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

Yesterday, I posted about the woven Halloween dolls that I designed for Weavezine.
When I was getting
ready for taking
the photos of the
projects, I wanted
to make some
pumpkins that
were the right
size for the
dolls.
I decided that a
pumpkin pincushion
would be perfect.
When I cut out the fabric for the pincushion, I popped a scrap into one of the little cauldrons and that inspired me to make the first set of pincushions. ( I posted about them at pincushion cauldrons)
Here’s how I made
the pumpkin pincushion:
Cut a rectangle of
light weight orange fabric,
4 inches by 8 1/2 inches
on the bias.
Gather the upper and lower
long edges.
Stitch the short
edges together.
Pull up …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

Yesterday, I posted about how I spun paper streamers from a Blue Man show into yarn.
I promised to show what I have been doing with the upcycled paper yarn.
Well…
I’ve been working on a couple of things.
I knitted a little pocket doll with the yarn.
Myeh.  It wasn’t magical.
So I frogged it.
And, then, I followed my intuition. One of the b5 bloggers wrote recently that her little girl was saddened by being told that Unicorns are not real.
I thought…. hmmm…. why not show her that the realm of imagination is alive and well?
So, I got out my potholder loom, and started weaving …read more

We went to see the Blue Man group in performance.
At the end of the show,
they fired off special effects cannons
that launched paper streamers at the audience.
I thought:
“Ooooh …. all those pre-cut strips of paper!
Perfect for spinning! ”
So, after the show,
I scooted down to the  floor,
and asked the guy who was sweeping up
the streamers if I could have some.
“I’m a spinner and weaver and I would love to make them into yarn!”
He looked at me like I had just sprouted a  second nose.
He muttered something inaudible and handed me an armload of the streamers.
I wondered how it would be to spin
the …read more

A couple of days ago, I posted a tutorial on how to upcycle  tissue paper by spinning it into handmade yarn.
BIG tip: To set the spin on the paper yarn, squeeze the copp (the ball of yarn on the spindle)  hard with your hands while it is still on the  spindle. Voila! the twist is set.
As well as knitting
and crocheting
handspun upcycled paper yarn,
you can use flower looms
to make wonderful
flowers.
I recently broke and
then repaired my
vintage flower loom,
so am rather careful with it
nowadays.
I wasn’t sure
about how much
stress the paper yarn
would put on the flower
loom, so I made
myself a wooden one.
That’s it on …read more

I’ve had lots of requests for a video on how to spin tissue paper into yarn, so today, I made this video tutorial.
I have to apologize
for a mistake
that I made
when I was
making the video.
I have been
plying yarn
like mad, and
I always spin it
counterclockwise
when plying yarn. So, I kind of was running on ‘automatic’ and just kept spinning counterclockwise, which is not a problem, as you can spin tissue paper yarn either clockwise or counterclockwise.
BUT… I said I was spinning clockwise, when I wasn’t. So, doh, brain function.
Actually,
ahem.
The entire
video is
rather ‘casual’!
My husband came
into the studio
as I was shooting
the video, which
sent the dogs …read more

It’s time to start making great, ‘green’, easy gifts.   I have just designed a fun, project that uses vintage buttons to make lovely bracelets. Yesterday, I posted about crocheting with wire and vintage and retro buttons.
Today,
I got out my
28 gauge copper wire
and fine steel crochet
hook,
and a wonderful
vintage button.
I love bracelets
and decided that
it was time to  turn
this button into a
bracelet.
I wrapped the
end of the wire
through the shank
of the button
and around the
end of the hook
to form a loop.
Then….
I crocheted and
crocheted
and crocheted, and frogged and frogged and frogged…. sheesh… for a simple bracelet, it took a heap of attempts to get it right! …read more

I’ve been having so much fun upcycling vintage and retro buttons and turning them into jewelry.
It’s important to me to use ‘cold connections’ in making the jewelry from the vintage buttons, because I don’t want to damage the buttons.
Also, I need to be able to undo it, if I want to use the button in another way.  Here’s the link to what I did yesterday: Link
Today,
it’s all about
playing with
wire.
I love this
big fat
pewter button.
So….
why not
wear it as a ring?
Easily done!
Just take
a steel
crochet hook
and
chain some
copper wire
(26 gauge)
that’s long
enough to go
around your
finger.
Take it through the shank of the button and give it a …read more