Handmade Inspiration

Photo from MariaPalito Cute Felt Toys

Inspiration can come at any time, usually when you least expect it. We sometimes go looking for inspiration doing a favourite activity which we use to generate that which we seek. Maybe you like to go for a walk or cycle. Perhaps you get your best ideas when you’re working in the garden or busy yourself with some other work around the house.

Some of us get our best ideas first thing in the morning. You wake up and there it is, an idea that demands immediate attention. You don't even bother to get out of your jim jams until you're done. Or maybe you are an evening crafter focusing on your new idea in the peace and tranquility of a sleeping house. All creative people will understand the powerful need to work on a new design idea as soon as it comes to mind.

When it was suggested to me late last summer that I broaden the products on my bi-monthly craft stall, I was at first struggling for inspiration. Putting my mind to the task was done at every spare moment and discussed with anyone who was interested. The question was what else could I make besides greetings cards?

Well there is that Sonic the hedgehog knitted blanket I’m still working on. Of course there's no intention of making those to sell. Knitting a few squares is a good for times when I need to ponder on ideas.

Whatever I came up with had to be something small, light, quick to make and desirable. It shouldn’t be expensive to make and could even be bought with pocket money. I learned all this by observing some of the best selling items at the previous market. I knew the criteria. Coming up with the idea came at a very unexpected moment.

I was busy doing my day job and noticed that bag charms adorned quite a few of the students backpacks. This thought brought me to key rings which are even more universal. OK I got an idea I can work with.

It was just a starting point. It fitted the criteria I had for my new product. Now I needed to determine what kind of key ring/bag charms I would make.

Inspiration is not always a smooth and simple affair is what I’m trying to say. It’s great to have a flash of inspiration and come up with a brilliant product with a period of focused application. Some of my best cards are created this way. So far I had a viable product but no details. It took a lot of thinking, talking, browsing and just being still, before the details became clear.

In the meantime I did image searches for handmade key rings and tried out possible techniques like making paper beads and even knitted beads in between checking out my favourite sites, browsing new ones, tweeting, clicking ‘Like’ and making comments.

Looking to see what kind of handmade products are already available helps one develop your own unique idea. Image searches allow you to see at a glance the wide variety and techniques used to create the selected item. Many key ring/bag charms were in the category of jewellery as they were made from pretty beads and chains. I guess that’s where I started thinking about the beads. I did not want to start buying beads though..

From Instructables - How to make paper beads

First I tried out making paper beads. I made a few using sites like Instructables for tips. Easy enough to make but oh so time consuming. Besides that I didn’t really enjoy making them so I abandoned that idea.

I do enjoy knitting so I thought I know I’ll try and knit some beads.

I found an instruction sheet on the web and got myself a set of double-pointed needles (DPNs) and set to work.

This was even worse than making the paper beads. Working with four DPNs was a skill step too far for me. Just because you got what seems to be a good idea don’t mean you got the skills to make it work. I didn’t have time to be struggling up any steep curves so I abandoned that idea.

buttercup boutique

I loved the felt key rings most of all. So pretty. Don’t you think?
Indigo Blue Designs
I loved them but did not have any idea where to go from there. So guess what I did then...

I returned to knitting blanket squares and just thinking.

Tiny Owl Knits

Have you heard of the Beekeepers Quilt? It is widely admired among the handmade community and was featured in the autumn edition of the UK Handmade magazine. I decided I’d like to try making one myself so I bought the pattern ready for a future project. It required DPNs so I was already equipped to get practising. It meant learning a few new techniques. So I forgot about thinking about key rings and bag charms and discovered abbreviations and instructions which meant I had to visit YouTube to find out how to do Kfb. In case you don’t know it means knit front and back of stitch. If that means as much to you as it did to me the first time I read that, this visual representation will surely make all become clear.

I’d made about four ‘hexipuffs’ using the yarn in my stash, stuffing them with the insides of an old pillow. I gave the grey one to the cat for a toy and the others were sent to UK Handmade for their summer competition.

Then I was in hospital with some cross stitch and my knitting project occupying my hands in between blood pressure checks, meals and visitors when I had another flash of inspiration. Of all the places to be when you get a great design idea, this is one of the most frustrating. I needed my DPN’s but I’d left them at home. So while knitting blanket squares I rolled the idea around in my mind. Thankfully I was discharged the next day and when I got home I put the blanket project to one side. The sofa in front of the TV became my craft area as I recuperated and switched between knitting and cross stitching developing the new product for my next stall.

Crafting is a great aid to recovery.

It was the techniques I learned through making hexipuffs which inspired my key ring/bag charms which are themselves little knitted bags. I kept my first attempts for my own use. I use one to store my USBs and another holds a few packets of seed beads. Once I perfected one design I’ve created lots of different designs also adding felt. I’ve even sold a few already. One of my favourites is this satchel bag.

The clue came from their purpose and they are just what I needed: simple and quick to make, cute and satisfying. I wanted them to be useful too, more than just decoration so I made sure they could be fastened. Some use buttons but most use snap fasteners. I experimented with using Velcro which worked out OK but not as well as I would like.

You can use them to hold a small note or to give with a cash gift. I use one to keep a pound coin in... it comes in very handy for the shopping trolley. Another knitter I met at the last craft market was using DPNs to make little jumpers. I showed her my then, tiny collection of knitted bag charms and she suggested I designed some especially for Valentines Day. Maybe someone would be inspired to use it to enclose a ring... that would be original!

This experience illustrates that if we keep our minds open and focused on purpose and intention, doing the things that make us happy, inspiration has a way of finding us.

Be inspired!

Thanks for reading! Have a great week :)