New wool in the works

a lovely taupe wool called Tattered is getting labelled

Just a heads up about the new wool heading to my Etsy shop. I have been dyeing more marbleized wool colors and am excited to introduce them

A patch of this a smidge of that

In my wool kitchen today, putting wool away from an order, washing wool, and dreaming of lovely color combinations.

It is so wonderful to have wool in my hands, examining each texture and color nuance.

I love to organize it by color, creating soft muted rainbows of fabric

Free Flower pattern to celebrate Spring

I have had many requests for this flower pattern and got up the gumption to get it all together for you, my creative readers. To celebrate Spring, here is the Frilly Peony.

Getting wrapped up in the holidays

Pause for a moment and remember to have some fun this holiday season.

On knitting: my dirty little secret

I love knitting. It is so relaxing, so zen, so quiet, so slow, so social, so calming. That is what hand knitting is all about for me. But as my daytime knitting persona sleeps, my nighttime knitter emerges. My dirty little secret is that I am also a machine knitter.

All I want for Christmas is…

When my family asks me what I want for Christmas, I used to find it hard to give them an answer. Because what I really wanted was some hand dyed wool or roving, an antique vase like I saw in some remote corner of a flea market, or some craft supplies too difficult to explain or describe. How could they ever pick out what I really wanted?

Announcing my new venue

I am open for business at Primitive Spirit Goods, a place where I am selling some of my handmade things. Here is where I will be periodically listing hooked rugs and accesories, jewelry, knitting, and more. You can get there by clicking on the Primitive Spirit Goods logo in the right hand column or just click on Primitive Spirit Goods in the menu above. When you arrive there you can subscribe at the bottom right of the home page, and receive an email whenever I list something new to sell.

I have hooked quite a lot of rugs and find it hard to let go of them. For one thing, I like to take them to classes and use them as teaching aids. They are helpful for color planning and for understanding the hooking techniques that I use. They represent the history of Primitive Spirit designs, and it is a walk down memory lane for me to look at my work. A great deal of my rugs are kept in storage, not often getting to be displayed.

I have been considering selling some of my hooked rugs for a while now, feeling that I can part with some of them at last. Especially knowing that they would be displayed, no longer rolled up in a corner. In this way I hope that the happiness and magic in them will be spread out far and wide.

I wanted to create a place to shop for my work that feels like a gallery, where you can enjoy each piece on an uncluttered backdrop. I hope that you will check it out.

Getting ready to sew: stamping a fun label

I am creating some dressmaker labels using some new stamps

Obsessions are my way of life

Cracked painted furniture. Little bureaus. Color. Rich colors jumbled together like vintage fiestaware.

Use up your scraps and be thrifty

Linen and other backing fabrics for rug hooking are too expensive to waste. Here is an idea for making good use of a piece of backing fabric that is large enough to fit your design, but is not large enough to be stretched onto your frame. I will also be posting the hooked design as a free pattern in a few days. You will get a sneak peek of the pattern today.