what does it take to be a used clothing alchemist?

I absolutely love this combination of words, and it's even better as a title! Let me introduce you to the one, the only Crispina Ffrench! She has found a way to make gold from wool sweaters. Well, not gold in the sense of bars and karats, but in a much more practical sense. It's the perfect description of this amazing transformation.

 This little guy is called a ragamuffin. I discovered them on Crispina's shop after falling in love with the rugs. The original ragamuffin was born in 1987 while Ffrench was in college. You can find it in her book. There are many imitators, as is usually the case when something is really, really good. After I wrote this post, I noticed one on another blog, took it off, checked back with Crispina and am now back to give her the credit she deserves for this great idea! Here's "peanut butter cup the potbelly ragamuffin" who is looking for a good home, preferrably moth-free! So cute and I love this photo. My gram used to use the word ragamuffin, and it usually had something to do with a comb and our hair.

Then there are the warm cozy blankets. I love how this one shows the texture of the sweaters and the circle design. Robin's egg blue is one of my favorite colors in our house. Imagine the dreams you would have under a blanket like this!

As we are in the progress of deciding how to refinish our floor which is on a concrete slab, it seems like rugs are going to be essential. I wish I could have a rug to cover my entire living room made like one of these. The color combinations are sublime! Imagine a loom that would make a rug to fit a 16x20 room, the team of people it would take to make it, and the number of sweaters that would need to be felted. It would be huge! Guess I better sign up for one of her workshops so I can get started. Ha. But really, she teaches people how in addition to selling them in her etsy shop.

Here's a great post and photo of the rug in action, featured by on a set by Sundance!!! I love it when cool things like this happen. Congratulations, Crispina!