Love isn’t love until…

September 21, 2018September 21, 2019thegreensheep 3 Comments

Interested in making a felted wool sweater blanket, possibly with my new class? Sign up for free access to a video I’ve put together, Find and Choose Good Sweaters for Felting. It gives pointers on how to select great sweaters for making a blanket. This also adds your email to The Green Sheep newsletter list. (If you’re already on the newsletter list, your email won’t be duplicated.) Or learn more about the Felted Wool Blanket Master Class here!

Do you remember that little song? Love isn’t love until you give it away ♥. It’s true. And it happens with these shoe boxes.

For the past two years I’ve made a cozy wool blanket to pack into a shoe box with lots of other goodies for Operation Christmas Child. Last year, on the spur of the moment, I invited the folks on my email list to make one along with me and pack it for the same purpose.

Over twenty brave souls gave it a try!

I quickly learned to make videos and post them in a Facebook group, and we leapt into this project together. WOW. We had a really enjoyable time, we all learned a lot from each other, and the blankets turned out beautifully.

And since it’s fall + shoebox-packing time again, I am reminiscing by re-posting photos of some the blankets that came out of that venture. Check out these lovelies! You guys are so talented!

(Each blanket is made from thin felted wools
like cashmere or merino and measures about 40″x50″. This way
they roll up tightly and fit in a shoebox with other fun and useful items.)

Patti’s ready to ship

Ranae’s finished blanket

Linda’s finished blanket

Timary’s final blanket

Ana Maria’s blanket

My finished blanket

Annie’s ready to ship

Pocket finger puppets

Pat’s final blanket

Cris’ finished blanket

Stephanie’s blanket

Diane’s finished blanket

We were able to track where our boxes went, and of the ones I learned about we know 2 went to Honduras, 2 to Rwanda, 3 to Ghana, 1 to Madagascar, and 1 to “A Hard To Reach Area.” It’s delightful to know these blankets are out upon this planet, keeping children warm.

Guys, packing a shoe box is such a simple way to share all that love in your hearts. There certainly doesn’t need to be a handmade blanket in it! I’d love to encourage you to visit the Operation Christmas Child website and see what it would take. (Operation Christmas Child is sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse, an international relief organization which also does a lot of work with refugees around the world.) The shoe box deadline isn’t until mid-November. I’m going to try to make a blanket (from scraps I already have cut, so it’ll go quicker), but even if that doesn’t happen, I’m packing a shoe box. Anybody with me?

This year—although NOT in conjunction with the shoe box project—I’m offering a full-fledged, not-on-the-fly class to learn to make blankets: the Felted Wool Blanket Master Class. Fall is the time we start thinking of keeping warm, making gifts, and bringing beauty inside our homes. Many of us are ready to hunker down with a project. If this is you, the class is open for enrollment through September 28. Class itself starts on September 29. Just a week away! Questions? Leave them here or click on “Contact” in this page’s header.

By the way, there’s significance to the term “master class.” In the musical world especially, it refers to a seminar where advanced students are given individual attention by the master musician. I am not exactly a master and you may or may not be advanced, but one real value (and joy!) of this class is the interaction, support and feedback from each other and from me. You are also completely welcome to do the class on your own and without interaction. But I hope you’d give it a try the other way first. I’d love to get to know you!

Blanket-Making Class is Open for Enrollment!

September 4, 2018September 21, 2019thegreensheep 4 Comments

Interested in making a felted wool sweater blanket, possibly with my new class? Sign up for free access to a video I’ve put together, Find and Choose Good Sweaters for Felting. It gives pointers on how to select great sweaters for making a blanket. This also adds your email to The Green Sheep newsletter list. (If you’re already on the newsletter list, your email won’t be duplicated.)

Read on ↓↓↓ for more about the new class.

Oh, my—I just got to spend a beautiful, restful time in GREEN (England and Wales; these photos are all Wales), and I am excited to be back and launching my blanket class!

Have you been dreaming of making a blanket from wool sweaters you’ve collected? But you don’t know where to begin? Maybe you’re afraid of ruining the sweaters or hesitant that your blanket won’t turn out to be full of the loveliness you imagine. I know all those feelings!

At the tail end of September I’ll begin walking a group of blanket-makers step-by-step through the process of making a “sweater blanket” from upcycled wool sweaters. The class includes video and written instructions so you can choose your favorite learning style. If that described you in the paragraph above, consider joining the Felted Wool Blanket Master Class with me.

In addition to teaching the mechanics of putting together a basic “Green-Sheep style” blanket, I’ll also help you think through and plan the design stage of your unique blanket using the sweater colors and textures you have available. The course is designed as a work-along class, presented in three sections of 2 weeks each, to enable you to actually finish your blanket. Also, since you have complete freedom to decide on the size of blanket you make, you can influence how much time you will need to spend on the project. (The larger the blanket, the more time required.)

This class’ super-power is that we’ll have a private Facebook page throughout the project, a virtual meeting place for asking questions, getting input from me, sharing what we’re doing, encouraging each other and designing together. This part is really fun!

What is a basic “Green-Sheep style” blanket, you ask? It is—

a blanket made from strips of felted wool sweaters of similar weights
it consists of one layer and has very narrow raw seams on its backside (to preserve the wool’s gorgeous drape and avoid any machine-washed surprises from variations in felting)
it’s bound with a bias binding also made from a wool sweater

The techniques for this style of blanket, once learned, are easily transferred to other creative blanket ideas!

Interested? Find more information about the course here. Also, I’ll send you a link to a helpful video about how to begin collecting your sweaters for designing a blanket! Just sign up here:

Questions about anything? Contact me via this form.

Windows like blankets: CFA Voysey

July 8, 2018September 21, 2019thegreensheep 4 Comments

This window.

A couple of weeks ago I opened a library book on CFA Voysey and saw THIS WINDOW. An immediate feeling of familiarity flooded me. This interesting, textured, window frame looks exactly like a blanket layout—all staggered and brickwork-like. I felt as though I had stumbled upon kin.

Charles Francis Annesley Voysey was a British architect and designer during the Arts & Crafts Movement. Although I can’t remember the exact trigger that sent me exploring at the library, I know it was one of his wallpaper or textile prints.

What do I love about his work? His drawings, full of motion, come alive on the page. His creatures exude personality. His pastoral colors walk me out the front door to the living world. And all this happens right in my head.

I’ve written previously about my undercurrent of obsession with design from that time period here and here and here. (I once unintentionally posted an uncredited photo of Voysey’s fabric—oops!) Other names you might recognize from Britain were William Morris, Philip Webb, C.R. Ashbee; in the U.S. there was Frank Lloyd Wright, Gustav Stickley, Greene & Greene. But there were many more! Influencers in the movement, in reaction against industrialization and the loss of human touch in the process of making things, advocated beautiful, simple design and craftmanship, generally with natural materials.

Voysey, though, was an independent thinker and something of a loner. He actually did not appreciate being connected to the movement. His background is interesting. He descended (by a couple of centuries) from Samuel and Susanna Wesley who also begat John and Charles Wesley, the brothers (and hymn-writers!) whose ideas led to what became the Methodist church. Voysey’s own dad was a reverend as well, but he broke with key standard doctrine and became an outcast in many circles. Voysey stood by his father. This apparently shaped a lot of his life.

I will leave more history either for another time or for your own research. But I’m delighted here to share some of his works that charm and inspire me.

More windows:

Magnificent homes and floor plans, in the English countryside, no less:

Wallpaper and fabric designs:

A sweet didactic puzzle-note for his grandchildren. It’s tricky, with his drawings of items we no longer use. His message, though, is appropriate for us all, whatever our age. (Translation below):

“My dear grandchildren, I hope you are busy working at something nice for someone. Service is the safest road to happiness. You will delight in realizing the pleasure you give to others. I would like to know what things you most delight in, and do something that adds to your well being.”

A sketch for an inlaid work-box. I love this! The man appears to be drawing and the woman knitting. To me, the little tree speaks of the organic nature of handwork. And when “head” and “hand” and “heart” meet—well, can we get any closer to Csikszentmihalyi’s flow?!

Finally a whimsical MAP! In watercolor! What is not to love about this?? (See full map below.)

So there you have it: Some visual goodness to wander through.

Who or what inspires you? Please share with the rest of us and leave a comment so we can keep our library cards in action this summer!

Credits:
Window photos from Arts & Crafts Houses II; C.F.A. Voysey
Wallpaper and fabric photos from C.F.A. Voysey; Design in the Age of Darwin
Map photo from Design in the Age of Darwin
Architectural drawings, letter puzzle and work-box sketch from C.F.A. Voysey

Musings of an occupational therapist fiber artist

February 4, 2018September 21, 2019thegreensheep 7 Comments

After inadvertently taking a (two-month!) blogging hiatus, I am itching to be back at it. In the neuro-rehab world where I do occupational therapy, I often tell post-concussion patients, who are discouraged by their deep need for naps, sometimes you just gotta let your brain do what it needs to do. I think that’s what just happened to me.

Anyway, I am refreshed.

Although you haven’t heard from me, there’s been plenty of blanket activity, with not one, not two, but three custom orders for a pair of blankets each. Each pair is a unique design challenge, as all will be made nearly entirely of the customers’ own sweaters. Yowza! I’m excited!

The first pair is completed and I’m looking forward to showing it to you. BUT—they are to be Valentine’s gifts, so I must wait and not blow the surprise.

Hence, for now I’ll share some musings.

It’s February, my birthday month, and in the past I’ve made myself some birthday things (see here and here). But I haven’t felt that impulse this year. What I have felt is an impulse to reflect.

Yesterday I packed up a notebook, my much-used copy of Tara Swiger’s Map Your Business, and a mug of coffee (compliantly lidded) to head to a sunny local library. (Have you all noticed how hard it is to find a quiet coffee shop??)

Swiger is a coach to creative/handmade business owners. This book, subtitled “Define Success, Set Goals, and Make a Plan (You’ll Stick With)” , launched me into action last year in areas where I’d been stalling.

Swiger shines in her use of good questions to get her readers/students to define what the heck we’re doing and what we want. For instance, her questions got me to:

take note of accomplishments and lessons in the previous year,
identify my own “north star” (a lens of values through which I can measure success),
brainstorm up some dreams for setting the next year’s goals, and
lay out really really detailed action steps for my key goals.

I love her questions! They made me put all this on paper!!

My favorite page in the workbook, as it turns out? Swiger has the biz owner imagine their best version of the coming year and write it down as if it already happened. She says to “paint a picture” and include all the non-business stuff too.

I had never done this before. It was a clarifying process and therefore surprisingly easy to write. The question went straight to the heart of what I really cared about.

The outcome amazed me: 9 of the 11 things I imagined in my best vision for 2017 happened! Some of the successes were internal (less fretting about some tough things in the rehab world); some were external and concrete (a particular number of weekly hours protected for The Green Sheep); and one was a crazy bucket-list dream (a family trip to the United Kingdom)!

All that to say—I learned one very big lesson about commitment:

Daring to voice an aspiration is the first step toward its fulfillment.

Thank you, Tara Swiger!

On a personal note, I also recently read through my journal from last year. I would be remiss to not mention this, something that’s deeply important to me. The thing that struck me in my reading was how my questions, asks, and ruminations before God had not gone unheard. This gave me a great deal of comfort and joy (just like the Christmas carol says!).

Two are Better than One

December 1, 2017September 21, 2019thegreensheep 2 Comments

Yep. Two are better than one.¹ But more like TWENTY are better than one. Way better.

Last month I hung out in a virtual classroom with several women who made a child’s blanket and packed it in an Operation Christmas Child shoe box in exchange for learning how to make a wool blanket, Green-Sheep style.

The thing that surprised me most? How much fun it was. Every day I looked forward to coming home from work, hopping on my computer and joining the ongoing discussion.

“How did sweater shopping go?” “What colors did you find?” “Who’s got a blanket ‘first draft’ laid out?” “Are you making yours for a girl or a boy?”

I miss it!!

Finally—here’s a little gallery of our work. I figure we were able to complete about 15 blankets, and here are 11 of them. The variety reflects the regions in which we live, what our resale shops held the day(s) we went shopping, aaaand…our many personalities. (Click on each photo to view it larger.)

The best part: how these bright and talented people made our virtual classroom feel pretty darn near to a real one.

Patti’s ready to ship

Ranae’s final draft

Ranae’s finished blanket

Ranae’s ready to ship

Linda’s finished blanket

Pocket finger puppets

Linda’s ready to ship

I love pockets :)

Ana Maria’s blanket

Annie’s with red border

Annie’s ready to ship

Annie’s black border

Timary’s first draft

Timary’s final blanket

Pat’s final blanket

Details on Pat’s blanket

Cris’ final draft

Cris’, awaiting binding

Cris’ finished blanket

Stephanie’s blanket

Diane’s finished blanket

My finished blanket

¹”Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor:
If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.”
—Ecclesiastes 4.9-10

“Wacky Pockets”

November 14, 2017September 21, 2019thegreensheep 2 Comments

Argyle! Stripes! Patchwork! Puppy applique! There’s been a flurry of activity on the Facebook page where close to 20 creative women sewed their own sensibilities into felted wool blankets. I coached them with Green Sheep-style techniques and these sewists brilliantly took it from there.

We have been virtually planning, sewing, struggling, encouraging, and finally FINISHING our blankets alongside each other. I am charmed to see the beautiful work of these women and to imagine their gifts in the hands of youngsters around the world, via the simple shoe boxes we’re madly packing to be collected by Operation Christmas Child this week.

I made a blanket right along with the class, filming the process as I went. I made it for a boy this time, in the 5-9 age range. (I wanted to mix it up, as last year’s was for a girl.)

This blanket has cashmere and merino wools, a striped bias binding, and best of all, two pockets that button. I called it “Wacky Pockets” because one of the pockets is upside down.

Or maybe the other one is. It’s hard to tell.

Anyway, it’s been fun to think about a little boy this year, especially for this mom-of-two-daughters. I enjoyed picking out small, interesting things to pack in his shoe box.

So much stuff can fit in there! Because I am a container lover, I bought three for this little guy. One for his soap, a lock-top one in which the socks are packed, and a round, screw-top one. The Slinky and some awesome rubber-tip clips (from the hardware aisle!) fit perfectly inside it.