Divinely Crafty

Last week the spirit of the season blew through me as I surrendered to a most intense fibromyalgia flare. With a good mystery audiobook playing on my laptop on my nightstand, cup of tea placed within easy reach, and my supplies set before me neatly on my bed I began hunting and pecking through beads and baubles for inspiration. The result was several pairs of glass and stone earrings that were bundled up and sent to their new homes before I had a chance to take pictures, and this lovely necklace that I made for our friend Sabrina. Made from orange/red/yellow rolled felt beads that I made last spring and colorful glass beads which I bought in a fabulous bead store in Barcelona.

I also made this divine hat for Stephen to wear with his once again long hair ponytail. It is cold in the mountains of Italy where he lives but it can be a real pain trying to find a hat that works with ponytails. Hopefully this will do the trick and keep him warm and in style. Made with handspun single and the pattern can be found here.

It was good to get some creative work done. I have been in such a drought lately, putting my energy mostly into daily needs, but also attending to other calls that have been demanding my attention. When I opened my box of beads and tools there was a sense of apprehension with my eagerness to get started. Knowing that I was in the midst of a bad flare, I also knew it was entirely likely that I wouldn’t be able to finish what I started. Another thing that keeps me from my creative pursuits is the lonely trail of abandoned projects that are evidence of good intentions gone the way of dreams. But not this time. Once I got going the momentum built on itself and I began to get as much energy from making them as I was putting into them. More even. What a joy and a delight! ‘Tis the season to be merry and bright!

Tags: felt and fiber, inspiration, knitting

bags bags bags

Originally uploaded by Divinely Crafty.

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures of my recent felt work to my flickr. I am loving working with fibre and have several projects in the works. There has been a huge creative surge bubbling up in me. It is bringing with it major self-awareness and enormous shifts.

Its intense and right on schedule. When I left Oregon 2 years ago, my good friend Spicy-T said to me “See you in three years.” I have this pattern of leaving for 3 years and then returing to Portland for 3 years and leaving for 3 years… and so on. And in perfect synchronicity things are getting stirred up. I come at it from a place so intensely different than I have in times past. I don’t see this bringing me back to Oregon. But if there is one thing I have learned it is that I can never say never.

Tags: felt and fiber

I made some kits as a part of a ‘supply’ swap I am participating in at Mothers of Purl . Most of the participants are knitters and some have dabbled in or would like to learn how to do felting. Rather than opt to contribute something that others are likely to make such as stitch markers ( I LOVE handmade stitch markers, BTW! But for sake of variety, you know.) or just a bag a roving I made these kits that have all the materials to make hand felted stitch marker pouches. Perfect for holding the lovely hand made stitch markers that I for one am hoping to get in the swap!

They use welt felt and are embellished with needle felting so it gives a taste of both methods. Included is wool for 2 pouches, a bamboo rolling mat, a felting needle, buttons and instructions. Not a bad little gift if I do say so myself. It is simple enough that a beginner can do it and nice enough that anyone would be pleased to have a nice pouch that is worthy of holding their little gems.

Here is what my sample pouch turned out.

And all the kits assembled and ready to go!

Already there have been some requests to sell them from people not in the swap. I am planning on making some up to sell on my Etsy store (where I still have my sundresses from this summer listed. Yes, I am behind a bit. ) but I can’t see it happening until after the holidays. As you can gather by the post below, things are a bit er, uh….lets just say I have a lot on my plate these days. But soon… I hope. Soon.

Tags: etsy, felt and fiber

I am fondly referring to them as my “doh!” socks. I think it is fairly self explanatory why.

I picked up the skein of sock yarn at a charity shop for 25p and decided to test out the pattern with it. Its a nice wool blend sock yarn in a heather green color. Broadripple from Knitty. The pattern calls for self striping yarn to have the full effect, but since I am cheap I decided to see if I like the pattern before spending real cash on a new skein. Of course if I was truly smart I would have weighed the skein to be sure it had enough yarn, but nope. That would be just too clever for me. So, nearly done with the pair as I approached the final toe I ran out of yarn. Luckily I had some odd yarn from a previous project left over that I was able to finish with. Good thing that bit is meant to be inside a shoe. And Anja is quite amused by my funny toe so not all is a loss.

The upside is that I really like the pattern. It was very easy and looks mighty impressive despite its simplicity. The self striping yarn is a must though in order to get the true glory of the pattern.

Tags: knitting