copyright Noreen Crone-Findlay

When our kids

were little,

I would draw

a special Christmas

card every year, and

get them printed.

Now that they are

grown up, I don’t

find making cards

to be as interesting.

Instead, I prefer to

design and make

ornaments that

fit into an envelope.

We mail off our little treasures , or give them to friends in person. It makes me happy to know that they will have a small memento of love and friendship on their tree.

Friends tell us that  they pull their ornaments out, year after year, and they love having little treasures from our workshop and studio.

Just thinking about that fills me with delight.

There are a million patterns for handmade ornaments on the internet, and I am going to round up some links for you over the next couple of weeks.

Today, it’s tatted snowflakes. Our tree has all kinds of tatted snowflakes and other ornaments  that I have tatted over the years.

They are still packed up at this point, but I’ll take some pics once we get the tree up.

There has been a lot of snowflake action on the Tatta Tat Tatters group that I moderate on Ravelry, and people have been posting some awesome links. Here are a few of them:

http://www.thisntat.com/medallions/snowflake1.html

http://www.geocities.com/birgit_ph/smallstar.html

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here are a

bunch of flower loom

flowers in another

shawl- also all

made in handspun yarns.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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…. her

head REALLY is a vintage

shaving brush.

Aren’t her shoes cute?

The red square was made with a

magic loom and soft ribbon.

flower looms and freeform crochet photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Here’s the back of the doll.

I used black  ribbon with

the flower loom,

and with the magic loom,

and a fair amount of spool knitting,

and crochet, with lots

of vintage buttons, a little lego,

beads, and found objects.

Putting together

all the diverse elements

in a cohesive way

can be challenging.

flower looms and freeform crochet photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

But, seeing the possibilities

for creative adaptive re-use,

aka: Upcycling found and

discarded objects and

using them to create

wild and funky dolls

that are an expression

of human experience

is one of the great joys of

my life….

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Well, okay,

for me,

the gift making

has already started.

I’ve been having

a lovely time

working on

Sunbonnet Sue Needlebooks.

I just love making them, and I hope that the friends and family that are receiving them will love them, too!

Here’s the link: Sunbonnet Sue

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

If  needle books

aren’t your cup of tea,

maybe making

a bracelet or two

might appeal?

Here’s a tutorial

for how to spool

knit with wire.

Spool knitted wire bracelet

Spool knitting wire

is a great way to

showcase a favorite bead,

button, stone or found object and turn it into a one of a kind bracelet.

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

One of my favorite

tiny gifts to make

and to receive

is a bookmark.

This bookmark

combines  little

squares woven on

a vintage Weave it

loom, trimmed with

tatting.

Here’s the link for the how to:

Bookmark

Hope you’ll enjoy making some small, but precious gifts for the people that you love… I’ll be posting more tutorials and lots of links for great ideas for yarncentric gifts!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

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 the crocheted mask gallery of

Nicki Hitz Edson: Gallery

The woven masks of Susan Barrett Merrill are breathtaking. They are an exploration of spirit and soul: Zati Masks.

And what if you need a snoozy little mask to ease your naptime? Ah, then, the  Goodnight Mask by Regina Rioux Gonzalez is the answer.

So…. there you have it… yarn is unmasked as the secret ingredient of all manner of masks, from giddy to glorious!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Even though the weather absolutely gorgeous today, I felt out of synch with the beauty of the day.

Today was a day of melancholy for me.

Perhaps it’s because it’s close to the anniversary of the death of one of my husband’s sisters.

Perhaps it’s because the other sisters have been here visiting and now they’ve gone  home and I miss them.

Perhaps it’s because the project that I have been wrestling with for days is refusing to set itself to rights and is a disappointment.

Perhaps it’s because I always feel sad when I cut down the glorious hollyhocks and sunflowers and put the yard to bed for the pending cold winter that comes so quickly and stays so long.

Anyhow…today was a melancholy day.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

But then….

I walked past

a group of

‘Blessed Bunny’

tatting shuttles

that I’d just finished

varnishing.

They stopped me

in my tracks and

just made my heart leap up

in delight…. Yes!

And then!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I turned around

and saw the

most

incredibly gorgeous

rainbow in the studio!

wow…..

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

And, then,

I looked down

at my much worn

comfie old socks,

and saw that they

were in need of

darning.

So I poured myself

a cup of tea,

and sat down and

indulged myself

in one of the great

simple pleasures of all time.

I darned my sock.

And, decided that these three things  were pretty good metaphors as metaphors go….. sometimes, things get worn and threadbare, but they can be patched. And, there is much joy to be had in stopping to be touched by charming small things, and to feel blessed by a miracle of nature. But… it takes noticing. And, it takes courage to not run and hide from the melancholy.

I have set the unco-operative project aside, and I am darning another sock and sipping more tea, and feeling very grateful to live a life that is full of small, but sweet and simple pleasures. I am lucky and blessed indeed.

And, yes, melancholy is part of life at times, but there are ways of facing it and finding the blessings and coming home to joy….

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

First of all

check out the

lace behind

the bunny

tatting

shuttle….

It’s  a fragment

of needle lace that

I bought 20 years

from a lace collector.

I am fascinated by fragments of  interesting lace whenever I come upon them, as I feel that they are a valuable resource that have clues to the history of needlework.

Anyhow… check out the tiny flowers… aren’t they gorgeous?  Bear with me… this gets a little convoluted….

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

So….

I was doing some

web searching into

Lux knitting books,

because Leslie

sent me a list of

Lux knitting books

that her mother

had cherished

and collected over the years.

I tried all over the net to see if I could track down more about the Lux Knitting books. I am thrilled to have found a 1951 copy that now keeps my grandmother’s 1958 copy company.

Well… in the search for information about the Lux Knitting books (no luck so far, although in a previous post, I listed the links that another reader had sent in for patterns from New Zealand versions of the Lux Knitting books)-

anyhow… as I was searching, I went, of course, to the Arizona University site, to see if they had any pdf’s of Lux Knitting books. nope…

BUT…. I did find the most WONDERFUL pattern for a crocheted doily that has little flowers that are dead ringers for the flowers in the needle lace fragment in the bunny pic. Isn’t that cool?  Here’s the link: 1915 crochet pattern on page 10.

This may not be a thriller for some people, but I am sure that there are lots of us who just LOVE historic needlework, so what can I say, except: Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Hurrah for

technology!

How amazing

to be able to do this!

I grabbed a

handful of

tatting shuttles

and then,

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

showed how to

make a Lark’s

Head Knot

through the arms

of the Great Mother

tatting shuttle,

so it can be worn as a

pendant.

This is a handy trick to know,

as you can easily do this

with a key or scissors or other

tools, and wear them around

your neck, too.

I made the cord in the video with one of my Cordelia cord makers, but you could tat it – I made tatted beaded cords, and then gave them all away, so I couldn’t show them. (LOL!)

Here’s the video:

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I am making some Sunbonnet Sue

needlebooks for

Christmas presents.

I based the pattern on

a vintage one(far left)

I found in

a second hand store

when we were on holidays.

I made a pattern based on her (center) and am now working on the series of presies.   I tried felting some handspun yarn to make the felt, but I wasn’t happy with the resulting felt so decided that I would go with purchased felt. (Simple solution #1).

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Simple solution #2:

I wanted very fine, quite

plain lace for the lower edge of

her dress.

So, the simplest solution was to

tat the lace trim, rather than

try to find it in the shops.

Works for me!

Today, I came up with Simple Solution #3:

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

I wanted to make

super simple

little flowers for

her bouquet.

I crocheted some,

but, somehow,

they weren’t doing it for me.

Tadah!

The world’s simplest

little teensie flower….

Tiny picot blossoms!

sooooooooooo easy!

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

The flower is

made by just

working  5 picots

separated by 1 ds

in a ring, then pulling  up

to close.

Voila!

The world’s easiest little

flowers!

Isn’t it odd, how sometimes, we think that only complicated and difficult solutions are good enough, when there can be absolute delight in a very easy approach?

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

Although, I have to

confess, that I did

make things a little more

complicated for myself

by deciding to only work 1/2 of the first

and last ds so the first and last picots

wouldn’t be separated by 2 knots instead

of one.

But…. that’s not ~that~ much harder….

So, here’s to sweet simplicity! And to the delights of making little gifts for the people we love!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

The Woven Bag cover photo copyright F&W Media.

I have been working really hard on getting some

technical writing done to meet the deadline

on the final stages of my book,’ The Woven Bag’.

It’s been a fairly ‘left brain’ time,

focusing in on writing the

exact chunks of text that

are needed to make the book flow.

I have to confess that it hasn’t been

an easy skippetty hop time.

I have had to grab myself by the scruff of the neck

(metaphorically speaking, of course)

and plunk myself down and glue my nose to the keyboard.

Well, that ‘plunking down, left brain push push push’ resulted in an equal and opposite reaction today.

That’s what I call the catapult theory of creativity- if you’re going to squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze and push and thump down on that old left brain, then, by gum, expect a launch of something unexpected to lob up and atcha out of the right brain……

In response to being all disciplined and precise, my ‘catapult’ launch was this tatting shuttle that just flew up at me out of nowhere, demanding to be made……. so I rushed out to the workshop and had a wonderful time carving and filing and sanding like mad, in a flurry of woodworking guilty pleasure, and made this tatting shuttle.

photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

It’s called:

A Flame in the Temple of Dreams,

and is one of my Great Mother tatting shuttles.

Sadly, the photo doesn’t capture the exuberantly

wild red paint that glows with copper

irridescent paint.

Whee hee!

So, I got my chance to break out

and have a little wild and

wonderful explosion of

creativity-

which means, of course,

that it’s time to grab myself by the scruff of the neck once more….

Speaking metaphorically, yet again    and get back to work.

Hello, Left Brain, are you there? It’s me……..

Post from: Hankering for Yarn

Lynn posted a comment saying that she uses  a pasta drying rack for drying her lace bobbins.

I thought that this was a great idea, and filed it away in the- hmmmm… ‘clever… file’….

Photo by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright

When we dropped in on a garage sale,

I spotted a wire basket

that gave me an aha moment…..

I thought…

it’s not a pasta dryer

but ….

this will work

BEAUTIFULLY

for drying  the tatting shuttles.

So, that’s my ‘yay’ for the day.

And, now, there’s another totally excellent book that I want to give the thumbs up to….

copyright Mary Konior and Lacis publications

‘Tatting with Visual Patterns’

by  Mary Konior

published by

Lacis Publications,

Berkeley, CA,

is a real keeper.

The projects are

presented with

precise text instructions,

as well as clear

and meticulous charts,

AND are photographed

beautifully in full color.

The book is full of excellent hints, tips and guidance for tatters of all skill levels.

I highly recommend ‘Tatting With Visual Patterns’, as it’s a storehouse of information and is timeless in it’s approach.

Very good stuff, indeed. Gold star for this one!

Post from: Hankering for Yarn