Showing titles in Crafts & Hobbies

In this moving account, Peter Korn explores the nature and rewards of creative practice. We follow his search for meaning as an Ivy-educated child of the middle class who finds employment as a novice carpenter on Nantucket, transitions to self-employment as a designer and maker of fine furniture, takes a turn at teaching and administration at Colorado's Anderson Ranch Arts Center, and then founds a school in Maine: the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, an internationally respected nonprofit institution.

Join Clara Parkes on a cross-country adventure and meet a cast of characters that includes the shepherds, dyers, and countless workers without whom our knitting needles would be empty, our mills idle, and our feet woefully cold. Travel the country with her as she meets a flock of Saxon Merino sheep in upstate New York, tours a scouring plant in Texas, visits a steamy Maine dyehouse, helps sort freshly shorn wool on a working farm, and learns how wool fleece is measured, baled, shipped, and turned into skeins.

What we wear matters. It matters because looking, and therefore feeling, like yourself is essential. Clothes can be the difference between a good day and a bad day. Clothes have the power to make your mood ten times worse or one hundred times better. Clothes should give you confidence, and never make you doubt yourself. Whether you already have a go-to look or feel overwhelmed by choice, How to Wear Everything covers where to start, what you need and what you absolutely do not - whatever your age, body type or budget.

Building on the success of The Yarn Whisperer, Clara Parkes' rich personal essays invite listeners and devoted crafters on excursions to be savored, from a guide who quickly comes to feel like a trusted confidante. In Knitlandia, she takes listeners along on 17 of her most memorable journeys across the globe over the last 15 years, with stories spanning from the fjords of Iceland to a cozy yarn shop in Paris' 13th arrondissement.

They’re scented, fizzy, and fun, but adding a sizzling bath bomb to your tub is doing far more good for your health than just stimulating your senses with some fizz, color, and flowery aromas. You’re about to learn how to transform your bath tub into one of the safest and most powerful healing therapies ever discovered.

Some years ago, Oliver Darkshire stepped into the hushed interior of Henry Sotheran Ltd on Sackville Street (est. 1761) to interview for their bookselling apprenticeship, a decision which has bedevilled him ever since. He'd intended to stay for a year before launching into some less dusty, better remunerated career. Unfortunately for him, the alluring smell of old books and the temptation of a management-approved afternoon nap proved irresistible. Soon he was balancing stacks of first editions, fending off nonagenarian widows with and trying not to upset the store's resident ghost.

If you’re an interior designer or creative entrepreneur, you’ll discover how to achieve your business dream more easily if you apply the straightforward recommendations from this book. You’ll find easy exercises to help you decide on your bigger vision, the strategy to get there, and use the practical suggestions to help you earn more money with less stress. When you grow your skills daily, anticipate and prevent common mistakes, and get advice from someone who has walked the path before you, you’ll arrive at your desired destination faster and more easily.

In Material, Kary takes listeners along with him to visit some of the places where modern artisans are preserving, and in some cases passing on, the old craft skills. His vivid descriptions and eye for detail make this book a rich and delightful listen, and the natural and cultural history he imparts along the way provides an important context for understanding our own past and the roots of our industrial society. Personal, engaging, and filled with memorable people, landscapes, and scenes, Material is a rich celebration of what it means to imagine and create.

From the political storytelling of the Bayeux tapestry's anonymous embroiderers and Mary, Queen of Scots' treasonous stitching, to the sewing of First World War soldiers suffering from PTSD and the banner makers at Greenham Common, Threads of Life stretches from medieval France to 1980s America, from a Second World War POW camp in Singapore to a family attic in Scotland. It is as much about identity, protest, memory and politics as craft and artistry.

The Crochet Chronicles is your step-by-step companion through the world of crochet. Designed for absolute beginners, this friendly and practical guide will take you from your very first slip knot to stitching beautiful patterns with clarity and confidence.

Twenty-four aircrew who flew the iconic aircraft with the Fleet Air Arm, the Royal Air Force, and the South African Air Force (SAAF) relate their experiences and affection for the Blackburn Buccaneer. Arranged in chronological order, the book traces the history of the aircraft and the tasks it fulfilled. In addition to describing events and activities, it provides an insight into the lifestyle of a Buccaneer squadron and the fun and enjoyment of being a "Buccaneer Boy" in addition to being part of a highly professional and dedicated force.

How do we find any time for ourselves in a moment when we seem to have less autonomy than we've ever had? And what do we want from that freedom when we actually get it? Find Your Unicorn Space is a practical guide to reclaiming (or discovering for the first time) the natural gifts, interests and talents that make you uniquely you. With her trademark mix of how-to advice and big-picture inspirational thinking, Rodsky shows us a clear plan to reclaim the lost art of having fun.

For years, Nigel Slater has kept notebooks of curiosities and wonderings, penned while at his kitchen table, soaked in a fisherman’s hut in Reykjavik, sitting calmly in a moss garden in Japan or sheltering from a blizzard in a Vienna Konditorei. These are the small moments, events and happenings that gave pleasure before they disappeared. Miso soup for breakfast, packing a suitcase for a trip and watching a butterfly settle on a carpet, hiding in plain sight.

At age five, Esme was asked to write in her notebook, but instead, she filled it with drawings—the only way she knew to express herself. At seven, when it was discovered she was partially deaf, she found refuge in her sketchbooks. Shortly after, Esme made her first garment and a passion for sewing and designing was born. As a teenager, she made her way to London where her creative journey truly began.

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable, audiobook edition of The Man Who Made Things out of Trees. Robert Penn cut down an ash tree to see how many things could be made from it. After all, ash is the tree we have made the greatest and most varied use of over the course of human history. Journeying from Wales across Europe and Ireland to the USA, Robert finds that the ancient skills and knowledge of the properties of ash are far from dead.

Throughout my life, I have encountered fear and I know how much it has stopped me in my tracks. I want every woman to be able to move forward, to feel empowered at every stage of their lives. This manual includes all the advice you might expect. Whether you need help with how to dress, defining your style, finding out the colours that suit you or understanding the right beauty routine for the skin you have now, FEARLESS contains it all.

The Lost Flock is the story of the remarkable and rare little horned sheep, known as Orkney Boreray, and the wool-obsessed woman who moved to one of Scotland’s wildest islands to save them.

John Scott has lived a varied life, but whether it's behind the scenes of a regional theatre, working on costumes for Hollywood movies such as Interview with a Vampire or Four Weddings and a Funeral or presenting TV shows like This Morning with Richard and Judy, his love of sewing and the humble needle and thread has run, like a rich seam, through everything he does.

There is a major disconnect between what we wear and our knowledge of its impact on land, air, water, labor, and human health. Even those who value access to safe, local, nutritious food have largely overlooked the production of fiber, dyes, and the chemistry that forms the backbone of modern textile production. While humans are 100 percent reliant on their second skin, it’s common to think little about the biological and human cultural context from which our clothing derives.

Blending memoir and nature writing at its finest, Ingrained is an uplifting meditation on the challenges of working with your hands in our modern age, on community, consumerism, and the beauty of the natural world – one that asks us to see our local trees, and our own wooden objects, in a new and revelatory light.