The makings of a bowl : :

I can hardly remember the days when I didn't make things with needle, thread, and fiber. Those who know me, know the passion I have towards making eco-friendly crafts and the idea of making something old, new again. My greatest interest is in preserving the tradition of quality items made by hand, a tradition that has nearly vanished in today’s throw-away culture, and to teach my kids to LOOK at everything . I hope that by giving them these skills, I can connect them to a more meaningful way of thinking about all the “stuff” in our lives, and what it is that we really need and value.

Many of us have stashes of old wool sweaters that are just waiting to become something new. A friend of mine accidentally washed her most favorite sweater, and knowing the felting maniac that I am, she kindly dropped the sweater off to me. I immediately started thinking of all the different ways I could make use of her sweater and she was happy to just hand it over in hopes that it would help me out and become something new. Knowing her, I know that this sweater had seen many late night walks and many fires, snowshoeing through the woods, many travels, and many memories. I didn't want to just cut it up without making her something first and after I thought of all that I just mentioned and I looked again, I saw how perfect the roll neck would work as a bowl ~ and so it is. It didn't take long to make, but that doesn't matter. It's about what it's made of and now what it will be. I imagine it being filled with buttons, or holding onto those keys, or for the jewelery she wears everyday. To most people it is just a bowl, but I love that to her it will be more and that is what I love about these kind of crafts.  
 

 
I couldn't decide which way I liked it, so lets just say it's a reversible bowl...

 
 There's lily. Thankfully she waited until I was finished taking a picture before she knocked it over and batted those felt balls around...

The ordinary arts we practice every day at home are of more importance to the soul 

than their simplicity might suggest. 

~Thomas More~