Yarn can be very good medicine.
We use yarn as a blessing.
Is there a baby on the way?
Get out the knitting needles
and crochet hooks to
celebrate!
Is someone ill?
Knit or crochet or weave
them a prayer or blessing
shawl.
Is there a rite of passage or significant spiritual event? Chances are good that textiles will enter into it, somehow, somewhere.
We swaddle our babies and wrap them in soft cloths. And, when the time comes, and we leave this life and are born into the next, someone will wrap our bodies in cloth again.
Cloth, and the ways we create it, whether we knit, crochet, weave or make …read more

Yesterday, I reviewed Jane Patrick’s wonderful book: Time To Weave.
In ‘Time To Weave’, she has a project (with variations) that uses a peg or stick loom.
She made her weaving sticks by cutting lengths of aluminum tubing.
I was pleased to see that she had included the stick loom in the book, as it’s a small loom that has lots of creative potential.
Seeing her version of the stick loom reminded me that it was something that I had been exploring about a year or so ago.
So, I went and dug out my version of the stick loom.
(Well, to be perfectly honest, I …read more

People have been exploring the human form since the beginning of time.
I believe that we are hardwired to be fascinated by the shape of human beings.
I think that this is what has lead to the creation of dolls- people ask themselves:
‘How can I take a handful of interesting bits and pieces and put them together so they express something about being human?’
I say: ‘Go for it! Gather up the ephemera of your life, and play with it!’
You’ll see , paper beads, tatting, buttons, dice, incense tiles, beads, charms, bottle tops and more in the dolls in the pictures below.
Do you …read more

A few years ago, I bought several balls of Bernat Sox yarn in wild colors because I wanted to
experiment with plain, unadorned sock yarn.
Why? I had just done a trade on a handspinning list on yahoo.
My trading partner had sent me  several cones of what looked to be a very vintage blending thread: Bucilla Silk Tweed.
That’s it in the pic, sitting just above the needles.   Oooh… yummy stuff!
I have used the Bucilla Silk Tweed thread in all kinds of projects and absolutely love it.
It’s a slubby, mostly super fine strand of quite lively thread that blends beautifully with any yarn …read more

Happy Earth Day!
Today’s video is quite Earth friendly. It features an old kind of technology:
The Nostepinne.  The whozzawhat?
Nostepinnes are basically friendly little sticks that you use to wind a ball of yarn on.
A reader sent me a note, asking about winding yarn, and saying that she didn’t have a yarn winder.
Well, I DO have a yarn winder. It’s old as the hills, as I bought it when I was 15 and had just saved up all my babysitting  and part time jobs money and bought myself a knitting machine.
The yarn winder is now somewhat fragile, and so I don’t use …read more

2009 is the year of the Natural Fiber.
Now, this may not seem to be all that important, but believe me, for MANY reasons, it is VERY important.

You’ll be hearing about this a lot in 2009!
It’s really expensive to maintain a herd of fiber animals!
B U T- here’s the great news!
You can help support a lovely fiber farm  in a truly concrete way,
AND you get a luscious treasure from your goodness…..
Read all about it at: Hudson Valley Fiber Farm Co-op
Image source: Original drawing by Noreen Crone-Findlay copyright and not to be reproduced without permission

Last October, because of a number of factors, I decided that I would leave Hankering for Yarn. I grieved it and missed Hankering for Yarn, and the community of readers, terribly! So, when recently, I was invited to return to b5 media and begin writing Hankering for Yarn again, I was delighted.

There have been a heap of changes and I am soooooooooooo excited to be part of the new direction !
One of the biggest changes is that Hankering for Yarn will soon be part of Bliss Tree, which is an oh so nifty website/community.  I am looking forward to seeing …read more

With more and more focus on eco-friendly products and talk about sustainability, what can conscientious crafty people do to help the planet?
One way knitters and crocheters who want to have less of a harmful impact on the environment can help is to invest in organic yarn. There was a time when organic yarn was hard to find and when you found it, it was very expensive. Nowadays, with more companies (big names like Lion Brand included) trying to get into the eco market, organic yarn is not only easier to find, the price is becoming comparable to traditionally harvested and dyed yarns. …read more

I went into Hobby Lobby the other day for some cotton dishcloth yarn. You really can’t beat the craft stores for inexpensive cotton yarn.
They were having a sale on some items and bargain-loving woman that I am, I decided to buy this yarn I’ve never tried before. I’ve used Lion Brand before and it’s a good workhorse type of yarn. I’ve never tried their sock yarn, however.
So far, so good. It’s not as luxurious as Lorna’s Laces or Claudia’s Handpainted, but it’s similar to Opal. It feels like a sturdy, dependable sort. Of course, I won’t have a full review …read more

A ball winder is one of those yarn-related accessories that’s nice to have, but as in a lot of cases, not 100% necessary. I did without a ball winder for years (and still don’t have a swift), but finally broke down because I use laceweight yarns from time to time and winding hundreds of yards of thin yarn by hand can get tiresome.
Of course, if you love winding hanks of yarn into balls by hand, then by all means, skip the winder. Your local yarn shop may even offer the service when you purchase yarn there (for a small fee). …read more