for, has a pet blog?

AND a very cute blog focused on goofy cat pics? 

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

I’ve had one hook on the go for 6 months! Last summer, I started carving it, and got this far:

It has sat on my shelf, looking rough and woebegone, all abandoned and forsaken for month after month.

I just didn’t know what to do with it.

In November, it’s sister became Thumbelina .

More weeks passed, and still….. no clue about this hook.

Finally…. I had a lightbulb moment….  It was the inspiration of the  Kitty Valentine hook!

I fINALLY figured it out…..

This hook is meant to be a Valentine!

So, I got to work, carving, sanding, filing…..

and as I was working, I realized that this hook is a LADYBUG hook!

A ladybug on the front

and a heart on the back:

A Valentine that can make more Valentines!

I like that – it’s truly a gift that goes on giving…..

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

A couple of days ago, I carved a crochet hook that is a puppy. It only seemed right to carve a hook that would be a love song to all the cats who have brought joy into my life.

So, I got out a piece of wood and a pencil, and asked one of our cats to sit still long enough for me to sketch her…..

She’d rather cuddle than model.

It took me H O U R S and hours and hours to finally get the hook to express what I was feeling….

but eventually…….. after I loosened up and let the hook tell me where it wanted to go, I finally got it!

So, here it is……. a Valentine to all the cats whom I have loved over the years………

What kind of Valentine would you make for the cats, dogs, horses, frogs, ferrets, rats, gerbils, birds, fish or other critters that you have loved and been loved by?

(Friends of ours are vegetarian, so when they found a sow bug in their house, they couldn’t kill it and it was too cold to put it outside. So, they declared it to be a roommate, and put it in a jar with some munchies. Personally, I won’t be making Valentines for bugs…….. )

Post from: Hankering for Yarn