Category Archives: Softies

bits and pieces

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It started as this. Then it was this. My super soft angora yarn has been sitting in my yarn bowl for months just waiting to be transformed into something other than a skein, and April’s bunny pattern was the perfect thing!

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Despite my crazy day I got quite a bit done. We started swimming lessons at the YMCA. Jonah screamed, so despite my best efforts to swim laps while my kids were in class, I ended up standing by Jonah, trying to convince him that holding on to the wall with me two feet away or 20 was the same thing. Brenna the fish had a blast.

Then we had the food delivery at church and one of the sisters didn’t get most of the groceries she needed. So, I spent the afternoon on the phone trying to track down canned goods and beans while Logan screamed and eventually fell asleep in the high chair.

Now it’s time for me to do yoga and go to bed.

Monster buddies

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I was sitting back and letting yet another month go by without submitting something to Loobylu’s Month of Softies, but last night I decided to just do it. I broke out some pants full of holes and made some bean-bag monsters. Their hair is made of scraps of handspun yarn and their teeth are handmade wool felt, then I got an old bag of lentils out of the pantry and stuffed away.

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This is Abenya from the land of Abanar (ask Brenna for details). She especially loves the sweet smell of cherry blossoms, and the view from up here.

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This is Jonah’s monster Mo. He’s a little scared of heights, so he’s soaking in the spring air here among the lilly of the valley.

The kids have been playing with them all day– and they should be good for a game of bean bag toss too.

bunnies and books

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Now, here are some cutie-cute-cuties. My friend April has been busy devloping the pattern for these rabbits and their clothes. She spun yarn, dyed it and knit away. I’m so excited that she found something so fun to do that she is so good at!

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Here’s a detail of my favorite. I wish I could remember her name. She’s knit out of handspun angora/lambswool and feels heavenly soft and snuggly. She’s got a hooded sweater and her ears fit through the hood, I just love it!

If anyone wants the book she made of the pattern just e-mail me (jessica at seedpodbooksandart dot com). It’s well worth the $8!

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Remember the felt I made with my kids? Here it is in book form.

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This book makes me smile. Why, you ask? Because the cutest ladies in the entire universe bought it. I guess the Smuckers sisters are a bit of a legend in mid-Ohio. They are little Mennonite ladies that are older than dirt (late 80s, early 90s) and cuter than anything else I can imagine. They wandered around the show with their cute bonnets and rain coats, their skinny little ankles showing under their hand made dresses. Their backs were a little hunched, their eyes twinkled. They stopped at my booth and oohed and ahhed over my books. “We make books, you know,” one of them said to me. They loved the button on this one, inspected the paper, told me how they write poems, and keep journals and how you just can’t get by in life without a sister. I’ll never forget them, but I wish I had taken a picture of them!

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Big Day

Today was the Mid-Ohio Fiber Gathering in DeGraff, Ohio. April and I were packed up and on the road around 7:30. It started out cold and rainy, then became cold and snowy… and we stayed cold the whole day long. Ohio cold is different than Idaho or Utah or New Mexico cold. This cold soaks into your skin and settles in your bones and stays there. It is damp and clammy and bitter.

But enough with the cold (even though I am bitter with this trick Mother Nature has subjected us to after a couple of weeks of short wearing- playing outside weather). We had fun. I had my usual “Learn to Spin” drop spindle kits and Niddy-Noddy-Nostepinnes. Even more exciting for me were my felt books.

Barry just updated my WordPress and now I can’t figure out how to post images. I’m pretty bummed out about that because I want someone out there to see my cute new books and April’s awesome knit bunnies. But, alas, Barry is bowling with the Elder’s Quorom tonight. Maybe Monday. Bummer.