creative reflections

  Because friends in the Society for Creative Anachronism are wonderfully generous with their time and knowledge and are exceptionally good teachers I was able to make these rings (and more!) and send them to royals to share the joy.  I love Scadians!  Thanks friends!    

 Oh no!  Furry friends (or now not so furry) have shared their bounty...oh what shall I do?  :D

Still love nalbinding...made some pouches for largess and someone important suggested I add a drawstring, so ok, added monk's cord drawstrings in EK colors in cotton so they don't felt with the pouch wool when they're used.  Of course people don't need to use them as pouches--they're pretty decent coozies (remove cotton cord, use that for something else...)--why burn or freeze your fingers?  Wonder if felting would make an even better coozie, a thicker stitch certainly could and then felting that could.  Made some "business cards" to go with. And another hat.      Was on a zoom family meeting working on the hat below when a cousin asked "whatcha doin?"  Who can say no to an opening like that?!  I shared. Not too much, I hoped (ok, I don't try to be a pest about it but I get excited about sharing nalbinding info and maybe don't always stop to hope I didn't say too much).  And then sent her the finished hat, a nalbinding needle and the ...

We’ve been pretty good about reminding each other to go out for walks—nice for fresh air, to get away from work/computers and to spend some time talking.   It’s been good to stretch legs and watch spring arrive—tulips, forsythia, emerald grass, leaves, cherry, plum, lilac, dogwood and of course, all the yard cleanup and dead branches.   On one of those walks I picked up a few dried out sticks that caught my eye, thinking “surely medieval people would be able to pick up a stick and make a nalbinding needle at need,” pocketed them, and kept going.   Found them in the pocket a few days later and put them on the countertop.   Came across them a few days later . “Mmmn, was going to do a thing.”   The sticks eyed me from the countertop where I’d deposited them, asking why I’d picked them up if I wasn’t going to go through with this.   I’m not a woodworker so didn’t really know where to start, but finally steeled myself to attempt it, saw a video someone made an...

Dyeing Easter eggs with onion skin is a long-time tradition at our house, coming from family roots in Europe.  You can wrap eggs in string to make patterns, use wax to limit dye uptake in some spots, or place small flowers, leaves, etc. around the egg. surround the egg with pantyhose so the plants stay in place and dye their shadows onto the eggs, so had fun doing some of that.  Then I thought, I have the dye, why not try to dye some yarn?  The onion skins I'd collected for months dyed nicely with a little vinegar in a variety of shades of brown/orange/yellow (colors I like), depending on how long they were in the dye, and lighter with subsequent items.  Wool seemed to take the dye better than cotton.  Then I thought to try red cabbage, which started a glorious purple red (I was really excited with that color!), but it didn't dye well.  Pieces that seemed to take the dye when squeezed dry lost color, lost more color when rinsed, and ultimately faded when dr...

Pandemic=stuck without other people=what to do.... The hands needed to do something.  I happened on a sale of wool yarn (you need 100% to felt for nalbinding).  The stars seemed to align, so why not nalbinding?   At the suggestion of my wonderful fiber mentor, I started practicing nalbinding from a round start and to cement the skill doing it repeatedly.  But why waste the effort on a bunch of circles--keep going and make something, right?  So I made little baskets--maybe for holding smaller items, or they could be pouches (just add a drawstring), or taller ones could be used as can coozies (cool or warm--wool's a nice insulator & can help keep your hand cooler or warmer too).   I made baskets in different sizes and patterns so none would be quite the same (sample below).  I even tried felting one for kicks.  It felted easily and ended up looking like a small hat (see below, grey, center right, inverted).  Hmmm....    ...

It was bad enough before the pandemic motivating to complete projects and post something here, but with the added disruptions and stress... well, enough said.  In summer I learned there was a need for toys for young ones dealing with their own pandemic worlds.  Not feeling particularly able or crafty, I wasn't sure what to do but eventually decided on small stuffed animals that could fit in a pocket and be easily taken (or mailed) somewhere.   So, where to start?  Had some felt, polyfill for stuffing, and embroidery floss at the house, purchased forever ago with the general intent to make things, so went online to look for ideas.  Thanks web friends, you're always there for us at times like this!  Found some great, creative examples and sketched and cut out some patterns.  Thanks to a friend who's an amazing embroiderer who invited me (quite some time ago) to give her craft a try and who gave me some resources as starting points, I was armed with ...