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my creative space

In my creative space today, I’ve been trading work for materials. Last week, a friend saw my happy little airplane and asked if I would make one for her son. “I’ve got sweaters to trade!” She even checked the seams to make sure they weren’t serged.

sweaters for unraveling

The original airplane was really big. Much bigger than I thought it would be. Would it be ok if I made a smaller version? “Deal!”

mini small airplane amigurumi

I find this happens a lot in my circle of crafty friends. We’ve all got items we’re ready to pass along and services to use for trade. It’s a never ending re-cycle.

The list of creative spaces keeps growing! Visit Kirsty’s blog to see them all.

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my creative space

granny square scarf

In my creative space today (and tomorrow and the next day…) are granny squares. I had no idea how relaxing these were until I stopped making them. Then I felt a hole, like something was missing, and I realized it was clusters of double crochet!

I’m using my recycled sweater yarn for this one simply because it’s so soft and nice to work with. Whenever I start to feel stressed, I take a deep breath and grab a square.

What’s in your creative space today? Why don’t you pop on over to Kirsty’s blog and join the fun!

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my creative space

I’ve got some tough decisions in my creative space today. I was given this beautiful hand-knit sweater from my friend Tana. It’s big. Really big. Too big to be refashioned with my ’80s sweater tutorial. She was thinking I could use it to make a felted tote bag. I can’t bear felting it. The stitch work is so beautiful.

recycled wool sweater

This is what I’m thinking: take apart the seams and make smaller bags out of the front and back each. I would serge the edges to keep them from unraveling. I really like the colorway of the yarn, which is Cascade 220. I think I might unravel the sleeves and use the wool for some granny square scarves.

What do you think? What would you do with it?

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my creative space

I’ve been spending a lot of time with Country Living’s Crafting Vintage Style and have fallen in love with the thick and thin stripes of vintage tea towels.

Usually I see them with red stripes, but this book has a lot of blue inside its pages. I grabbed some navy and natural wool and started crocheting around some small plastic bottles destined for our recycling bin. This is the result.

vintage inspired crochet bud vase

I like that the bottles are plastic. I’m hoping to put some of these in my shop, and shipping will be less expensive than glass. I’m also hoping to get a picture with a real flower soon. Right now our garden is just starting to poke through the surface. I had to improvise for the photo.

Kirsty is rocking the blue and natural colors this week, too. Visit her blog for more creative spaces.

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my creative space

crochet easter egg

In my creative space today I’m writing up a pattern for this little egg. My daughter has it in her head that Peter Cottontail is going to leave her striped eggs under her blanket Easter morning. She’s also very specific about the colors: yellow and pink, purple and yellow, orange and yellow, pink and purple. How on earth did she come up with this? Why, Easter stickers of course!

easter stickers

I should have the pattern up tomorrow or Friday, depending mostly on what she’s doing. I want this to be a surprise for her, so no egg crocheting or picture taking while she’s around.

Visit Kirsty’s blog for some more eggcellent creative spaces!

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my creative space

pink fabric for purse

In my creative space today is this beautiful pink fabric. I think it should become a purse. Not a boxy, tote-like bag, but a fancy, dressy purse. It’s got this shiny, metallic thread woven in it that glitters in the sun. It was hard to get a close up, but you can kind of see it here.

pink fabric for purse

It would make a sweet Spring purse, don’t you think?

You can visit more creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.

thrifted: I think this was originally a long, wrap-around skirt. I bought it at a church sale last year and figure it’s about time I did something with it!

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my creative space

spring cleaning and donating

I’m spring cleaning in my creative space today. Three bags of fabric and craft goodies are going to my friend Sarah, who gave me the yarn from last week. I also packed up three bags of clothing that I had planned to upcycle into something else. That’s going to The Mission. I figure there are folks who need those jeans more than I do, and I’ve still got plenty of stash to keep me busy.

I’m already feeling inspired by my uncluttered creative space. Now I’m going to pop over to Kirsty’s blog for more inspiration.

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my creative space

I am becoming known as the Master Unraveler. A friend of mine had two knit tablecloths, but didn’t know how to take them apart. They were seamed together, ruffled and hemmed with elastic. I took the first one from this:

unraveled tablecloth yarn

to this:

unraveled tablecloth yarn

In my creative space today, I’ll be tackling tablecloth number two. Did I mention that I get to keep some yarn for myself? Score!

Check out more creative spaces over at Kirsty’s blog.

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my creative space

cat fabric tote bag

In my creative space today is another custom bag for my friend Cathy with more cat fabric! She wanted this one really big to hold her ball winder, swift and tons of yarn.

I made it really big.

Then I was worried that it was too big.

I took it to knitting group tonight and she said it’s perfect!

I just need to finish it up and get it back to her. She’s got a bunch of yarn waiting for it.

Now I’m headed over to Kirsty’s blog for more Creative Space inspiration. You should, too!

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my creative space

My creative space is full of tiny little stitches. A friend of mine hand stitched this blanket, but doesn’t sew, and asked me to help put it together.

cross stitch baby blanket

I am amazed at her patience and perfect little stitches.

cross stitch baby blanket

And check out this cute ruffle trim!

cross stitch baby blanket

I’ll be sewing the front to a quilted back and adding the trim. I don’t want to machine quilt the two pieces together, so I have to come up with a way to tie or stitch them without interfering with the design. Suggestions welcome!

Creative spaces are hosted by Kirsty in Australia. No matter how early I post mine I always feel a little late to the party because of the time difference. So, I’m going to start posting these on (U.S.) Wednesdays. Now you get an extra day to check out all of the creative goodness!