Big big sale

It's that time of year!!! I'm having a big clear out of my stock. If you fancied a cashmere gnome hat or a simple gift for your child, have a look in my etsy shop. The listings will be up for a limited time only.
Oast.etsy.com

News in the Shop

Next week I will be selling off some old stock at discounted prices.  I am mostly selling custom full sized traditional Waldorf dolls now and would like to shift some of my earlier projects in my craft room.  It is spring, after all.  Or is it?  There is snow falling right this minute and it is leaving us all chilled to the bone.  Never mind, more time to sew!

For previews of the sale stock, be sure to like my facebook page now and keep an eye on my etsy shop early next week. 

Buttons...

Whats being made around here....

 Life has been full, as it always seems to be.  I have started volunteering in a Steiner community for people with special needs in the weavery.  I am so happy to be involved and following my dreams.  To be working again, and as a Steiner handcrafter! Well, it is something I have been working towards for a while.  There have been a lot of projects on the go around here as well.  

I have been:

Spinning with friends...

 Spinning alone..

Knitting a scarf...

Setting up looms...

Sewing hand puppets for a loved one..

Getting a matching handmade bracelet from Narina for mother's day..

Crafting with the family...

Making root children ginger cookies for craft group morning...

And last but not least, and perhaps the most exciting thing of all, I finished knitting a vest for the kids out of my own handspun yarns.  All that is left now is the wooden buttons that Daddy and the kids made together!

Getting caught up

Oh little blog, I have neglected you!   It is what it is, though. Life has been busy.  I have been rounding up the end of my dolly list for this new year.  I have one left to do now and then I am open for orders again and I can try restocking my very bare store. 

I have been so busy learning.  Learning how to slow down my family, while speeding up my knowledge intake.  Having my husband home after a long job away, has allowed me to take snippets of time away from the house.  Something that has been so rewarding.  I have been learning how to spin wool!  Well, as my friend and teacher Libby has instructed, I am learning each stage involved in spinning.  I have learned to sort, card and then drop spindle my wool.  Then last week I had a go on a wheel.  What heaven that was.  It is an amazing thing to create your own wool.  Perhaps similar to eating your own vegetables out of the garden, it gives a primal feeling of providing warmth. 

I have also been asked to volunteer at a local Steiner home for people with special needs.  In the weavery!  I will be able to learn how to thread looms and get to know a whole new circle of people interested in crafting while I am doing it.  What heaven. Speaking of heaven, look at our back garden.  Isn't it beautiful.  We had a nice covering of snow this week. Many things stopped and slowed down.

Lastly, but very close to my heart, a few of my dolls went to India recently.  A friend brought them to a new Waldorf kindergarten in Tamil Nadu. There were a few of my older dolls, the first ones I made, that I never sold.  I was so happy at the thought that they would have a home and be well played with.  Below is one of the photos I received when my friend returned.  I have learned a lot about the power of giving dolls lately.  They are powerful little love cuddles.  Seeing this photo gave it right back to my heart.  Selling online really doesn't allow you to see how children respond to your dolls so every photo of a child playing with a doll I have made moves me to no end.

Creative family

Narina made her first peg loom weaving project. A pillow for her dolls. I have been spinning and carding. Dan finally got back to a lathe. This beautiful bowl was the result.

Big steps

Today marked a very big day for me.  I have applied for the Steiner Early Years Education Training Program.  It will involve an intensive week away from my family in the summer, something that makes me incredibly nervous to think about right now, and one weekend a month in London (that is the study that takes place away from my home now).  London... busy London. It feels big to me not because it is going back to school. Not because I will finally get a degree for the copious amounts of study I have done, but more because it is a formal shift in what I have been doing with my career to this point.  I am really changing career paths and how I have identified myself.  It is exciting and it is in the post. 

Meanwhile I have managed to do an incredible amount of craft work.  I'll be posting about some of it soon.