waldorf-inspired sock doll - 1. head

1. to begin, you will cut a sock into long continuous strips like you would for making a rag rug. you can cut up and down the length of the sock back and forth, leaving the ends connected, or you can cut around the cuff of the sock in a spiral all the way down.

2. begin rolling your 'sock yarn' into a ball. stretch and smooth it as you go, wrapping fairly tightly. when i made my first doll, the head was made from wool roving, pulled into a fine strand and wrapped the same way. i think you could even use yarn for a base, if you wanted. give it a go!

3. keep wrapping, crossing directions all around, smoothing all the way, tightly.

4. you can stop at any time if you're making a small doll, or add more 'sock yarn' material for a large one. just tuck your end under a few other strands at your stopping point.

5. use another sock over your sock ball base. smooth it down as much as possible and tie around the neck with a piece of sturdy string. the material used for this on the traditional waldorf doll is stockinette (at bottom of linked page), which is sort of like, well, sock!

make sense?

works-in-progress wednesday

inspired by kyrie, here, i've been gluing in a journal. most source material = flower catalog. here's my herb garden visioning. look at all that catnip and echinacea!


inspirational exchange with erin, here, prompted these little sweater chicks. this one was quickly invited to colden's tea party before it was decided that he needed some wings. i was probably channeling that sweetie bird too.

excited to brew up some ginger water kefir! i finally did clean out the refrigerator, so there is room for filling it up again!

with wings and in flight! i was going to stuff and sew up this little chick, but he turned into a finger puppet instead! who knew? i simply traced a cut out a drawing, and then sewed it up on my machine leaving a little hole at the bottom to turn it right side out. i stitched around the raw edge at the finger hole with my embroidery thread after i sewed on the wings. let me know if you want more specifics, or a look at the pattern i drew. if you're feeling pattern-shy (i can relate!), you could also try tracing an image from a book or web search.

what works do you have in progress? and (if you can remember your inspiration),what were they inspired by?

p.s. i forgot to mention, diane is hosting a free class on blogging value, pop in today if you can!

handsewn waldorf doll

i made this doll for colden when i was pregnant and working as a handwork assistant at cedarwood school. we did think colden was a girl, but i always figured i could cut the hair too. however, i did intend to make the hair brown, having no foresight of his gorgeous red curls. we just happened to be out of curly brown yarn and i went for the auburn i adored.

i was a bit intimidated to be making this doll, all by hand; i worked veeery slowly. but after i made it, i felt very empowered. the hand sewing has let me explore so many three-dimensional figures i could never before conceive of, and i love the freedom of being able to shape the piece as i sew.

my friend shanoah needed a baby doll, and her third birthday was right around colden's second. i took lots of pictures of the making of this little recycled sock doll, because i want to share the process. in using recycled socks, you can make a durable playmate for no material cost. though i encourage you to make with all natural wool and cotton as well. we all know how valuable our handwork truly is. you can still make playthings when resources are scarce, or to repurpose your used up clothing.

i think i will post a series of step-by-steps, because it's a long-ish explanation of the making. so gather up your single socks and holey socks and other bits of scrap if you are interested!

saturday inspiration - outdoors

the blue walls of the sewing room + plum blossom view = incredible.

reminding me of this pink on blue fabric... what to make?

divided garlic - or maybe onions? {photo by marc}

peas have sprouted! {photo by marc}

a lucky shot of the ladybug on my dress. i am thinking of tracing her shadow for a stencil.

colden wants to hold her. wow! another saturday, another winged creature on my hand!

playing on the upside-down wheelbarrow. i have an obscene amount of cute photos of this.

i love doing these saturday inspiration posts that jcasa started on her space. i find ever more inspiration! what's inspiring you?

belated w.i.p. wednesday

i've wanted to join in on work-in-progress wednesday posts, but i never make it! this time i am not letting that stop me. and i have to focus in a field, so here's some knitting i've got lying about. these booties are made from that alpaca from the knittn' kitten, doubled. i so love it! i want to go back and see if any is left!

filling up my ravelry project basket, seeing them all together; it just makes me feel accomplished and inspired! (aside from that era of using nothing but lion's brand homespun.)

these floor cushions are so close. they have been hanging out for forever because just as i have forsworn acrylic yarn, i have also vowed never to buy foam. anyone have any economical eco-friendly ideas? (i'm on the look out for a wool supplier for stuffing too, if you have any leads there!)

another almost finished; a cotton hat, by request, for my mother. i'm going to dye it in the indigo pot too! that's another exciting venture to share!

i am always tempted to post my home or myself as a work-in-progress! i've been enjoying filling up our new/used hutch with artsy crafty stuff (and yes, those are all my eggs in one basket there). the little gocco print is from last week's event. i'm so excited to be attending the upcoming etsy how-to workshops with i heart art and the portland etsy team. i'll be sure to share what i learn! in all of this, i am still pondering; "what's my mission?" diane wrote an absolutely beautiful post on this that you must read. and i'd love it if you shared your thoughts!

one small change - march

our february change was a great success! we decided to forgo plastic bags for produce at the store, and i promised to "whip up" some cotton bags for our veggies. ahem hem. i didn't. but we soon discovered that wrapping our produce in lightweight 'floursack' cotton towels was highly effective and easy! in fact, most things stored better! our one downfall was organic spinach. we did purchase the variety in the plastic container a few times. soon we will be growing our own! um, and about the promise to clean out the fridge... did you know that a full fridge is more energy efficient than an empty (i.e. clean) one? so i rethought that one in the interest of the planet. yes, the planet. think of all the water i saved too!

the following change involves some toilet talk, so move along if you don't want to hear about my intentions. for march's one small change, we're adopting family cloths. colden already uses them. in fact, it is mainly me using the bulk of toilet paper here. aaaaand i did whip up some wipes! by that i mean, i tore and cut a thrifted knit sheet into square-ish pieces. after making wipes for colden way back when and struggling with the serger (which i still can't thread), i found that the knit didn't really even need serging after all. in addition to taking up the cloth (ha!), i aim (bwa ha ha!) to take after the dogs and relieve myself outside too. did i go too far? still with me? i promise more pretty crafts and adorable little boy posts to come. aren't our doggies cute? i just added an 'about' page on the top left that includes another sweet doggie pic. and some other good ones too.

rhythm of the home = spring!

i am incredibly thrilled to have these little projects in the newest edition of rhythm of the home: woolly eggs + sprouted basket. here they are together:

i also can't wait to spend some time looking through all the other amazing contributions. gorgeous work editors, heather & bernadette! and thank you!!!

which project is calling you? i adore this little sweetie bird!

p.s. this is the same pattern i used for my felted nest egg! i'm planning on felting the above eggs too! let me know if you decide to make any, i'd love to see them!