Wooly Mountain Mama

Hello all you Wooly Mamas out there! I am so glad to be a part of this creative collaboration, and share my love of crafting with all of you. Thank you Ani for gathering us together and getting this going!

So, a little about this wooly mama...

I am a modern homesteader in semi-rural Oregon, a homemaker, a mother of twins, a handcrafter, a wildcrafter, a food preserving maniac, a camper, a backpacker, a naturalist, a horticulturalist, a dreamer and an every day adventurer. I love to needle felt and wet felt wool, string necklaces with gemstone chips and animal pendants, fashion birds nests out of roots, and make little faeries with silk flower petals and leaves. My hands are always busy.

If you ever want to find me elsewhere, I keep another blog called Mountain Hearth Handcrafts about my homesteading efforts and outdoor adventures with my children, which you can visit at: http://www.mountainhearth.blogspot.com/, and one dedicated to my handcrafting business, Mountain Hearth Handcrafts, at:  http://www.mountainhearthhandcrafts.blogspot.com/. The Etsy site for this is at: http://www.mountainhearth.etsy.com/.

I am looking forward to sharing inspiration and creative dreams!

Lara Katherine Mountain Colley

Sunny Side Up

For Reya's third birthday, I created a couple of crocheted, cotton eggs stuffed with wool. Eggs are a source of big fascination these days, due to our recent family addition of a flock of three hens who reliably lay us a pretty, green egg each day.
What I learned about making them look like eggs:
1)The white must be white, not creamy white, like natural lambswool.
2)The yolk should not stand too tall, or it gets out of proportion.
3)The white needs to be wavy, not perfectly round.
4)Use smallish yarn- not bulky, and a small hook.
5)Third time is the charm.

Woolly Welcome

Hoorah for the Woolly Mamas! Glad to see the circle(s) growing.

I'm feeling it is time to open up the Colorado woollies again. I just don't have a location that can suit a group of women and playful children ... but I will have once the new house is ready -- in February or March perhaps? I've a little list of families who are probably interested.

Rosie's Hat

Rosie is modeling my first knit-in-the-round project. I am rather impressed with myself. I followed a pattern and learned some new skills. Next I'll be making the same thing but bigger for Hazel in a lovely dark teal color.

Valentines Day Gifts

Two of my four children got home made Valentine's day gifts from me this year(the oldest wanted pre-paid minutes for his cell phone, and the toddler wanted a heart shaped mylar balloon).  The hoodie was altered for my little Galen.  A beloved and well meaning Auntie sent it as a newborn gift, bearing an embroidered, blue, football.  I just simply don't do sports motifs on my baby boy clothes, so for V day, he re-got the gift, magically changed by Mama to sport some magic mushrooms!
Tenar received this wool felt (up-cycled from sweaters of course) lunch box, completely hand stitched and naturally dyed by moi.  The little internal divider separates hot food from cold, and I gave him little pyrex bowls to fit inside, so he could carry his dinner leftovers for lunch, in plastic-free containers.  This project took me foreeeever.

Banana Split anyone?

Check out these awesome woolly split pants that my friend Maria made using the sleeves of a felted sweater! Sol and I are so in tune (most of the time) that he is practically diaper-free at home! Now he can cruise around eating tidbits off the floor, keep his leggies warm and be easy for me to pee. The other day he sat at the table with us, pushing pieces of banana around, most of them disappeared and when I picked him up they were all over his lap. Karuna said, "Now that's what I call a banana split!"

Secret stash?

I took these pictures a few weeks ago now, but haven't found time to post them.  I am excited that I created for my 12 year old son, a unique Yule gift, that was a lot more work than I originally imagined: a book with a secret compartment.  I imagine that it could be used for a cash stash, secret notes or little treasures.  His step-Grandma helpfully pointed out that the hole is just the right size for a pack of cigarettes (such a wonderful influence, right?).  He noticed that his digital camera fits inside.  What fun.  I hope to make more of these in the future.

I bought a thrift store book to use, without actually reading it first.  After slicing some of the page centers out, I began to notice that the plot was a bit scary, and deeply disturbing.  It is fiction about a man who does terrible things to young women after murdering them.  I was extremely creeped out when I discovered the content of my book project, and that is when I decided to glue the pages together VERY well, inset some screws through the bulk of the pages, and cover the hole with pretty, flowery paper.  I really hope the scary insides never get uncovered.  I told the same step-Grandma about this, and she revealed that she has read several other horror novels by this particular author, and that it is one of her favorite series of books.  You gotta wonder...