Yarn Along

We had a sweet Easter this year...hope you did too.
 I immersed myself in the spirit of it, colouring lots of eggs with the children, and getting in a bit of crochet. You'll find lots more about our onion skin-dyed eggs in my previous post here.

These crochet eggs were fun to make, this is a nice easy pattern. 
Boy, this nest was a workout for the fingers! in pure hemp cord. You'll find the pattern here.

Some of the small people I am auntie to seem to be growing more craft hungry as they get bigger, and I was amazed with all the finger crochet they asked to do. Lucky for us we found a bag of bright yarn stashed in the bottom of Nana's hot press : )

And spent one fine sunny evening out on the lawn turning this finger crocheted rope, as the bigger boys took turns skipping and jumping. 

Happily joining Ginny and the gang over at Small Things for this week's Yarn Along.
Thanks for stopping by and I look forward to checking out your easter makings x M

Easter Antics



There are no less than nineteen of us gathered at my parents house over these few days...the entire family under one roof!

 Blessed by mild weather we have feasted and frolicked. And lucky for me there's been much creativity : ) in the great company of my nieces and nephews..

I was inspired by the children's eggs at kindergarten to colour these eggs with the smallies, using wet crepe paper. So simple and fun for even the smallest of hands.

But this year I have surely found my all-time favourite way of colouring eggs.
With onion skins : ) 

I've really enjoyed dyeing fleece and silk this way in this past. But doing this with the bigger children and the excitement and mystery of seeing the lovely results, really lit up my little world this Easter Sunday.

We gathered flowers and foliage from Nana & Papa's garden  and made little egg parcels to cook, using both white and red onion skins. Inspired by this tutorial over at Ulicam. I can certainly imagine this becoming an annual ritual now. The only shame was that I could not find any white eggs...on which the effect of both of these projects would have been far greater.

 I'm very in love with these little nature paintings : )

I will be back in a few days 

with more makings and doings from our stay ; )

I hope you've had a wonderful Eastertime x M

Easter babes

I can feel the anticipation grow in my small boy, as we pack up the car and head to our Easter family gathering : )

We're looking forward to decorating eggs with all the cousins and as we gather the supplies, we got to thinking of the woolly eggs we made last year.

You can see the full post about them here, with lots of other Spring makings too.

Wishing you and your families a happy, fun Eastertime x M

Yarn Along

And so it is that I find myself knitting lambs
 something I never imagined myself doing ; )
 in preparation for the next handwork project for class 1. The knitting of them is a pleasure, but my,
the stuffing and sewing may be tricky for little hands at first. It was for mine!
I do love this book:


 

Out walking in the fields behind our house we happened upon this little scene.
 I was deeply charmed, and it put me in mind of an Elsa Beskow story 
where the old women gnomes of the forest 
wash the gnome beards and hang them out on branches to dry : )

Happily joining Ginny and the gang over at Small Things for this week's Yarn Along.
I've got two big projects going on these days, one involving wool the other involving plaster.
 It's been so busy I've not had the chance to post about them here. But I shall 
so watch this space!
Thanking you for your visit xM

Yarn Along

Happily joining Ginny and the gang over at Small Things for this week's Yarn Along. 
Always feels great to finish something doesn't it? Just in time for Spring, I've been really enjoying wearing these. They put me in mind of another era : )
You may remember the first pair I made from this pattern. I made even more changes this time, especially with the shaping and they fit great. Slowly but surely I think I'm learning some things about how crochet really works. The learning is absolutely in the doing. I'm realising now that yes, it's really important to learn how to follow patterns, but just as important to learn to think independently about the project and be able to design a piece as you go and to understand how to make that happen. I think I need to keep a crochet project on the go now no matter what else I'm working on, just to keep those skills alive and fresh in my mind, as I seem to have a hard time retaining things, yikes!

It's been another couple of weeks where reading feels like a luxury! But I just spotted a copy of Jane Eyre in a charity shop and the wonderful painting on the cover called me ; ) So, looking forward to losing myself in that soon.
 Thank you for visiting.

Farewell to Spring

Before it feels like Spring has finally bowed her head to Summer, I wanted to share some felted pieces that I made in honour of springtime.

I recall having a nature table in primary school and I clearly remember being captivated by the birds nest it held. The value of bringing the outside in, to the classroom or home is significant, particularly in more urban environments. Children love to gather natural treasures and put them in a special place, like a seasonal table, to remind them of that special walk, what's currently growing or changing in nature and the colours or creatures we associate with that time of year.

 Symbolic figures such as these reflect the changing seasons outside and welcome in the new. The figures have real presence, are sturdy enough for gentle play by older children and are ideal as central figures in puppet plays and storytelling.

Lady Spring's basket I made from hemp, I felted with undyed and plant-dyed wool. I tell you, working with plant-dyed is a whole other level of experience as a feltmaker. Every time I use it I swear I don't want to work with any other kind of wool. Otherwise known as Magic Wool, it is quite literally alive and you can feel the energy of that in your hands as you work with it. It's also to do with the very subtle qualities of the colours...conventionally dyed wool presents a single flat colour, whereas a  plant dyed colour contains many other colours and hues within it. The beauty of this, is that any combination of colours you might choose to use in a piece of work, will not only be compatible but will be in harmony with each other. Magic indeed : )

Jenny of Woollygathering kindly photographed these locally in East Clare. They were the preliminary shots for a series of Spring cards, taken with the thought of making a collection of greeting cards that celebrate or mark each season. The seed of an idea to be further developed...

These needle felted figures are made without sewing, gluing or patterns, I work from my head. And why I love it..? They are100% Wool. I can take it absolutely anywhere when I'm working on it, (and I do!)without having to think about access to water. There's no clean-up after a work session and I can put it down and pick it up at will. In other words, it's perfect if you have a family, small children. I find I can do it right there at my kitchen table, in between getting up to stir the soup, or soothing my small boy's latest injury ; ) And I love the sound of it, of the fibres entangling with every stroke of the needle. Three-dimensional work was not a strength for me at art college and as I have mostly worked in two dimensions, I've found that the soft sculpture work really has developed my sense of that, and brought me on in ways I didn't expect : )

I cherish the way handwork can make you feel like you're making something out of nothing. It is just so with this process, you start out with tufts of coloured fluff and end up with a figure you can hold and place, and look to. Enchanting, no? 

Spring Felt

You know that first moment when you dig out last year's sandals, dust them off and slip your feet in? Cast aside the tights and boots?.. I'm there!

In honour of Spring, Mel another crafty mama in our school Craft Group recently guided us through some lovely simple projects with pure wool felt and handsewing. We began with a little gnome in a bed..

 followed by a session where we made our own felt from which to fashion these mama and baby birds.. 

The babe slots snugly into the mama's winged back... very endearing.
The difference between using felt that you buy and making your own, is immeasurable. With handmade felt you are master of the colour, the thickness and the texture.

I've always loved the element of surprise that awaits, upon the completion of a creative process. Wet-into-wet watercolours have this quality. You merely touch the wet paper with a loaded brush, and whoosh ...you never know exactly where the colour will spread or how it will look when it dries.

Wet Felting is like this in the most delicious way. I almost feel like the wool comes alive in my hands in the felting process. All my attachment and intention when I carefully place the wool in the first stage, I happily let go of when I sprinkle the hot soapy water in the second stage. For the felt will go its own way. I love that! The fibres grow together and eventually the most amazing texture rises...a characteristic you can neither predict or necessarily design. One way or another the wool will surprise you. 

And, brilliantly, all those separate layers of loose soft fibres integrate to produce a fabric so strong, it cannot be pulled apart. Here, I had a go at a three-dimensional piece, making a wet felted Vessel. This, I'm really interested in taking further, but more on that later.

Getting a little carried away here, I know ; )

And with birdsong delightfully in the air again, eggs were on our minds...

For anyone with a young child in their lives and the inclination to craft with them, this is such a lovely project to share. You'll find a tutorial here. There's a beautiful array of coloured wool available at the Woolly Gathering shop for this, or try your local craft supplies shop. It was magic to do this with my son, he adored the felting process.

and is enchanted with his egg babe..

It's so meaningful for a child to play with a toy born of their own hands. It connects them closely to the natural world, when you can so simply help them trace the journey from sheep on the hill, which we see all around us, to wool, to their handwork, to beloved toy!

In a later session, Jenny led us in the making of felted playscapes. Essentially a natural mat for imaginative play. When I took mine home to dry, this simple felted piece ended up totally capturing my imagination, and that of a certain small boy too ; )
I put one of my walnut babies on the pond (this made me think of Moses in his basket) watched over by a Woodland Elder, and already a story was forming in my mind...

 I gathered some other small things I've made over the months, and some natural bits we've collected on walks and popped them all on the floor. Then, my small boy took it to a whole other level, with much loftier ideas indeed!
He placed what he told me was a bench for the gnomes to rest on by the water...And so started the first story.

In a later version...the little pebbles needed to go just so...

"The ducks are pushing the babies around in their boats Mommy"...

When little friends came to play and began setting up a farm on the floor, I was touched by how much it seemed to enrich their play when I slipped in the playscape. All in a moment, the animals had a context, their feet rested on soft green. The meadow had a boundary. The pond asked for ducks...the stream asked for stepping stones.

When they had so thoughtfully set their scene, I said to Jenny's four year old son "I like the way you put the bumblebee beside the gnome." "Ya," he said "they're getting married."  : ) 

 Let the stories begin!