Mandy Rowe from Australia, will be in San Francisco on June 24th

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Great News for felter from http://www.indiepublic.com

Australian artist Mandy Rowe will be at the Women?s Building in San Francisco on Wednesday the 24th June 2009 (www.womensbuilding.org). She is inviting local women to come along and help create a felted wrap. This wrap will eventually be felted in with other wraps created in other destinations. The aim is to make one long wrap that reflects our diverse similarities. This wrap will form part of her exhibition in 2010. Women are also invited to write a short story or ?wrap? about something from their lives. All ?wraps? or stories will be bound in a beautifully crafted hand-made book and displayed for the duration of the exhibition. Some of these stories will be made into paintings, others will be transcribed onto long cylinder lampshades. These stories will be illuminated.

If you would like to help create a San Francisco felted wrap while learning this ancient craft, come along to the Women?s Building on the 24th June anytime between 6.30 and 8.30pm. This is a free event. If you cannot make the evening and would still like to be included in this exhibition I would love to receive your story or ?wrap?. Stories may comprise of a simple one line philosophy others may be longer. Short, long, happy, sad,
frivolous, serious…..all ?wraps? are welcome, after all it?s your story.
send your story or ?wrap? to [email protected]. You can learn more about Mandy on her website – http://www.mandyrowedesigns.com.au
I wish I lived closer to go to this free workshop! I hope if you are able to you should join her for the evening and if not, maybe you will send in a story to be included in the book. I think I would like to do that myself.
Thank you,
Casie, IndieAdmin
Visit Indiepublic at: http://www.indiepublic.com

Creativity has been paramount to Mandy all her life. Ceramics, fabric painting, acrylics, pastels and watercolors have all been explored. This year, however, has heralded a new creative venture. The ancient art of felting using light weight fabrics and vibrant silks has captivated the artist. This coupled with the fact that felting becomes something tangible, wearable and ‘givable’ is intrinsic to the creation of ‘Mandy Rowe designs’. Handmade wraps become the perfect gifts for friends, sisters, cousins, mothers and aunts. Silk chiffon has become Mandy’s new canvas. Colors and textures are creatively mixed to make an exquisite piece of wearable art.
Heart felt creations are a gift of love, joy and inspiration

Getting ready for back to school makes me think about pencil crafts, so let’s take a look at some pencil themed knitting patterns!

I recently made a pencil on a circular knitting machine, and it was a fun, quick, easy project that uses little bits of leftover yarn (and if you don’t have yellow you can make it a colored pencil using whatever color’s your favorite). And if you want to make a bigger version check out this pattern from Orange Olive Road on Etsy.

If you want to knit a pencil pillow by hand, check out Sketchy, available on Ravelry from Shana S. Cohen. This one uses worsted weight yarn and has two size options and the choice to make a pencil with an eraser or a colored pencil.

Pencil scarves seem to be the most popular kind of pencil knitting pattern, and there are lot of cute ones. This one from Cosy Craft UK mostly uses garter stitch, with some welts to add texture and what looks like an I-cord edging. It calls for DK weight yarn.

If you want to go all garter stitch try this version from Emsley Co Creations, which uses five colors of DK weight yarn and just a little shaping to make the point of the pencil.

There’s also this fun, mostly stockinette so it looks like it curls a bit, pencil pattern that looks like it’s worked in chunky yarn from Little Knits Studio. This one uses just a little garter stitch and easy shaping for the point.

If you don’t want a pencil scarf, how about some pencil socks? The No. 2 Pencil Socks from The Yarn Enabler are available from Ravelry and use five colors of sock yarn. They feature wide ribs to mimic the texture of a pencil and have options to be worked from the top down or the toe up.

Needs Sharpening by Alexander Walker is a free pattern on Ravelry that uses five colors of sock yarn to make a sort of shortie sock. The little bit of black at the tips of the toes inspired the name. These, too, can be worked in either direction and are available in three sizes.

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