Crafty Manolo

Reader Debra’s fabulous entry in the recent Crafty Manolo contest was this spectacular Estonian knitted lace shawl in a pattern called Crown Prince. The pattern was adapted from Nancy Bush’s in the book Knitted Lace of Estonia, a book which just happens to be available from Amazon for a mere $17.79.

Anyway, back to Debra’s lovely work. She used Alpaca Cloud Lace Yarn in Tango Red, which she got from KnitPicks.com (Pssst, you might want to head over there now if you knit or have any interest in learning how, because they’re having a great sale on books and swifts right now!). It took six months to finish the project, and I say that was time extremely well spent.

How gorgeous is that? Thanks for sharing with us, Debra!

Check out these fabulous mittens. They are the creation of our own Cthululovesme, and her entry in the recent Crafty Manolo contest. How gorgeous are they? Mighty gorgeous, that’s how.

Not only did she knit these bad boys, she also dyed and spun most of the yarn for the project. For details on the yarn, the pattern, and the work as it progressed, check out her Ravelry page on the project.

Early attempts at spinning the colors she needed wound up inconsistent, so she put the project aside for a while… a couple years, in point of fact!

It wasn’t until I decided to do a mass WIP purge that I remembered my plans. Having had several years of spinning experience at this point, it was considerably easier  to get consistent, non-overspun yarn from the last few batches of fiber.  I wound up playing around with the fiber prep on some of them, handcarding some, spinning others straight. I also decided that the mittens would never get done if I also had to spin up the background color and lining, so I got those from Knit Picks.

I would say these mittens were well worth the wait, Cthululovesme! They’re superfantastic in the extreme!

… Julia!

I got some lovely entries for this contest, and believe me each and every one is well worth some serious public kudos. However, for sheer scope, range of technique, and ultimate impact I had to go with Julia’s amazing Harvard departmental thesis project.

The project is a 10′ x 15′ tapestry depicting scenes from various fairy tales, myths, and folk legends that include fiber arts. From Rumplestiltskin and Sleeping Beauty to Penelope weaving all day and unraveling her work all night to fend off suitors until her husband’s return, it’s all there.

Techniques used include: felting, printing, embroidery, painting and knitting, as well as others not enumerated in Julia’s email.

This is her illustration from one of my favorite Russian tales, The Six Swans.

The whole project took nearly a year to complete and almost a thousand dollars worth of materials. Now that’s dedication!

It was all worth it in the end, though, not only because I love the way it came out, and couldn’t be happier with the finished project, but also because, as a result of my project, my department has changed the requirements for graduation – instead of a long written academic paper, now all future concentrators will have the option of making a creative capstone project to fulfill the guidelines. I’m so pleased that my project could serve not only to demonstrate the work that I’ve personally done creatively, but to allow other students the option of exercising their creative muscles when planning their theses.

Julia, I couldn’t agree more!

Please contact me ASAP with your mailing address, and your prize:

will be wending its way to you quickly.

Congratulations, Julia! And thanks to everyone who entered the contest. Your work will be showing up randomly during the month of July for readers to ooh and aah over. You all had amazing work to share!

Friends, it’s time to face one another in a Craft Corner Deathmatch… of sorts.

Nobody will be forced to go up against the Craft Lady of Steel, nor will anyone stand a chance of winning a scrapbooking cruise. Alas. Even more sadly, the lovely Amber will not roll out the materials looking like she just returned from a week-long rave.

Instead of a panel of minor celebrities sitting in judgement, you’ll have… well, me. Instead of a random pile of crap, you’ll have whatever materials and techniques you like to use. Instead of a scrapbooking cruise, the winner will receive a fabulous prize that any crafter in any medium can find a use for.

So what are the details?

(more…)

As I promised, I’ve got a tale of bookmarks for you from our own commenter Sarah C!

Sarah volunteers with Big Brothers/Big Sisters and decided to bring her Little Sister into the fun. Together they made twenty paper bookmarks, decorated with rubber stamps and markers. Clearly they had entirely too much fun! My personal favorite thing may be the one in the center with the stamp that says ‘Property Of’ where they’ve filled it in with YOU. That’s the spirit!

Here’s a look at some more examples of their creativity.

As it happens, Sarah works for her local library. Therefore she just put the markers in a box on the circulation desk for people to pick from.

These are wonderful, Sarah! Thanks for sharing your creativity.