Julie Arkell Tribute

Any fans of Julie Arkell out there? Well if you don't know about her, I am going to introduce you. Because you need to see what she can do! She is an English folk artist living in London, England who makes papier mache figures and objects and embellishes them in great detail with knitted garments, embroidery, etc. Aren't these delightful? She, alas, does not have a website or blog but you can find her in her workshops she conducts. Just give her a google. She does have a book out entitled: "Julie Arkell: Home", find it here.

//Find her work here on Pinterest.

xoxo Shannon

A Little Crafty Collage

//The paper scrollwork you see is something my son made in school along with some of my hand-dyed yarn (although, not dyed by me). The pillow was my grandmother's and eerily enough, the cat closely resembles my own Ms. Squeakers. I'm not sure if my grandmother made this or not, although she was pretty crafty, making all of her own clothes. It looks like the design was hand embroidered with yarn. Anyway, I thought you all might enjoy seeing this!

//Here's another example of hand embroidered yarn work. This makes me want to try my hand at embroidery!

xoxo Shannon

Top Ten Tuesday (A Day Late)

1. Knitting Whimsy: Is this too funny or what? Check it out here.

2. Colorwork: This colorwork pattern, Catacomb from Vogue Knitting.

3. Embroidery: And from Hey Porkchop again, this adorable snow scene.

4. Knitting: Wonderful color combination and pattern with such great stitch definition and sheen to the yarn. The yarn is from Sweet Georgia Yarns, from their Cash Luxe Fine line in colors, charcoal and oxblood. This is a picture of their two-colour kitchener stitch tutorial included in the pattern, Bloodwood Cowl by Mitenae which can be found on Ravelry.

5. Yarn: Love this Himilayan recycled sari silk yarn from here. I am so intrigued by this type of yarn, the combination of textures, thick and thin and the riotous color!

6. Sweater Design: Check out this fun and beautiful design by Anna Wilkinson published in Pom Pom Quarterly, Issue 3

7. Embroidery: A collage of truly inspirational and unusual work from Gipsy Bazar.

8. Quilting: The ever wonderful Kaffe Fassett.

9. Felt Work: This pillow from Sweet C's Designs.

10. Food: Yum, (Idiot Proof) Peanut Butter Chocolate Chex Mix Bars from Half Baked Harvest.

Hope you have enjoyed!

xoxo Shannon

Top Ten Tuesday

1. Knitting Whimsy: this little guy is so cute found here.

2. Colorwork: Talk about color explosion, love this.

3. Embroidery: How about this for your next Christmas project?!

4. Knitting: Lovely. Rustic. Natural. French.

5. Yarn: Yarn pick for the day. This is so rustic looking and beautifully colorful at the same time. Rose    from Portugal dyed this yarn. Check her out at her blog.

6. Sweater Design: Here's an amazing sweater, Oshima by Jared Flood being modeled by Tanis Lavallee from Tanis Fiber Arts and done in her beautiful yarn TFA Blue Label in Atlantic and Red Label in Stained Glass.

7. Crochet:  Adorable doll by Lydia Tresselt.

8. Quilting: Bloom quilt by Amy Butler.

9. Felt work:  Weekend Getaway Satchel by Marta McCall.

10. Food: How about some apple cinnamon baked doughnuts with brown butter glaze! I know, this is not something I usually indulge in either, but it's that time of year, right? And how can you go wrong with anything from Joy the Baker?

Okay, those are my top ten for the day. Hope you all had a great weekend and you are enjoying the beautiful fall weather! 

Knitting updates: I am still working on my Oats cowl I showed you in the last post. I'm just finishing up the knit 1, purl 1 rib, will bind off and weave in my ends, and I'll be done!

The striped hat swatch I revealed a while back  is still waiting for me to figure out a pattern for it which I will do and will show you the results. I don't know about you, but I do struggle with finding enough hours in the day to get everything done. I guess it's called prioritizing, and it's something I need to get a handle one. Any pointers? This blog has been great for keeping me accountable though and that has been a very good thing!

The garter stitch coat is still a WIP. I have come to a stopping point (in other words, I'm stumped and don't know what to do). I'm at the point where I need to start the collar and can't quite figure out the directions. I. must. finish. it. 

//I'm going to leave you with this quote for the day:  

“Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn't hurt the untroubled spirit either.”
― Elizabeth Zimmermann

xoxo - Shannon

A Trip Down The Fiber Fantastic

I recently attended the Louisville Area Fiber & Textile Artists Group Exhibition at the Carnegie Center for Art and History (a great local art museum). It was a lot of fun and very inspirational. It is amazing what people can do with fabric, string, thread, yarn, clay, etc., AMAZING. I took a few pictures, hoping to give you some idea of the talent we are all capable of. I really believe that. If we would just take the time, start experimenting and let the creative juices flow, we might be amazed at what we can do.

For instance, this project, "Suitcases" by Jenna Richards, is showcasing sweaters that have been dipped in slip (liquefied clay particles) and fired. Pretty cool, huh? (I love those old suitcases, I have some just like them that were my grandmother's. Hang on to that stuff, right?)

"Three Poplars" by Luci Mistratov involves painting, stamping, embellishment, lamination and needle felting in parts.

"A Touch Of The Sea" embroidery done by Leigh Payne.

"Zen" by Beth Schnellenberger is a combination of a lot of materials and methods: commercial fabric, beads, embroidery floss, paper piecing, hand embroidery, beading yoyos, applique and machine quilting.

And last but not least, "The Threads of Lindisfarne" by Bette Levy consists of silk thread on noil (or raw silk) and hand embroidery. I hope you enjoyed my trip to the art museum!

Here's my latest endeavor. My son has laid claim to this, wanting me to turn it into a hat for him, which is what I had intended it to be anyway. Any knitting going on this weekend? What are you making? At this time of year I always am tempted by the thought well should I knit Christmas presents or not? Maybe for my kids but that's about all I have time for, right? Who needs the pressure! Have a happy, textury (a new word I just made up) kind of weekend.

Great Craft Magazines

Hey all, I wanted to introduce you to some really good craft publications I enjoy that some of you might not be aware of. The first one is "The Knitter"; a knitting magazine coming out of Britain full of great photos, patterns and articles. Here are a few shots from its pages:

Next, "Mollie Makes", another British publication stock full of general craft articles, projects involving knitting, crocheting, felt work, embroidery, etc. Just an all-around very good mag.

And last but certainly not least, "Inside Crochet", yet another magazine published in the UK. They put out some good ones. This, of course, is all about crochet with patterns, articles and lots of great pictures.  Here you go:

Hope this encourages you to go seek these out for some truly great inspiration. Let me know if you have found something you like. Until next time! (I picked these up at Joann Fabrics by the way and they have great coupons you can get in the mail to use on anything.)