As I mentioned last week, we were a part of The Purple Painted Lady Festival a few weeks ago.  I returned to many tents of old favorites and discovered, even more, new ones.  I can’t wait to share these amazing, artistic women with you.  I love passing around the names of great artists and craftspeople.  If you have a new one for me please let me know.  For the next few weeks, I would like to feature some of these incredible, local artists starting with…

Karen Ferner at Kreationality has been creating clothes & accessories from second-hand sweaters for at least 4 years.  She is able to turn those unappealing,  ill-fitting sweaters into wearable works of art including skirts, ponchos, dresses, hoodies, scarves, gloves, & more.  This is not an easy project; trust me, I’ve tried it. Take a look at Karen’s website for her work HERE

Currently, the Kreationality Etsy shop is fairly empty, because Karen’s stock changes so frequently between summer art shows.  If you visit her shop you can see images of her past projects and the customer reviews for them HERE. One of this year’s customer favorites seems to be the poncho. These are pieced together in diagonal strips to add visual interest to each. Don’t you just love the autumn colors in this one?

My favorite of all her patterns are what I call mitts; they are fingerless gloves pieced together from 5 or 6 different strips.  Sometimes she uses all different coordinating or complimenting sweaters. Sometimes she uses all the same color but different patterns and textures. Sometimes she uses only 1 or 2 that are very similar. They are all beautiful and comfortable, and occasionally they have matching hats!

I admit I have a collection of these, and I wear them all fall and winter.  I love that my wrists and hands stay warm while I can still use my touch-activated technology.  I wear them when I write, drive, even when I paint.  I will never have enough pairs, and at only $20 per pair, they are a staple in my wardrobe.  Here are my two newest additions.