Family Handwork

We love doing handwork projects as a family!  Our new eBook was written to inspire families to create beautiful handwork projects as a family at home.  Available in our Etsy shop.

Our eBook contains instructions and colorful photos for four projects:
1. Knitted gnome and bed
2. Crochet/Knit Baby Blanket
3. Natural Silk Gift Wrapping
4. Handspun Woven Table Runner

Information about supplies, planning, importance of family handwork and resources included. 18 pages. This listing is for one digital copy that is in pdf format. Upon purchase, you will be able to download it directly through Etsy. eBook is for your own personal family use, only. Schools and co-op groups may email us for information on a custom listing for their organization.

Give-away Knitting Patterns!

Give-away from Mamma4Earth!

Welcome to Linda Dawkins!  

"I have always loved knitting, my mom taught me to knit when I was 5 years old. When she was younger she knitted cricket jerseys for all of her brothers. I used to often see her knitting when I was little, she knitted us a variety of clothing including our royal blue jerseys for school, these were the softest jerseys, so much softer than the shop bought ones. One day I asked her if she could show me how to knit and she did. She gave me two short, size 4mm knitting needles and a ball of blue double knitting wool. I can remember that day clearly. I was always encouraged to try and knit her projects that she was busy with, this was wonderful because I managed to master some complicated patterns and knitting terminology at a young age and she always helped me along the way. I attended a Catholic convent school while growing up and knitting was a part of our curriculum, there were new projects to make for school each year and when I was older I started to knit more advanced items. The first jersey I knitted was a cabled design, I was 18 years old and I still have that jersey today.

After my husband and I had children, I studied to be a Montessori preschool teacher, I taught for a few years and then after the birth of our fourth child, Kye, we decided that I would no longer work but rather homeschool our children. I discovered the wonderful world of Waldorf education with all its beautiful natural toys and this is when I started knitting toys. At first, I just knitted them because toy patterns were so adorable but then I felt a change developing. A few months later, Mamma4earth, our family business, was born and has been growing each year since 2008. I began to really start looking at animals, I noticed that when I encountered an animal or bird I would often study its shape and see the curves and bulk of its body. I would watch its movement and grace. I would calculate the stitches in my mind and see the animal become a knitted creation in my mind's eye. The design usually marinades within my consciousness for a few days and then I begin the pattern writing and designing process. When I start to write a pattern, I usually continue writing until I am finished, I seldom start designing and finish later, this tends to break the flow of my thoughts. Often I wake early in the morning and while my eyes are still closed, I think of a new design, this is one of the most exciting aspects of my creative process. I love how my thoughts eventually fall into place and a new creature takes form... My inspiration stems from my beautiful family and the wildlife that we are surrounded by in this lovely country of ours. 

My family and I live in South Africa, we have a suburban homestead where we grow veggies and fruit and live a sustainable lifestyle. We have a whole troop of chickens, rabbits, cats, birds, fish and our newest pet that seems almost human at times... a Labrador called Sandy. I often write about our life on our blog called Natural Suburbia. You can find my patterns for sale on Etsy, my Craftsy Shop and my Ravelry Store.

  

Links:

http://www.naturalsuburbia.com/

http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamma4earth?ref=si_shop

http://www.ravelry.com/groups/mamma4earth

http://pinterest.com/mamma4earth/

https://twitter.com/mamma4earth

http://www.facebook.com/pages/mamma4earth/48290052809

  

Giveaway:

The winner will receive 8 patterns of their choice!  

Entries include leaving a comment on the Natural Suburbia blog, "Like"ing Mamm4earth Facebook page, Repinning a Mamma4earth pattern image on Pinterest, Following Mamma4earth on Twitter, adding Mamma4earth as a friend on Ravelry, or purchasing something from the Mamm4earth Etsy shop.   That's up to 6 opportunities to win!  

Email us at: info@syrendell.com by December 31 to let us know about your entries. 

Boosting our Creativity - Reorganizing the Craft Room

This past month, we took all of our craft supplies outside and reorganized our craft/music room! A daunting task, but one that has freed up space and created an energy flow, giving us a "boost".

On a daily basis, we are in this wonderful room, filled with art supplies, fiber arts tools, musical instruments, and a work table that Rick built years ago.

There is even space for a silk fort!

Now, our craft magazines, music, patterns are in files. We can quickly locate yarn by color. Art supplies are organized and easy to reach. 

We can find what we need for fiber arts workshops, lessons and sales. The room has a sink and a door to the backyard...both practical elements for painting and dyeing.

To keep from spending a fortune on this endeavor, we spent $30 at the local thrift store, getting baskets and magazine holders. We pulled out old food jars and wood bowls. We did splurge on chalkboard labels from Bradens Grace on Etsy to label the nooks, baskets and jars, and love that we can reuse them over the years.

We love this hanging fruit basket that we found at the thrift store.  Perfect for little balls of yarn!

Bits of leftover roving get their own space and baskets and can be used for felting or carding batts for spinning up Junkyard Fairy yarn.

And, we finally have a place to put our works "in progress".  It is much easier and neater to grab a basket full of supplies for the doll that we are sewing or the gnome that we are knitting when the supplies are all together.  

Space for the drum set and keyboard, various guitars, as well as our work desk and computer was carved out. There was space for one spinning wheel, but not our floor loom or second wheel.  So...perhaps the ultimate room would need to be an entire house for just crafts, music and art?  

Handwork eBooks

Need some ideas for handwork projects at home?  Our seasonal handwork eBooks are available through Little Acorn Learning.  Each one features a variety of handwork, verses and pictures.

Autumn

Winter

Spring

Summer

New Workshops!

New workshops are scheduled for 2011!  Come and join Syrendell to learn more about handwork, art and aromatherapy.  Workshops are held in Davis, California unless otherwise noted.  Davis is about 20 minutes from Sacramento and 1.5 hrs. from San Francisco.  We also travel and teach!  Email us to schedule a workshop near you.

To see the upcoming schedule and register: www.syrendellacademy.com

February 6
Felting 10-12
Spinning 1-3

March 6
Beginning Crochet 10-12
Tunisian Crochet 1-3

April 3
Beginning Knitting 10-12
Wet-On-Wet Watercoloring 1-3

Learn Knitting, Crochet, Spinning and Aromatherapy

Upcoming Syrendell Workshops!  Go to our website to register.

Handwork in the Dell Workshop - Beginning Knitting December 5, 2010

10:00am - 12:00pm

Davis, California
Price includes yarn used during the workshop, a pdf handout (emailed), and organic snacks. Knitting needles available to use. Spindles, knitting needles, crochet hooks, wool roving, yarns, fiber arts supplies, books, silks and other items available for purchase at a discount during the workshop. $30

Handwork in the Dell Workshop - Beginning Crochet

December 5, 2010
1:00pm - 3:00pm
Davis, California
Price includes yarn used during the workshop, a handout, and organic snacks. Crochet hooks available to use. Spindles, knitting needles, crochet hooks, wool roving, yarns, fiber arts supplies, books, silks and other items available for purchase at a discount during the workshop. $30

Aromatherapy in the Dell

December 20, 2010

2:00pm - 4:00pm

Fair Oaks, California

Price includes all materials (including oils used during the workshop), a pdf eBook, snacks and two aromatherapy products. Supplies, books and other items available for purchase at a discount during the workshop. $40 (Note...this is in Fair Oaks)

 

Handwork in the Dell - Beginning Spindle Spinning January 9, 2011

10:00am- 12:00pm

Davis, California

Price includes all spinning fiber used during the workshop, a pdf handout (emailed), and organic snacks. Spindles, knitting needles, crochet hooks, extra roving, fiber arts supplies, books, silks and other items available for purchase at a discount during the workshop. $30

Handwork Workshop November 6, 2010

Handwork Workshop
November 6, 2010
9:00am - 3:00pm
Davis, California

Open to adults who want to learn more about fiber arts and how to teach handwork to their own children in a homelearning and/or Waldorf-inspired environment. Limited space available. (Teens also welcome -- please email us in advance). Come join Jennifer & Joey Tan at Syrendell for a day of fiber arts fun!


Price includes all materials (including yarn and spinning fiber used during the workshop), a handout, snacks and an organic, vegetarian lunch. Spindles, knitting needles, crochet hooks, extra roving, fiber arts supplies, books, silks and other items available for purchase at a discount during the workshop. $80


More information and to register: www.syrendellacademy.com

Summer Handwork Projects

Summer is the perfect time to do handwork.  We take our time to finish each project.

Ricky's clarinet teacher is about to have his first baby!  Ricky crocheted a warm blanket for the new little boy out of a thick wool yarn.  His teacher loved the blanket.

Joey found a container of "scrumbles" (aka, crocheted or knitted pieces) and crocheted and sewed them together into an artistic capelet for herself and Mommy to wear.  This style of crocheting is called freeform crochet (see more freeform at http://www.knotjustknitting.com/).

Wilson has been knitting up squares to make a blanket for the new house our of organic, naturally dyed, cotton yarn from Babetta's Yarn (they will ship...just call!).

Next, we will be felting slippers and knitting socks in anticipation of Fall!  Our Etsy shop has some new naturally dyed and handspun yarns, as well as handwork kits with yarns and needles or a hook. 

And...here is a peek at the progress on Rick's classroom for Grade 6 at Davis Waldorf! 

Syrendell Natura Collection is Here!

Naturally-dyed, organic, wool yarns are now available in our Etsy Shop!  These yarns are 2-ply and worsted weight, which is perfect for size 10 knitting needles or size J crochet hook.

 

We also offer nice little handwork kits that contain a set of birch wood knitting needles (short or long) or crochet hook along with two of our Natura or handspun yarns in the shop.

Need help getting started with handwork?  Our handwork eBook has information, simple patterns, songs and verses for knitting, crocheting, spinning and weaving.  Our dyeing with children eBook features a variety of dyeing methods that you can do at home.  If you order our handwork kit along with our handwork and/or dyeing eBooks, we will refund you 1/2 the price of the eBooks ($4 for each eBook).  This offer is good through the end of September!

Handwork Workshop

On May 29, we hosted a Handwork in the Dell workshop in Fair Oaks.  What a beautiful day!  The sun was shining as a group of lovely, creative women entered our home.


 We started out with circle time singing "My Hands are Good" to warm up.

Spinning on spindles and carding up batts was great fun! Joey helped with the niddy noddy and demonstrated the spinning wheel.

Tunisian crocheting is quicker than knitting, uses less yarn than crocheting and is easy to learn.  We even made the "knit stitch" which looks just like stockinette.  After lunch, we did some knitting and verses.

Weaving on small cardboard looms with a naalbinding wood needle gave us a good start on making a simple pouch.  We also tried out the Ashford Knitter's loom.

Our next handwork workshop is in August!  Email us if you are interested in attending, or if you want a handwork workshop near you.