Almost Shopping; Photos Instead

My favorite places to look for those most unusual gifts are in flea markets, estate sales, or by-the-side-of-the-road artist or craftsperson’s studios.

But I didn’t need to be shopping for MYSELF this holiday season! The whole point of shopping is to buy something unique to give or share with someone else.

So I took photos instead:

  
This first image is of a coloring book with illustrations in it from illustrator Kate Greenaway. I enjoyed looking through the book and have appreciated further research into more of her illustrations.

  
This four harness weaving loom looks like a lot of fun, but I had to be practical here–I just don’t have any room in the fiber part of my studio, nor do I need any other “distractions” as I work on my current writing project.

  
Ahhh….but THIS, this is like seeing a long ago friend! Of course, it came home with me. This is a Little Red Spinning Wheel, from Remco and copyrighted 1961. The red wheel turns by hand and creates tubes of knitted yarn which can be joined together to fashion bedroom slippers, purses, or rugs–depending on how long the crafter’s patience holds out. The direction book is still with it, however, it might look too complicated for the four-year-old that I have in mind.

I will play with, er…practice…using this before I pass it along as a gift to my favorite younger artist/craftsperson/best-little-friend. I think she’ll love it as much as I did. Still do. We can work on it together and take turns.

Happy Creating!