‘Ugh!’, said the daughter of the woman who was holding the garage sale, ‘Take those ugly buttons, away! Please! Free!  Just take them!’
Well…. I didn’t  think that the buttons were hideously ugly…. just kind of
hopelessly kitschy.
I certainly wouldn’t
have bought them….
but the upcycler in
me just could not
resist the challenge.
I wondered if I could ever use the buttons in a reasonable way.
Hmmm… I could cover them with fabric, if worst came to worst…
This evening, I was looking for something else, and found the poor much maligned buttons.
I thought…. why don’t I use a flower from my flower looms and a little spool …read more

A tiny bog coat for Albert Einstein?  Say What?
The other day,
on one of my fave lists,
someone posted a link
to Bog Coats.
Bog Coats are an
ancient style of
woven coat that
are rather like
a kimono.
They are made from a
rectangular or square
woven piece of fabric
and are simple to make
but offer endless opportunities for embellishment and exploration.
Because I have been playing with tiny vintage Magic Looms that a friend sent to me, I immediately thought-
Woohoo! I could use the Magic Loom to make a tiny bog coat that would work as a Christmas ornament…….
I knew that I wouldn’t be
able to cut into the fabric
made on the …read more

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

About 5 years ago, my sister-in-law bought a blue polka dot teddy bear at at garage sale when she was visiting us.
She gave it to me, and I had an idea….
For years,
my sisters in law
had been giving each
other the same
cardboard box
back and forth
back and forth
at Christmas time.
That little box
held many gifts
and many memories.
It got shabbier and shabbier as the years went by, but, it became more precious even, than the gifts it contained.
We all would look for ‘the box’ to see how it was holding up.
Well, when the polka dot bear came in the door, I thought… ‘Hmmmm, what if …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

Well, the guests have gone home, the dishes are washed, and now it’s all about the blissy memories.
Today, we had a baby shower for our daughter.
Oh wow the preparations!
We were turbo charged!
My husband was outside,
busting his chops,
getting the yard tidied,
while one of his visiting
sisters helped with the mowing.
His other sister was vacuuming
and cleaning sinks etc, (bless them both!)
while Darlin’ Daughter-in-law
was baking her world famous
lemon merangue pies.
The house was looking pretty bad,
because I have been quite sick for a couple of weeks, so things had seriously slipped…. so we were all racing around, getting  things organized and cleaned (entertaining is HARD …read more

My husband’s sisters are visiting us and it’s great! Last night, Sis said that she wanted to make a God’s Eye ornament but couldn’t remember how to do it.
Of course, I immediately thought…. ooooooooooooh! You could make such a neat doll using the God’s Eye wrapping technique.
Sis wanted
to make
hers with
toothpicks
and size 10
crochet cotton
from Coats.
To get started,
glue 2 toothpicks
together and
tie on the cotton.
Wrap the thread in an ‘X’
around the center.
To make a larger
scale God’s Eye,
tie 2 twigs together.
The thread
(in this case, hemp cord
from Jolly Store)
is wrapped
around one arm,
taken to the back,
and wrapped around the next arm.  Keep turning the God’s Eye, …read more

Ouch! The last couple of weeks have been very challenging courtesy of some seriously owee stuff going on with my teeth and jaw.
Since I am a
great believer
in the healing
power of the fiber arts,
and especially of
doll making, I decided
that I would make
myself a tooth fairy
doll to bolster my
immune system
and to help me
lighten up in
my response to the pain in my jaw.
So, I got out my sketchbook, and did some drawings, and then set to work on making myself a little Tooth Fairy Doll .
She’s a pin doll, so I can wear her on my lapel.  I really enjoyed making her.
After I …read more

One way of organizing yarns and threads is to wind them onto bobbins. This works great, but can use up all your bobbins.
Why not upcycle paper into wrapped quills instead of using bobbins?  and who knows?
You might get inspired,
like I did, and wind your thread
into sculptural forms like these
Wrapped Thread Goddesses of Upcycling!
I am lucky enough to have
a bobbin winder for  the long bobbins
used in weaving shuttles.
I have found that winding bobbins
is a great way to store yarn and thread,
as it makes dense, compact units of thread
or yarn that are often smaller than the way
the yarn or thread originally entered …read more

When I first saw Donni Webber’s work, I felt like I had entered a magical place, full of fairies and gnomes. I knew that I had to interview her for Hankering for Yarn.
Donni has graciously responded to my questions, which are in GREEN.  I am sure that you are going to love her work as much as I do…..

Your  felted dolls are so enchanting. They look to me like they are inspired by Waldorf philosophy. Is this right? How has Waldorf schooling impacted your life and your work?

I grew up in South Africa and had the most magical childhood. My …read more