Knitted from the book Knit Your Own Dog: The Second Litter by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne.
The real Beagle is Maxwell, my current adopted little guy, who has been with me for a 1 year and 3mo.

My art teacher from high school, who is now retired, offered a local watercolor class last summer. I took it for fun and the work on my watercolor skills.  Visit ruthkaldor.com to see Ruth's beautiful artwork.
Here are some of my results and practice.

Some of my floral drawings from December. These were done for holiday gifts. Done on heavyweight mixed media paper with black pen, cut and mounted against black paper.

Basic knitted mittens, No. 211 Bernhard Ulmann Co. vintage pattern... Knitted in Myak Baby Yak Medium, size 6 needles.

Happy Friday Everyone! Here is a little digital art for the weekend.

I've always loved Origami. I wish I was a crazy paper folding master. I think I am pretty much a pro at making a paper crane, I could make one with my eyes closed, but I figured I should branch out and actually try something other and paper cranes.  The Kangaroo and Horse are from Jo Nakashima tutorials on YouTube.  The other motifs are from various books and an Origami-A-Day calendar.

I needed to take a knitting break and I needed to use up some yarn. I came across this free pattern for the Lost Souls Shawl by Maryetta Roy on Ravelry.com.  It's a very cool pattern and much easier than it looks. It's noted as average difficulty, but I think a novice could totally handle this. It's comprised of single crochet, double and half double stitches. There are some really good video tutorials on YouTube to help you along if you need it. The links are noted in the pattern.
Link to the free pattern is : https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lost-souls-skull-shawl
This pattern calls for worsted yarn, but I have about 1700 yards of Madeline Tosh Prairie Lace that I need to use up. Due to the smaller gauge and the amount of yardage I have to work with, the shawl will not be as large as pictured in the pattern. I think I will end up with a decent sized scarf, rather than a shawl. Which is fine.
The pattern looks really great in the lace weight yarn... I kind of want to try this in a fingering weight too.
I did forget how long it takes to work in lace! Also, it was a little finicky to start... but it's moving right along now.
Here is my progress so far... I encourage anyone to try this pattern it's a lot of fun.

Crochet / Madeline Tosh Prairie Lace 100% Merino Wool / Color Beta / Needle Size No.2 1.50mm

I'm incredibly saddened by the vast destruction of the fires in Australia to homes & businesses, wildlife, and Eco-systems.  A good friend and colleague is living in the midst of it, luckily OK, but surrounded by the effects of the fire. The gravity of what is happening, not just in Australia, but also in other parts of the world is vastly important. It's important to understand what is happening, why and how to help... future generations rely on the actions we take now.
As much as knitting Koala mittens seemed fun. The quickest and most direct way I could help was to donate monetarily. Knowing that many times charities become overwhelmed with physical donations.
I made some money at the gallery this winter selling crafts, so I decided to split it between a few different charities. The Red Cross, Koalas in Care and The Animal Rescue Collective. You can find links to these charities, and others, here: https://www.abc.net.au/classic/read-and-watch/news/bushfire-donations/11823676
Additionally many of my favorite crafty sites were donating funds from sales of patterns, yarn, etc... Every little bit helps.

Tiny Knitted Koala / Mochimochiland.com donated sales from the pattern set, including this little guy, for the month of January.

The Cabot Artisans Gallery is now open for the holiday season! Here's a little look at my new products for sale at the shop this winter.  My bear ornaments are made from Merino Wool blend felt, hand stitched with needle felted noses and a hand knit scarf.  The Santa Bear paper puppet is joined by Christkind Bear, the golden angel.  If you're looking to make your holiday wrapping a little extra special this year, add a Santa or Christkind Bear with some lovely ribbon.  Or tuck these little buddies into a holiday card as a special surprise. My Wooly Bear ornaments make super cute stocking stuffers.

Designed and handcrafted by April Borrelli. Made in Vermont.
Artwork and images are copyright April Borrelli 2019. All rights reserved. Please do not re-post without authors permission.

Worked on a painting this week, which will be shipped off to it's new home in Texas.