Man Made DIY

I'm warning you: the sock squid is a gateway fiber project. Today you're thinking "I'm just gonna sew this one little fella to give to my buddy, sort of almost as a gag gift," and before you know it you'll be lining laptop sleeves in microfiber and crocheting iPhone jackets.  It is a sickness, and it starts be snipping slits in socks and learning a couple simple hand stitches.

The sock squid was my first sock animal… read more

So, apparently, there's a sustainable/local/handmade/ (read: hippie) movement to use dog hair as a legitimate source of yarn, textiles, etc. The Wall Street Journals reports, "For nearly two decades, dog owners craving a memento of a canine buddy...have been able to send hair brushed from their pet to any number of artisans who advertise online that they will spin the piles of fluff into a soft yarn. Some dog-hair spinners have months-long backlogs of orders. The thriving cottage industry was spurred by the publication of a how-to guide titled "Knitting With Dog Hair: Better a Sweater From a Dog You Know and Love Than From a Sheep You'll Never Meet." "

Fascinating, right?! Wanna get more meta? How about dog items made from dog hair on actual dogs!? Like the hat above, or this adorable little guy in a… read more

Tracy Widdess has got to be one of the most talented fiber artists out there. Her knitted creations are equally inspiring and terrifying, the actual definition of "awesome," or, for you intellectuals, mysterium tremendum et fascinans. It's a thing; look it up.

The care and technique that goes into a handmade quilt is second to none, but the aesthetic often leans towards the floral and traditional...

Not so with the "urban quilts" of Amy Ahlstrom, which are hyper-modern and bold examples of fiber art. "Drawing upon her background as a graphic designer and comix illustrator, Amy digitally photographs the visual details of cities—street art, signs, and architectural details—and collages these images via computer into quilt designs. The resulting quilts, crafted of raw silk and cotton, are tactile visual postcards of urban environments. "

Amy's artist statement says:

Thomas C. Chung is a fine artist, and has come up with some of the best conceptual fiberarts I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot of yarnstuffs.