crafting with our hands.

We are nearing the end of The little House series.

This is Ma pregnant.

As with the big 6.3 quake in February this time around we continue to find comfort in crafting with our hands.

Lately it has been handcraft central here with Ruby falling in love with the immediacy of finger knitting and Sky the immediacy of needle felting.

We at last cracked the way to finger knit fast.

H..e..l..l..o. The secret is to stand on the long end of the wool and let it run under your foot as you knit. I know this may seem obvious to all you veteran finger knitters but not to us.

Since Ruby has discovered this she has been making bracelets, necklaces, pot stands and flowers, belts and handbag handles.

Sky on the other hand is deeply into making broaches and wands with her felting needle

Cut a star or oval out of a piece of felt or a blanket you have (a thicker one gives more strength to the form.) Needle felt wool onto this. Sky is still enjoying playing with the colours swirling into each other but it could also be a letter or a picture. You can add beads or buttons if you wish. Stitch a safety pin on the back for a broach or a stick on the back of a star for a wand.

Looking toward next week, Ruby is particularly keen to begin spinning with a drop spindle as in here and here.

We both like the idea of it being 30,000 years old.

Basically I've been putting her off and investigating spirals instead to connect with the form and movement of spinning.

Well that's what I tell myself; I think it has mostly just been putting her off.

We've had a lot on.

I'll keep you posted.

As for tomorrow we are heading down to London street to stitch hearts.

This is just what I need after little sleep last night and a day of wondering what is around the corner.

The Winter Street Festival was planned for tomorrow night, but because of the possibility of falling buildings (not that there are many left to fall) it has been postponed.

We thought the stitchers could be a presence anyway, stitching in public (during knitting in public week)and sharing the love again here among the brokenness.