Yarn Along

Happily joining Ginny and the gang over at Small Things for this week's Yarn Along.

I'm home from my trip to England and trying to get back into the swing of things here, phew! 

I'll be sharing a little about that soon.

 Meanwhile.........a hat for class two to crochet! Curious time of the year for it I know, but it's the time when abilities and skills have built enough to work on such a pattern. Inspired by the hat pattern in Crochet for Children.  I made some modifications (always looking to simplify) and used chunky yarn with a size 5.5mm hook.

A wonderful pattern for beginners : )

A friend loaned me this beautiful book, a feast for the eyes indeed : )

I'm also hooking up a cover for a round cushion, to cosy up a certain caravan we're taking on the road this summer. Just when I thought my caravan days were over!

So what's in your work basket this week..?  Looking forward to checking out what you're up to out there.

Thank you for stopping by x M

Yarn Along

Happily joining Ginny and the gang over at Small things for this weeks Yarn along.

I talked about this pattern in last week's Yarn along post. Having burned a hole in my pocket with such luxurious yarn, I'm on the far more sensible cotton version now ; ) I'm just having fun with these really, they're for me so I can play a little. I wanted something lightweight enough to wear indoors, especially with three-quarter length sleeves which I seem to have a lot of. Doing a bit of my own research, I want to see how the cotton will wear and hold up over time.

The pattern works in straight edges from the bottom up, this time around I wanted shaping so I started at the wrist and worked into both sides of the chain. I just kept trying it on and the increases for the hand came very easily. It's good for me to have to figure these things out as I go, I guess that's how you move on when you learn a new skill, and I've been really wanting to move on : ) It fits me very well, so I hope I can remember what I did for the second one!

This week I'm leafing through Heal Your Body  A-Z, the mental causes for physical illness and the way to overcome them by Louise L. Hay. It's a reference guide to the possible mental patterns behind health and well-being issues. Her earlier book 'You can heal your Life' was quite a ground-breaking study for me when in my twenties and grappling with many things. I haven't used affirmations for many a long day now and I'm not at all sure about her approach any more either. I don't see things in such a simplistic way, I think there are probably many many reasons why our health falters at particular times, some of them complex. Still its interesting to dip into and see what resonates, and some of the affirmations really spark nostalgia, take me back to that other time. I'd definitely rather be here, that's for sure!

Thanking you for visiting this week, and for all your lovely feedback last week : )

Looking forward to seeing what you've been working on and reading, M

the fabric of our lives

I swear I really am going to take the Christmas decorations down after this weekend ; )
You see a certain small someone turns seven tomorrow(what? that can't be!) and wanted to keep them up for this one last event. 'Suits me' I found myself saying.
Truth is, this year was the first that I really entered in to the Christmas tree tradition in my own home.
I can't bear the getting up in the dark of these early Winter mornings and find myself wanting to turn the tree lights on as I'm going through the motions of making smallie's porridge, makes it easier somehow, warmer. And I find myself getting attached to our little collection of decorations, especially the handmade ones.
My lovely Aunt in Kerry has a personal tradition where she writes a little note when its time to take the decorations down (usually the 6th of January in Ireland) recording current family news, what all her children are up to at this time, and what she hopes for them all in the coming year...then she slips it into the box as the decorations get tucked away for yet another year. She mentioned this simple ritual in passing, and I was really struck by it. When she takes her decorations out of storage next December the note will fondly be found and read.

Our house has been a work- in-progress for some time now, ever since we moved in here two and a half years ago and so I never quite felt comfortable having people over. Either there were power tools permanently plugged in to charge and I worried about visiting children or there were mice, never ending dust and areas of chaos that I preferred not to share. Finally last summer after all this work, time, and expense we arrived somewhere, phew! It's far from finished still, but feels like a home.. after Christmas it was a joy to have some very special friends over with thier children to share a meal and just be together. Particularly special as the Mamas all share my passion for handwork and we've all worked together at one time or another in workshop situations, sometimes in the role of mentor, sometimes student... kindred spirits to treasure surely : )

Little Christmas gifts from my woolly friends, they know what a girl really needs ; )

And around that time, two lovely musicians in Oregon chose one of my Christmas illustrations for the cover of their CD. We've been happily listening to it : )

I love the optimism, hope and faith that people seem to so easily hold at the beginning of a brand new year. I loved seeing all the texts and posts on facebook saying, 'I know this years going to be a good one'. Reminds me of the resilience of humankind. The feeling that things do keep on deepening and progressing, despite difficult times.
And I too feel there is So so much to look forward to. and to feel blessed for.

I was driving down our road today thinking of when I used to travel a lot, and ended up moving quite regularly... and lived a life of relative freedom, though I had no idea of that at all at the time. Man, I do now. I think I used to feel that if I had to get up at the same time every morning, five days a week and drive down the same road, five days a week, I'd go insane. Guess what? I'm doing it and have consistently been doing it now for all of  2.5 years and it ain't so bad! Last time I checked I was feeling more solid and more myself than perhaps ever : )

The lads meanwhile, just planted 78 garlic cloves in the polytunnel, a year's worth apparently.
So, no matter what else fails, there will be pesto!

Thank you for reading, M

Yarn Along

Happily joining Ginny and the gang over at Small Things for this weeks Yarn Along.

 I got an order for a pair of gold arm-warmers. With all the patterns out there, it always amazes how hard it is still to find a really appealing crochet pattern! I wasn't inspired by many of the patterns that I trawled through, that's why I hold tight when I find one, and file it away for another incarnation of it, at another time. The ones you know you'll come back to when you find a yarn you just love, or when the birthday of a dear friend rolls around. This is one of those : )


I bought this pattern from an Etsy shop I stumbled upon. It's ultra clear and really well written, and easy. Oh the joy and satisfaction of being able to follow patterns now : ) I just made a couple of minor changes to it and added the shell edging at the top in bamboo.

Arm warmers were not something I ever wore or thought of before learning to follow crochet patterns. I've come to really love them now and when I end up going out without them at this time of year, I miss them ; )

This yarn's 35% silk, 65% baby alpaca, warm and soft. I got into silk when I started to explore nuno felting, got completely fascinated by the cocoons, its qualities, its creative potential  and the whole thing really. Then I started to crave silk, to work with, to wear and to watch it shimmer behind smallie when he runs up the garden in his play cloak. I sourced most of it from charity shops. I uncharacteristically put a silk pillowcase on my wishlist this Christmas(being usually very practical). I dream on it these nights and it is indeed very lovely.

Drawn to its presence in yarn too, I'm curious to see how it wears over time. Still very much learning about the different fibres and their qualities in a knit or crochet fabric. 

 Friends, can any of you tell me if you think mercerised cotton DK would work for such a project and purpose..? That's what I'd like to try it in next, the pattern is designed for a fine yarn so its not the weight I'm concerned about but the elasticity, or lack thereof...whether it would hold it's original shape? I'd love your thoughts on it please : )

Nollaig na mban which we celebrated recently, inspired me to re-visit this book Woman: a celebration . Amazing collection of photographs in this beautiful cloth-bound book, all black and white with the exception of one. I always marvel at the resilience, strength and courage of women. Basically, I think we rock! 


As always I look forward to checking out what ye are making and reading out there.
Thank you for reading. M

Christmas vignettes

So its New Years day. No resolutions for me, too much pressure ; ) Just hoping to ease in to this brand new year with a little grace and remember to breathe a little more. In my line of work just time itself, looking ahead at any future time is an exciting prospect as it represents the possibility and potential for more art-making and for new learning, that being one of my deepest joys. 
Speaking of learning, I got an order for a Nativity Donkey just before Christmas...Requests like these I find daunting, but I'm up for a creative challenge. It always amazed me when I worked as a painter how people presumed that meant you could, and would paint anything. I've found the same with feltmaking. So when a potential customer sees your work then asks you to make a specific thing for them, how can you say no..? They believe you can do it, so that must mean you can, right?! Up until these past few weeks I'd no desire nor idea how to go about the process of making a four-legged creature in felt. But I'm beginning to figure it out : ) I've learned that with all such things, you've just got to get on with it. You start by taking a single wisp of wool in your hands..

 I seem to have mixed feelings when it comes to this time of year somehow. I guess my resistance to the commercialism and consumerism is part of it. Although I'm not religious, I do believe in the need and the potential for a warm spiritual aspect to this time of year, in a quiet understated way. And that's all I can try and create simply in my own home and family.
 As it's my busiest time of year for work, I miss the sweet, atmospheric lead-up to the day and sometimes I regret that. Luckily though, living in such a rural area it's easy to avoid the madness, I don't make it in to the cities so we get to bypass that part. 
What I did love this year was the making of Christmas decorations with the children in the last couple of handwork lessons of the term. And I value the reuniting of my family. How our children love those days and nights spent with their cousins again!
 We were all together this year, all eighteen of us spanning three generations gathered in my parent's house for five days. Very grateful for the mild weather and clear roads. I didn't sit behind the wheel of a car the whole time. Feeling very allergic to being in the car at the moment. As we live quite a distance from the school community, the driving is intense and I'm relishing the break from it.

The joy of waking up without the gruelling early morning ring of the alarm clock! I left my computer behind, and set my mobile phone aside. We don't have a television at home so it was fun to watch some films with the gang late at night, and feast!
 I cherished the opportunity in the evenings to work on some projects, in front of my father's roaring open fire.
When I was younger I would spend ages figuring out what clothes to pack for a trip, now that's easy but I spend a lot of time packing a handwork bag! Filling it with all the possible threads, needles and other bits I might need to work on different small projects while on the road. Inevitably, I get far less time to work on these things in reality. But not so this time! I packed several small projects that needed finishing off, this is never my favourite part ; ) and a crochet pattern to make (sharing this in an upcoming post) I got through them all, a first for me and satisfying.


 I had fun the previous days making presents for loved ones. I put small bags of materials together for the older set of my sibling's lovely children..

Little girls...so easy to make for, no?

I'd really recommend this idea of gifting a crafting kit that you can easily put together, and having a couple of  fun ideas for what can be made from the contents. Contrary to what people may think I reckon a crafting session is still a major draw for any children, in spite of any screens that may compete for their time and attention. These little Christmas trees are an ideal way to use up all your scraps of wool felt which I always keep, no matter how small! I happenend upon this this tutorial on Julia Crossland's blog. I made some changes to the method for cutting the circles, had the children do it all by eye. We made these in school too. 

I reckon you can put pretty much anything together with glue. But I'm interested in what you can make with children, what they can make, without using the stuff. Kids of all ages get such a kick out of realising they can stitch. I was so impressed with our gang, my nephews and niece made a wonderful job of these...

And I loved what my Mom and sis did with her Child of Christmas : ) 

I'll be back here on Wednesday for Yarn Along and after that with more seasonal pieces to share.

The very happiest new year to you and thank you for reading. M

Yarn Along

Happily joining Ginny and the gang over at Small Things for this first Yarn Along of 2012! 

I'm not ready to let go of Christmas yet ; ) 

Liz our lovely crochet mentor at the Woollygatherings brought along this pattern for a tree decoration, a snowflake with a flower centre at one of our last sessions. It was tricky enough to begin with... I finished it at home and very happy to be conquering the art of following crochet patterns. Very satisfying to work in this mercerised cotton with a small hook.

I have such a block about blocking these days ; ) no idea why. I've a stack of crochet pieces waiting. It's vital for this little piece, as the six corners get pinned out to lovely points. The pattern calls for spraying starch to stiffen it for hanging and I haven't been able to find such a thing in our local shops yet. I'm envisioning this hanging at the top of our christmas tree next year : )

I'm doing very little reading at the moment, just getting caught up with all my favourite blogs. It's so much more fun to talk about childrens books at this time of year, no? My sister gave this charming book The Story of the Snow Children to smallie for Christmas and we've been enjoying it, such a seasonal read. The illustrations are really darling. Sibylle von Olfers died almost a century ago, she was only thirty four. There's a captivating photo of her at the back of the book, complete with crochet collar (a little obsession of mine these days, sharing these in an upcoming post) and what looks like a silk smocked dress. She was born in a castle, was stunningly beautiful and became a nun. Fascinating, I really want to read more about her. 

Thank you for lovely comments on last weeks post and look forward to checking in with what you're all up to in this much calmer time for stitching. Warmly, M

Yarn Along

Great to be joining Ginny and the gang over at small things for this weeks Yarn Along. Last one of 2011, right?
 Many thanks for all your sweet comments on last week's post.
Hope you had a wonderful, warm time over Christmas. Hard to believe that the heart of it has passed for another year. Over the next few days I'll be posting favourite vignettes, makings and doings from mine : )


Since the weather's turned cold I've been craving a cosy neckwarmer. I was delighted to find this Cardiff Cowl pattern on Ravelry, it looked so wearable and do-able. But it threw me when I read the reviews, as they are very mixed indeed. The pattern seemed to confuse many. I consider myself at the intermediate stage with crochet, so it felt a bit daunting. Having completed it now here's what I think, it's rated Easy and I do think it's a deceptively easy pattern once you get going, but the pattern is poorly written and unclear in parts. I worked it out from looking at an image one of the reviewers had posted of her finished piece, once I saw that all the shells and other motifs simply lined up, mystery solved.
From my favourite local Yarn shop this Manos fairtrade Merino has become a firm favourite in our Woollygatherings. It falls outside my budget but is indescribably soft, and I needed something festive...the marbleized colourway is lost in translation here. And as these pieces are all for me to learn and experiment on, I couldn't resist adding my own edging. I've just worn it for the first time and did not want to take it off : ) I've just finished a second one now in different yarn, more on that in an upcoming post. Thinking what a lovely present this would make in two evenings work, if you knew someone well enough to know their colours. 


Still reflecting my way through The Four Temperaments which I wrote about previously here.


I look forward to seeing what y'all are up to this week. Thanks for visiting : ) M

Yarn Along

In festive mood, joining Ginny and the gang over at Small Things for this week's Yarn Along. I am crocheting for small felt babes. I made a collection of these, most of which you can see in a recent post here. Just working through the last couple of orders for these 'Child of Christmas' in the white, and beside her one of my leaf babies I'm making for my niece... I'm working on a design where children can wear these as a pouch : )


Along with the Christmas decorations, we've hauled our little collection of treasured Christmas books out of the crawl space. We bought Little One, We Knew You'd Come for smallie for Christmas a couple of years ago now, it's a beautifully produced book, one of our favourites for this time of the year. The tender illustrations rendered in watercolour and gold leaf are magical and evocative.. Perfect for snuggling up and reading with your wee ones on Christmas Eve. 
I look forward to seeing all the lovely gift-projects being finished up out there. Wishing you all a warm time with your loved ones at this special time of year. M x

This Time

Truly hoping that this is my last couple of days of intense work before the Christmas break. Got some late orders that I need to fill. Ever grateful for the work, but so looking forward to slowing down, catching up with my siblings and their children. I have some fun handwork projects planned for the little ones : ) their handmade presents sit waiting to be finished or put together.

My head has been so full, with lesson plans, trying to meet orders...crochet projects, while trying not to think too much about the ever-increasing pile of laundry that waits, the piles of wool scattered around our living room and the Christmas cards written in my head and heart, but not actually making it onto paper ; ) It may well have to be new years cards this year, and how bad. Time to let go of certain things and focus on the fundamentals. 

We've been invited to a glam new years eve party this year...know what I really want to do? Sit by the fire and crochet.

 I am struck these days, reading through my favourite blogging-sister's words, how far we working moms tend to push ourselves. The deep need to do our creative work for many reasons, fulfilling our role as mothers, and domestic tasks that simply have to be done sooner or later ( later in my case ; ) ) and how to strike that balance.What a fine balance, one I've coped better with this year than last, one I hope to manage even better next year, for that I wish.

Have I said that pretty much my all-time favourite thing to make in felt (apart from grandmothers of course) are little gnomes? Wish I'd known to make more of these ones, at the fair there was more demand from mothers and teachers than I could meet!

The kindergarten needed a duck and duckling for their puppet play..

This is part of  our seasonal table in the handwork room. I set it up thinking it would bring something really elemental to the space, I realise now how important it is also for the teacher. While teaching or preparing for a class, I get a glimpse of it and it so helps me remember the magic of this time of year, and what an honour it is to be working in the world of the child. 

Thank you for reading, and every warm wish for the Christmas season. M

Child of Christmas 

You know that feeling when you get a real kick out of something you've just made, because it's a little departure from what you typically create, a bit of a stretch..? And it's your own design from start to finish...

I haven't felt that in a while, but it happened with these : )

I love to combine fibres that are at different stages of processing, so I really enjoy integrating stitching and felting in my pieces. Spun and unspun side by side. This yarn is actually cotton. I've been combining crochet with needle felting in my work for some time now, and I still love to switch between the needle and the hook.

These babes were part of my Christmas collection this year, I wrote in the previous post about making work for this years Advent Fair. I had a snow-white moment while working on these, stabbed my finger and red blood threatened the white wool ; ) I know this is what turns many crafters off the process of needle felting but I just take a deep breath and needle on : ) I couldn't keep my mind from wandering to this though, and how the image imprinted itself on my mind as a child:


Once upon a time in mid winter, when the snowflakes were falling like feathers from heaven, a beautiful queen sat sewing at her window, which had a frame of black ebony wood. As she sewed, she looked up at the snow and pricked her finger with her needle. Three drops of blood fell into the snow.
 The red on the white looked so beautiful...


I always have to haul myself back to the present moment ; ) such a daydreamer.


And back in my present, I was
asked to make a fox for the kindergarten to accompany the story happening there at the moment. I'd never attempted a four-legged creature in felt before and this one had to be really robust, hardy enough for play. It took a lot of felting but I got there in the end.

There are lots of these elusive red foxes around these nights, we've been lucky enough to spot a couple, much to smallie's delight. Having made this I will look with a much keener eye next time!


.. I'll be back here later this week to share photos of the rest of the gang, gnomes and other characters recently made. 


Thank you for reading : ) M

March of the hedgehogs

 My son and I moved to County Clare three years ago expressly so he could go to the Steiner school. (They are few and far between in Ireland). I so wanted that for him... I'm not sure I ever imagined how much it would bring to me, on many levels, and the countless quiet ways in which we have grown towards the ethos, and settled so naturally and comfortably within its folds.
  A whole new chapter of my life, of our lives began with this move. 

Marked by a very tough first year of missing the Dingle Peninsula we'd left behind, the stunningly beautiful coast and good, old friends. To top it all I was driving a car independently for the first time, something I had avoided 'til then, something that scared me. Initially I felt land-locked and isolated. But never once considered going back.

After that first transitional year passed, my boy had come of age to be welcomed into the kindergarten. A whole new like-minded community seemed to open up before me, a feeling that has only deepened since. How blessed do I feel. 

I arrived here as a painter. I had not yet been touched by the world of craftwork, the wonders of wool, of felting needles and embroidery thread. All that changed with my association with the school, initially through my enthusiasm and commitment to the parents craft group and eventually through our woollygatherings and my own personal journey with it all, beavering away, overcoming blocks and limiting beliefs like 'I can't sew' and 'I don't know how to knit'. It completely renewed my love of learning...I now find myself a part-time handwork teacher at the school and learning ever more. It has enriched my life, incredibly so.

 Knitting needles lovingly crafted by the children in the first of our handwork lessons, yarn   
kindly gifted to us by one of the teachers

I used to feel an element of guilt that I did so little art with my small child at home. It amazed me how people presumed, that as I was an artist it was a natural activity for us at home. But it wasn't at all. For I felt so desperate to make my art, and child-free time was so so limited and precious, that it was a separate thing for me. Gladly, that too has changed. Now my son is older and (most of the time!) I'm more relaxed about creativity happening at home, it seems to happen quite naturally. Who knows exactly why or how or when these small changes come. But through osmosis...witnessing fleeting scenes of the children crafting at the kindergarten, working around the table with other moms showing each other how to make things, standing before a group of children learning how to help them learn, how to knit or crochet. Small changes bring great changes, that I have seen.

The annual Advent Fair happened on the day that I write this, and its a funny thing for me because I feel like I've never really experienced this wonderful event and all its child-centred ventures, as I am a stall holder on the day. My kindly family come quite a way to join in the day's activities and care for smallie. 

And gladly I run my stall in one little area. Leading up to this year I really wondered, questioned, doubted whether I could pull it off, if it was worth it, whether during an already busy time it would send me over the edge into total overwhelm. I am prone to feeling overwhelmed on the average day! And wouldn't it be lovely to spend the day wandering with my own child..? Yet I couldn't seem to let it go : ) It traditionally provides a timely boost to my income at a spendy time of year. But there's much more to it than that. The work I make meets a a niche market. I know all you artists and craftworkers out there can relate to the deep feeling of wonder and satisfaction when you see someone walk away from your table with a bag containing something you've handmade, that they've handpicked. 

There is something very meaningful in being part of those who, like the wonderful parents craft group, provide natural toys for children that encourage imaginative play. Not easy to find in these parts and not always affordable.

All told, between the jigs and the reels what with teaching and other commitments, I found myself with all of two weeks to make new work in the lead-up to this. And out of the blue I was smacked with a brutal toothache that lasted a week.Yikes! Funny how that happens. Work began nonetheless, with the making of a community of hogs ; ) I wrote about these in a previous post. And with my partner at sea for these few weeks, I had wondered what would smallie do all this time as I beavered away all the rainy weekend under my work lamp. Why, he did what all six year olds are wont to do. Imitate : ) He got busy with his own pom pom production. 

He matter-of -factly moved a small table right beside mine and asked for a lamp of his own. And when he'd made a pom pom in every size his holders would allow, he went off and played contentedly with them : )

 I try to be cool about mounds of coloured wool moving in and taking over our living room as smallie and I dine off the very end of our long table and work takes over the rest ; )

There was magic about on that fair day, smallie had a brilliant time with loved ones, and me..? I was pretty much in my element : ) With me hard-earned christmas money in my pockets

I am already dreaming up next years stock ; )

Over the next couple of weeks I'll be posting more photos of some of the rest of the new work I made, thankfully mostly gone now.
A heartfelt thank you to everyone who visited and supported my stall that day.
And to all of you reading this. Wishing you a wonderful Advent season. M