My Year in Fiber Arts and Looking to 2018!

On this very last day of 2017, I have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of wonderful fiber filled memories!

I had the opportunity to organize fiber arts activities at our local community garden, attend the Black Sheep Gathering, learn some amazing natural dyeing, felting, and fiber painting techniques, design crochet patterns for Interweave Crochet, teach weaving classes using our Ultimate Fiber Arts Kit, teach "Fun with Textiles" childrens' workshops for the Sadu House, and add a new member to our eWoodStory line, a mini weaving loom that is just the right size for weaving on the go! We also had the opportunity to take over the apartment next door to us, which means I have a new studio space to set up! Finally, all of my supplies will be in one place, I really can't wait!

I keep adding more techiniques to my list of favorites, and in order to have time for all of them, I tend to combine them. You will be seeing lots more crochet/weaving pieces embellished with embroidery, using naturally dyed, and hopefully handspun art yarns (I see a spinning wheel in my 2018 future). I have also started doing macrame with my daughter as a fun weekend activity to learn new techniques together. So you may see some knotting incorporated into my work this year as well!  I am planning to develop and teach more weaving classes in Kuwait and the USA and you will be seeing some independently published crochet jewelry patterns from me as well. I am planning to attend the Black Sheep Gathering again, as well as the annual Chain Link Crochet Conference in Portland, Oregon. Are any of you planning to attend these events? I would love to see you!

May 2018 be healthy, happy, creative, and prosperous for all of you dear readers! Thank you for your support, and I look forward to sharing more fiber adventures with you in the coming months!

Natural dyeing with family and friends!

Needle felting class at the Black Sheep Gathering

The Cool Cat Cuff for Interweave Crochet Fall 2017

Far Out Ruana for Interweave Crochet Fall 2017

Teaching at the wonderful Cozy Yarn Shop in Eugene, Oregon

Teaching at the lovely Sadu House in Kuwait

My amazing students from the art weaving workshop!

We created Pom Pom bouquets in the Fun with Textiles Class

 Meet our new baby weaving loom! 

If you are on Instagram, I would love to see you there as well, you can find me on my crochet account: @stitchstorycrochet, or on my collaborative account @ewoodstory, featuring things that I make with our stitchables, and weaving and crochet kits.

More Creating with Crochet Remnants!

I have been keeping all of the scraps and leftovers from current projects in a little pottery bin on my work table to make into pendants. This pendant was made from an extra cord and set of tassels for a purse I made.

By tying the cord into a semi-complex knot, I was able to create a 3D effect when stitched into the pendant. After I finished stitching the knot into the pendant, I realized that the tassels and the cord really need to be together, so I decided to include them as well. The addition of the tassels really changed the look, style, and dimension of the pendant! This opened up a whole new realm of pendant ideas for me to explore. So what started out as scraps, took me down an exciting new creative path!

In 2018, I will continue to save my leftovers for more creative challenges. I recently had an idea for embellishing yarn with yarn scraps, so I may never need to throw any scraps away again!

The Calming Crochet Wallhanging

The new Winter 2018 issue of Interweave Crochet is now out! Check out the new beautiful new lookbook format to show all of the designs in the magazine.


When I first submitted this design to the magazine, it was an idea for a scarf. I had some beautiful grey variegated yarn and thought would be interesting to crochet a wave pattern that would really show off the changes in color.

Original Scarf Submission

When I heard back from the editor, she asked if I could make a modern wall hanging based on the design instead. I had been making woven wall hangings using our eWoodStory weaving looms, and so I was in the perfect mindset to do it!  They sent me this gorgeous Blue Sky Fibers Bulky alpaca and wool blend to work with, which couldn't have been a better choice for the project. I have since bought more of the Polar Bear color to dye with natural dyes. I will report back to you with my results once I have given it a try!

So here is what I came up with for the issue, the Calming Wallhanging:

Photo by Harper Point Photography

Photo by Harper Point Photography

Photo by Harper Point Photography

Calming to crochet, and to look at! A lovely project for those cold winter nights!

You can favorite projects from this issue on its Ravelry page. There are so many lovely projects to choose from in this issue from home decor to accessories to garments!