Krawaggul - beautiful stripey and polkadotty knitted cushion.

Turkey feathers - the crafting never stops - bags this time - wonderful details.

Doll stories is a wonderful newish blog from Israel, Neta makes dolls and dogs and gives them all unique personalities. Just loving seeing what she is doing.

while she naps - a less cowardly lion is wonderful. A quote from her site about her thoughts behind this lion “I have been thinking a lot about making primitive dolls. Dolls/animals that use natural materials and that are assembled in an obvious way. I love the look of exposed seams, of visible hand-stitching, of parts of the toy being tied together, even, instead of sewn.”

Needle book - love the retro feel of this button bracelet.

Liza Lou is a bead artist who creates entire scenes – rooms, trailers, houses, a backyard – entirely from tiny beads.

Her current show at the White Cube in the UK is “a meditation on the vulnerability of the human body and the architecture of confinement” and includes a room the size of a death row prison cell, a barbed wire security fence, and several male figures in states of anguish.

From the exhibit description:

Lou’s work has an immediate ‘shock’ content that works on different levels: first, an acknowledgement of the work’s sheer aesthetic impact and secondly the slower comprehension of the labour that underlies its construction. But whereas in Lou’s earlier works the startling clarity of the image is often a counterpoint to the lengthy process of its realization, for the execution of Cell, Lou further slowed down the process by using beads of the smallest variety with their holes all facing up in an exacting hour-by-hour approach in order to ‘use time as an art material’.

Images of her earlier work can be seen here.

An interesting review of the current exhibit can also be found at the Guardian.

Via magpie and cake

This cute new top has become mine, thanks to Generation-T! How much did I pay for this awesome rocker/beach-bum style? Nothing! I made it myself by following the super easy project tutorials on generation-t’s website!

And just so you don’t think that this top looked good to start with, I’d like y’all to know that this baby started out like this:

Ouch. Tight arms. Small neck. Bad shirt.

What I am particularly excited about on the Generation-T site, is that there is going to be a new way to modify old t-shirts every month! So far there are just two styles, but if you need more right this minute, then pick up the brand new Generation-T book: Generation T, 108 ways to tranform a T-shirt, by Megan Nicolay.

If you’re digging the whole recycled t-shirt thing I would also recommend checking out the site www.compai.com. There is also a Compai book, 99 Ways to Cut, Sew, Trim, and Tie your T-Shirt Into Something Special, by Faith Blakeney, Justina Blakeney, Anka Livakovic, and Ellen Schultz. I have yet to test out any of these designs, but they also look like they could be quite lovely.

Hmm. Like the idea. Definitely comes under extreme crafting. Make your own sandals from tires. Or buy these from adbusters.

Via ReadyMade Blog and MAKE.
Image - www.hollowtop.com

Emoticon, 61-1/4” x 50”, copyright Regina Alexandra

I found Regina Alexandra’s work by doing a Google search for “modern quilts” … why, she has the very domain name modernquilts.com! There is an obvious parallel between pixel art and patchwork (maybe you’ve come across this or this on your internet travels) and I love Ms. Alexandra’s more abstract, minimalist merging of the traditional and the digital. I asked her via e-mail how her “Faces” series developed:

Honestly, sometimes it feels like some of my ideas are just dropped into my head by some outside source at the oddest moment, without warning, and then, there they are! But I was in the planning stages of some very bold, modern graphic quilts at the time. (I was a graphic designer for many years, and that influences my work, as you can see) And in retrospect, it’s no surpise I ended up doing the Faces series, because I am really taken with the face and its expressions: to me it represents a snapshot of humanity and the underlying bewilderment, surprise or amusement at simply finding oneself in the human condition!

Yes, the “Faces” series has just begun! Several interesting, new and surprising designs for the series are in the works, with more suggestions of pixellation. The quilts can take several months to make because of the hand-stitching and certain time constraints.

Ms. Alexandra also makes art quilts with very soulful, personal themes. You can see from her about page that she comes from a long line of sewists and her art quilts are a loving tribute to those who came before her.

How’d They Do That?

We opened a photo in Photoshop and converted it into black and white. Then we bumped up the contrast and applied the half-tone line filter. Choosing a line color that is the same color as the thread you intend to use will make the stitching go faster. Using Timeless Treasures photo transfer fabric sheets that can be fed through an inkjet printer, we printed it out.

Then we made a quilt sandwich with a piece of low-loft cotton batting (we only use Quilters Dream) and a piece of backing. Then go back and forth stitching on a regular sewing machine over the lines in a straight stitch. Keep the feed dogs up and use the reverse stitch function, stitching until all of the lines are covered.

Hi! I’m Alicia, and I’ve been selling my crafts on-line and in stores, including my own store, for several years now. In this column, I’ll be talking in a general way about what it’s like to sell the things that you make, and I’ll give you some ideas to consider when selling your own work.

Whether you plan to sell your work on your own web site, at craft fairs, in shops, or at on-line marketplaces, let’s face it: The first thing you need is a name for your business! I love to think of names for things. If you don’t, consider taking a few of your creative friends out for drinks, and bring a pad of paper and pen for a brainstorming session — once you start talking about who you are, what you make, and what your vision of your business is, the words will start flowing. (A margarita never hurts, just to get the ball rolling.) Don’t stop at your first idea — the nature of brainstorming is organic, and you never end up where you thought you would.

Choose your name carefully! None of us can see the future, but when it comes to names you must try. You will, if you’re lucky, have it for a long time, and you will say it dozens of times a day, and see it in print, and hear it said by other people. In fact, say it to other people, and make sure they don’t say it back to you with a question mark in their voice and a bewildered look on their face, because you will be seeing that exact look on someone else’s face every time you say it. It reminds me of when my husband wanted to name the dog “Hercule Poirot.” The dog’s a girl, but that’s not the point. You want your name to be catchy and clever, but pronounceable, and not so obscure that no one will have a clue what you do — unless you like explaining that sort of thing a lot. You also want it to be specific to your work, but not so specific that it will pigeon-hole you into a particular product or “look.” Test your name on a bunch of people. Don’t necessarily take criticism or advice to heart immediately — this is your name after all, and at the end of the day, only you have to love it — but be aware that if you notice people having trouble pronouncing it, or spelling it (as they look you up on a search engine, for example), this is not a condition that is likely to go away.

Some days I wish I could start all over with a new name. If I’d had any idea six years ago that this would all last more than five minutes, I would’ve thought a lot more about it. And I would never again pick a made-up homonym, but, you know, that’s just me. If you haven’t already printed 2000 business cards and 500 woven labels, I envy you, I really do.

Where were we. If you already have a blog, you could consider using your blog name, or some version of it when naming the business division of yourself. If you’ve established a following, it can be a good idea to capitalize on the recognition-factor of the name you’ve already chosen for your blog. People have fairly short attention spans, and the more you repeat words and images (or, establish a particular “brand” for your work — which I’ll talk about in a later post), the more people will remember you. But if you are inclined to choose something fresh, I say do it. A new name can signal exciting changes, and pique peoples’ interest!

Do some searches yourself, and make sure no one is using the name you love. See what urls are available that relate to your name; if someone’s already claimed a url that you wanted, see if you can think of something similar that will be as close as possible to your business name. (Even if you don’t have a web site now, you may want to purchase a url for future use. Think success!) So many people have blogs and little businesses now you would be wise to choose something as unique as possible.

If you’re satisfied that your name is original, appropriate, and will allow your options to grow and change as your business does, remember to register that name with local authorities, and even your state. This protects you, and prevents others from using the name you worked so hard to think of! It will now be your “assumed business name,” and on legal documents pertaining to your business you and it will appear as, for instance, “Alicia Paulson d.b.a [doing business as] Posie: Rosy Little Things.”

For more information about the legalities of names, and registering them, please contact your county clerk, or the secretary of state where you live (or other local commerce authorities in your country). Also, consider investing in a few books about selling your handcrafts — they are invaluable reference tools as you go along. My favorites are by Barbara Brabec, who has been writing about crafts businesses for many years.

Ever since Interweave Knits ran an article in Fall 05 about Shibori felting, I’ve been totally engrossed in the idea, and practise. If I can get a little shibori into a piece, I will. Shibori work covers a range of techniques, but essentially brings great texture and movement to a piece of knitted fabric. The knit can be very fine and floaty, or thick and hearty, and variations are only limited to your imagination. A quick google search will bring up numerous links, but interestingly, not many blogs with finished product on them, and even flickr doesn’t bring much joy, which has surprised me because it’s such a great idea :: Fusion Knitting has a great bag, and Fiberarts have a lovely article but finding much more than that on the web is pretty hard. I’ve had a lot of fun creating bobbles, which are deceptively simple and quick to achieve and I thought I’d share my technique.

I like to use a good thick pure wool, with some give (ie, not too tight a ply). I’ve had excellent success with handpaintedyarn in a thick/thin slub wool which adds loads of texture. Although results will be just as great with an ordinary wool. Ensure though, that the wool is not superwash, as this will not felt as well, if at all. Decide on your size of end product, do a test knit piece for gauge, and knit up your piece about twice as large as you intend the final piece to be. I tend to use a larger needle than I would normally use for the type of wool - a loose knit will felt in close anyway, but it all depends how tight you want your felted piece to be. Knit your piece in stocking stitch, cast off, and give it a light press. Here comes the fun part.

Cut up a whole heap of small squares of cling film (plastic food wrap) - about 10cm x 10cm pieces. Grab a whole bunch of rubber bands, and some small pebbles or small beads. I used beads in this example. Wrap the knit fabric over the beads, cover with plastic wrap on the right side, and tie in place with a rubber band. Whatever is covered in plastic wrap will not felt. Keep going with the beads in whatever pattern you have figured out. Leave a suitable gap at the edges to allow for the fabric to shrink - say about 2-3cm would be the minimum I would leave. Next, throw it in an old pillowcase and close it, and add that to a washing machine with some old sneakers, tennis balls, and perhaps an old towel. This provides agitation, which will felt, or ‘full’, the fabric. Add a small amount of wool wash (very small amount), and set the machine on the highest temp setting. Check the felting progress every 10 minutes until it has felted your desired amount. This piece took 25 minutes.

When the item has felted to the desired amount, remove and dry. Once dry, remove the plastic wrap and beads, and you now have a lovely bobbled piece of shibori felt!

I am really excited to welcome three new authors to whipup.

Drew, AKA the crochet the dude, who was featured recently in a post by monster crochet - our first and hopefully not the last guy to be an author at whipup. Drew is going to post not only about crochet stuff but also about blokey stuff - or at least guys who craft - I really can’t wait to ‘meet’ the guy who breeds silk worms and spins his own silk thread.
check out his profile

And Weeks Ringle - co-creator of fun quilts, she designs and makes the most amazing quilts, writes books about it and designs fabric as well. Weeks will be writing about ways to use her design methodology is smaller projects, I can’t wait to see what she comes up with.
check out her profile

Karin Eriksson is joining us - finally a ceramics person. She will be writing about techniques and handmaking of ceramics.
see her profile

I love to make collage, and I love to collect all kinds of paper to use in my collages. There are so many beautifully patterned and textured papers out there now. Many art and design stores have good stock of wrapping papers and decorated paper to choose from. The scrapbooking craze has even been a gift to us non-scrapbookers. We have access to more and more beautiful paper goods—from woodgrains to florals to modern geometrics. But the kinds of papers I love to use even more than the ones I find in art stores are the ones I find as I peruse thrift stores or papers that I find in my everyday life. There is beautiful design on paper everywhere. It’s a matter of looking for it and saving it for collage.

Yesterday I found the piece of cardboard pictured below in the locker room at swimming practice. Don’t worry. It wasn’t on the floor. It appears to be from the package for a plastic shower cap. I was drawn to the text and the sort of retro “right way/wrong way” illustration. I am known for picking stuff up in strange places and have actually picked stuff up off the sidewalk before and using them in my work. I am known to keep chopstick wrappers. They often have wonderful little illustrations on them and great Japanese characters. And envelopes, especially those from overseas, have wonderful text markings. Take this one I received from Australia earlier this month.

Speaking of overseas, I love ephemera written in other languages. I especially love Japanese characters. Anytime I see any book at a secondhand store with Japanese characters (especially if it is made from newsprint, which is easy to collage) I pick it right up. And while perusing SCRAP and thrift stores, I often find old children’s books. I especially love old children’s textbooks because the illustrations are cool and colorful, and you are reusing something that should no longer be used with children because the content is outdated. I love to tear pages for my collages.

Of course, I am always looking for vintage journals and receipts. Vintage or new, I love any ephemera with numbers on it, like the tag pictured below. I save dry cleaning tags, which are usually pink, favorite color. I found these old used bingo cards, which are made from newsprint, in a cupboard at work. I work in a very old school building, so I imagine there are treasures hidden everywhere!

And I found two boxed of these old card stock accounting forms at a thrift store. they are not only good for collage, but for a drawing and screen printing surface. And vintage patterns and their envelopes are a great source for layering and color in collage.

Wonderful paper for collage is everywhere. If you see a piece of paper that you like, whether it’s packaging on food or an old magazine, pick it up! And voila, with a little time, patience and varnish, you have a wonderful collage.

Green girl art makes delightfully fun soft robot creations. I particularly love the robot in leiderhosen.

most people will be familiar with Jesses knitted robots.

cakeyvoice and her dawn of the knitted dead are just hilarious.

bloody bunnys drillobots are pretty damn cool

wee wonderfuls makes some great softies - these fembots are amongst my faves.

monster crochet makes crazy creatures - one of my faves is the scorpian queen - definitie sci-fi feel to this one.

Jäke Henzler (blog boy knits world) and his knitted yoda - love the simplicity of these

I’m almost afraid to tell you, it’s so good. So plump and bouncy, wooly, warm, indescribably luscious, and washable. I’m afraid there will be none left in the world for me when everyone finds out how good this yarn is for baby and kid knitting.

Of course, for those out there who dye yarn you probably already know, it’s kona superwash merino in sport weight, like a light worsted. Knitting parents and people-who-knit-for-babies beware, it’s addictive - and wonderfully flexible, knitting on anywhere from size 4 sock needles to size 9s for a soft, loose drape.

Patricia Thom, owner of Abundant Yarn & Dye Works in Portland, Oregon, explained to me how kona superwash’s bouncy goodness is created by any given mill following a recipe that specifies things like microns and twist. The yarn is then used by several companies - and individual artists - to dye their colorways. Some incredible dye jobs on kona superwash include Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Great Adirondack, and Interlacements (they call it “Toasty Toes“). Adrian at Hello Yarn will custom dye it; she made some for me in bright popsicle colors last spring.

To dye your own, look for the “blank” yarn sold via Henry’s Attic. It can be found on ebay, through googling, or perhaps at your local yarn shop.

The 560 yard skeins provide enough to make a whole baby gift set or a rockin’ pinwheel blanket. And Sarah Peasley has a gorgeous Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater shown here. With such huge skeins, even the leftovers are often enough to do something really good.

hey everyone,

i am really excited to introduce 3 new authors to whipup

Alicia will be doing an advice column on starting a craft business and getting your craft business going etc - so any info you have or questions - send them her way
see her profile page and links to her websites
Zoe will be posting on altered clothing - so watch out for this and send links and info in for her.
see her profile page and check out her website
Larissa will be posting on knitting - primarily her focus will be on knitting with and for children - but she may stray into other areas of knitting as well
profile page
check out their profiles and blogs and welcome them to the team

I’m always very interested in intersections of high and low art, and blurring lines between art and craft. Yet it’s rare to see them pitted against each other.

The very generous Sharonb who maintains the free online stitch dictionary keeps a really interesting blog. (NB: This is from last year, but so very provocative. Sorry if it’s old news to anyone else!)

Sharonb posted about her mixed feelings about the work of an artist, Stephen Sollins who takes old samplers and pulls out the thread- erasing the work. He re-embroiders modernist color-blocks over the faded image. One thing she took umbrage to was the mention that “Sollins eulogizes the anonymous craftsperson while elevating commonplace linens to fine art” on this gallery’s website.

The thing I think is: “but is it good art?” In a way, I think this series of work is a clever and simple device, and a conceptual one-liner. I do think it is important to see an artist’s work as part of their larger body of work. I have not seen Sollins’s other work, but I would guess that he probably meanders among media, and makes similiar conceptual mind-candy. I’m guessing his work might be more about ironic statement-making, rather than work about embroidery or domestic history. I doubt the work was intentionally about the erasure of woman’s history by a dominant autocratic male force. (intermission, heather checks google images for sollins’s work). In another series Sollins “created an array of horn mutes, cast in translucent acrylic, that sculpturally symbolize musical silence.” (from NYT Art Reviews) (heather confirms guess).

Though this may not be brilliant by design… it is interesting how it has energized the space around this topic. Does it matter if the artist originally intended the work to result in the meaning? I don’t think it really does. I often think an artist cannot understand their work fully, until it becomes a cultural artifact and is absorbed into a social fabric of audience interpretation. (yes i’m part of *that* camp).

His work sparked a huge backlash of needlecrafters who were seriously offended. Apparently he has several hexes on him now. But don’t blame Stephen, he innocently stumbled upon a prickly subject. He tried apologizing and explaining his work, but SFGate said “he is apparently talking across a cultural divide he may not have known existed.” (from a review on SFGate) That is putting it mildly.

The comments on Inaminuteago show some highly charged emotional responses: ” I hope their ghosts come back to haunt him big time!!!!!!” and “I saw some of this work at the Art of the Stitch in the UK a few years back and it really upset me”. For that, it is an an effective artwork, and hats off to Stephen for his ignorace of this cultural divide, which makes it all the more poignant. I think effective artworks provoke thought and emotion, and remind us of things we had not known we had forgotten. Not all art is about love and beauty, as life is not all love and beauty.

The reaction to this work belies that with all the advances woman have made in many western countries, there is still alot of pain passed through generations, and lost history never to be recovered.

What is this really about?

I think this kerfuffle is about the use of female-domain crafts for male-dominated high art… As more and more handcrafts are brought into fine art, both female and male artists are exploring the materials and methods of handcrafts. It’s a kind of art-trend occuring at the moment, rippling through the genre. As in the 60’s advertising was explored in pop-art, or how in the early 20th century the subconcious mind was explored in surrealist art. Perhaps -culturally we need to spend some time re-interpreting and re-considering how we feel about handcrafts, and making things. And artists need to make these serendipitous blunders to help illuminate just why it is we are compelled to work on this topic.
Susanb wrote another post in response to the comments- on The cultural Value of textiles.

Here it is on request! Thanks for the enthusiasm you guys have shown for these whipup tutorials.

I haven’t been able to find out where the term “Suffolk Puff” comes from, but that is what “The A-Z of Quilting” book calls yo-yo’s. Anyone have any further info please do comment.

So…to begin. Get your fabric circles. The pink fabric on the right is approximately 5inches (130mm) in diametre. You’ll end up with a yoyo that has a finished diametre of approximately 2.5inches wide (60mm).

Grab your needle and thread, use doubled thread and knot the end. Pick up your piece of fabric and with one hand fold over a 1/4 inch (5mm) hem, slip your needle under this hem and between the back of the fabric and bring it up through the hem. This is to prevent the knot from peeking out . Then start a running stitch around the edge, the whole time sliding your hand around and pinching the hem.

The longer your stitches the smaller the opening will be and using tiny stitches you will get a larger opening.

Whilst you’re stitching around the edge, gently pull the thread so your yoyo starts to pucker and gather.

Once you’re back around to where you started stitching, pull the thread tight (not too tight, you don’t want the thread to snap) and then knot it off. Then give your yoyo a bit of a working over to get the desired finish you’d like. I tend to pull my yoyo’s nice and tight however I’ve seen others that aren’t as tight in the centre, personal preference I guess.

Experiment with different fabrics. There are silk and cotton fabrics below, the silk ones are the solid colours. I love the way the silk reacts, makes a nice flat yoyo.

I adore the fact that people keep objects whose value is sentiment and love. And the dolls and bears from childhood are particularly stuffed with it. I am always on the look-out for more pics of well-loved stuffies, please post if you have any! I wanted to share one from Talking Crow, and another from Needlebook. And the Museum where they treasure them.

From Talking Crow’s Flickr: “when i was two, i took raggedy ann to the hospital when i had my tonsils out. my mom then washed her - she lost her hair and i cried for days”

Talking crow also quotes the Velveteen Rabbit on her blog.

The arts of mending are long out of use. But Needlebook shows how she mends her brother’s rabbit, because the rabbit is now going to the next generation! My own favorite (and prizewinning in his day) bear came from my sister, and now her daughter has it! Needlebook darns holes, and prepares Rabbit for more love.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has created the ‘Every Object Tells A Story‘ website as “an online archive of stories about objects that people value.” You can submit stories, and images of your treasured objects. Here are a few images of bears, and stories behind them.

Object: Teddy bear

Stuffed and sewn mohair plush. Height: 18cm. Manufactured in Germany. ca. 1908. Given by Mr J.H.B. Gowan. See whole story about this well-loved bear in the Museum of Childhood.

Object: Stitched bear

It’s great to share these stories, and especially with the next generations- as it links us to each other as adults/children. And maybe it instils a respect for material objects, and resources beyond commercial greed and a value for things with ‘experience’.

“It appears that knit successfully lends itself to the possibility of making the everyday extraordinary therefore giving it validity when presented alongside other mediums in a fine art context.” From essay ‘the knitting train’ by Brigette Cameron

Renee So completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts at RMIT University in 1997. Since graduating she has exhibited in both artist-run and public galleries. “What galaxy does Renee So come from, I wondered? She knits giant sheep. In fact, all her works appear to be knitted in Simple Pleasures. It started as a hobby in 1996 and shows no sign of losing its appeal for this emerging Melbourne artist. Apparently she now starts by making her own knitting needles huge things resembling pointed power poles, I’m told. She is not the first artist to turn the craft of knitting into an art form.” read the rest of this article at smh

See more of her work at her website and:
Gertrude Gallery, Melbourne
Linden St Kilda Centre for Contemporary arts - exhbition ‘A re-Constructed World’ - Renee’s work Solitude, 2005 - inspired by traditional chinese gardens and “the lure of a simple, solitary life in harmony with nature” - see article at the age.
article on her 2002 exhbition “simple pleasures“

Image is from interweave crochet - and is for a free online pattern of a combination knit and crochet sock - are they not very lovely?
here are some links to sock recipes - handed down from generations, used again and again, adjusted and modified and loved:

michelles basic socks :: generic sock recipe from woolworks :: mary’s sock recipe at knitlist :: wendyknits has a good list of her favourite free sock patterns and recipes :: links to formulas, patterns and sizing charts at about.com :: knitting pattern central is a bonanza of patterns :: memoija lists her fave patterns :: a demo at socks 101 :: knitty has some sock patterns in their archives :: list of sock pattern books ::

Lately I’ve been on a modernity kick.
Well, actually, I’m always on a modernity kick, but lately it’s been a bit heightened.

With my new digital camera, I found myself alone in a grocery store that hadn’t been remodeled in years. I started seeing things in stitches and closely related hues and listening to the hum of the freezers.

It wasn’t so much of a moment where I was reminded that art/craft is everywhere, but a moment where I was humbled by the state of things. Humbled by the excess and the inspiration that lies in the spaces before you.

see eunny knit - has some gorgeous pink argyle socks with monogrammed gusset - love these

little purl of the orient made this fun poster from her groovy half finished sock twins

fiber mania posted these pics - the most luscious socks I have ever seen - did you knit these? what is the pattern? it wasn’t clear in your post.