I’ve been posting about flower looms lately, because a dear friend sent me a box of flower and magic looms.
The flowers from
flower looms work
beautifully  in combination
with crochet.
I quite like using
unusual yarns with
the flower looms.
This is slubbly quite
hefty silk handspun
in a shawl.
Here are a
bunch of flower loom
flowers in another
shawl- also all
made in handspun yarns.
The rainbow  flower
was made with
spool knitted cord
on a flower loom.
The white flower
was made with chained
yarn…..
so you can really play with
your yarn before you use it
with a flower loom.
What are those flowers part of?
Well…
a wild and wonderful
freeform crocheted, spool knitted,
tatted, woven, sewn, sculpted
doll made with all manner of
found objects.
Yes…. …read more

What a crazy day.
My day went sideways when I found out that I had a big whalloping error in my  crocheted Shadow pattern. ERG!
I re-did the chart and fixed the error in the text and sent out the corrections to all the people who had ordered the pattern.
Then…. I noticed….. that….. AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH……. there was another typo!
I ran, screaming from the room….. and then came back and fixed it, and sent the correction off agaaaaaaaaaaaain!
Through all the ‘ruptions’
Ms Kitty was keeping me company,
purring away,
and looking all squidgie eyed at me,
telling me that she still loves me,
even though
I was having a horrible
terrible, …read more

One of the pleasures of painting with yarn and a crochet hook is to explore the subtleties of blending colors by combining yarns with threads.
Oops…
this yarn isn’t
crocheted, it’s
spool knitted.
I spun it from
a variegated roving,
but found the color breaks
to be too sharp.
So, I plied it with a thin
slubby strand of brown silk thread.
This toned down the color breaks and made the yarn more visually cohesive.
This golden
yarn was just a little
bit flat looking.
Combining it with a
strand of very thin
variegated thread gives
it depth and more
life- it’s a far more interesting
fabric than when the gold
yarn is used on it’s own.
I crocheted these two
Shadow Scarves
using  …read more

A couple of days ago, I showed a quick and easy way to use spool knitting to embellish a handmade mask.
There are also tutorials
on the web
for spectacular
masks for
crocheters and
tatters.
Here are links for some dazzlers:
Have you seen the tutorial for the exquisite Tatted Mask on Instructables? Awe inspiring!
And, here’s a link for a gorgeous Hairpin Lace  Mask from Stitch Diva.
If you are looking for something a little more whimsical, then Melissa Mall’s crocheted critter  1/2 masks on Crochet Me might be just perfect: Critter masks
If you would like to be inspired  by the sculptural potential of crochet, then definitely check out …read more

I am always slightly edgie when a publisher sends me a book to review.  That’s because I only will post reviews of books that I like.     As an author myself, I KNOW how much hard work and heart and soul goes into writing a book. I am not willing to post a negative review. So, when I get a book that has me doing a huge happy dance, the way this one has, I am a very happy camper.
I absolutely LOVE
‘Super Finishing
Techniques for
Crocheters:
Inspiration, projects
and more for
finishing crochet projects
with style’ by
Betty Barnden
published by
St. Martin’s Griffin.
This book is just plain …read more

Last night, instead of going to sleep, I lay there, thinking about how wonderful the Crocheted Shadow Scarf would be if I made it with copper wire.
Sleep just went out the
window as I thought
about how
I could use the
crocheted shadow
scarf as a necklace.
I should have just gotten
up and crocheted it then,
but I lay there, squeezing
my eyelids, trying
hard to NOT think about
crochet, and longing
to be asleep…..
Eventually,
I managed to
fall asleep, but
leapt out of bed
to grab my
crochet hook
bright and
early.
I thought that
the crocheted
shadow would
work really well
with a huge lump
of amber that I had
crocheted into a wire necklace.
But.. I was surprised to discover
that it didn’t work …read more

I love taking photographs of shadows.
I find the distortion and playfulness
of shadow images to be endlessly fascinating.
For a long time,
I have been
contemplating
designing
a series of
scarves that
are crocheted
shadows.
I have been posting for days now about spinning the streamers from the Blue Man show.
I wove a Unicorn with the first of the upcycled paper yarn, then a Fairy doll, then a basket.
As I came to the end of the paper yarn, I realized that I just had to do something very special with the yarn.
When I flipped my sketchbook open to start some new drawings, I saw sketches and notes that I have …read more

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

For the last few days, I have been posting about some fun projects. I have designed and made  them with paper yarn that I spun from streamers that I brought home from the Blue Man show.
Yesterday, I posted about
a fairy that I designed and crocheted
with the upcycled
handspun paper yarn .
I wasn’t sure if I
would add hair or not,
so I photoshopped some in.
And, I loved it,
so, today I stitched
hair onto the fairy doll.
I find it frustrating that
I can’t get the fairy’s
pointy ears to show up
in the photo! humph!
I love
crocheting baskets.
Of course, I
couldn’t resist
using the paper yarn
to crochet at least one
basket.
I …read more

Yesterday,  I posted about the Unicorn that I wove with paper yarn that I spun from streamers from the Blue Man show.
Today, I used the
upcycled paper yarn
to crochet a
fairy doll to
keep the Unicorn
company.
Crocheting the
paper yarn is
a touch tricky.
It will break  if you pull too hard on it.
At the same time,
it has no flex to it,
so it is a lot like
crocheting wire.
So, you have to
be gentle with
the paper yarn,
and gentle with
your tendons.
It’s a delicate balance.
Rather like riding a unicorn…..
While I was crocheting the fairy,
I had some questions.
Here’s the  fairy doll.
I was wondering….
should I add hair?
should I paint
the fairy doll
a color,
or combination
of …read more