See how I transformed... more pictures, click on this picture!

We are born mostly naked... boots are part of our feet, and sometimes our underwear comes along too. 

We rummage through the yarns and fabrics and accessories and formulate our details, nudging Aeriol (Fairyland creatress) along in our creation ; )

Often times we take her to shops where we know that one special item is waiting... and she's good at listening, discovering and buying what we show her we'd like!

She's FUN!  We like her a lot and love to play with her which is how we come into this world for you!

The "plan" was to take a little time off in the winter months, excavate knitting needles and wool, like most winters, pour through pattern collections, choose, grab from the wool stash what excites me in the moment, and dive in...

The end result is usually a 3/4 finished garment (that I've gone rogue with re: pattern, gauge, size, wool recommendation, etc.) that I decide is not working and rip it out... another season of knitting accomplished... my only goal, really, was to get the needles and wool out and knit... cause it isn't winter if I haven't touched needles and wool...  I was a contented knitter.

This winter, a trip to Chapters was a game changer... I picked up a knitting book, Knitting Fairies... why not?... I really don't make anything that I wear anyway, anymore... (which isn't to say I haven't... I have knit almost everything from socks to Fair Isle sweaters... all the really good stuff, I've given away).  Now, I get bored knitting by the pattern and always go off on creative tangents, which so far, end up in a really good knitting season followed by a good ripping out session.  I was good with that.  The knitting was the thing.

So Fairy Knitting book in hand, and as usual, right away, I changed the size of the needles, grabbed whatever wool appealed in that moment (didn't do a gauge check!) and dove into a "Fairy".  I changed the pattern by the 5th row, as I sort of, not really, followed it along.  Then it kind of seemed like something else was nudging me in the direction it desired to go...

So this "Fairy" appeared off the end of the needles... it had spunk, it had personality plus, it seemed to communicate, body language, expressive eyes, mouth... it seemed to choose it's hair color, yarn type, length, style... I didn't seem to be making any decisions about any of this, it all kept unfolding off my fingertips, quite literally, in the moment.  Clothing, wings and embellishments, same... I/we made up patterns (right on the needles) for tiny garments (lacy underwear, ooh la la!), wings that didn't exist in the book and Fairy creation kept tweaking away, following some other influence.  FUN!!! Cool, this is how I love to play!  And most amazing of all, they keep turning out... no ripping required!  Each one is a tiny piece of artistic joy, to me.

I eventually had to "share" what I'd been doing all winter, holed up, barely acknowledging the outside world (cook, grocery shop, shower, what's that?)... friends began to ask, "what's up??"  I put a few pics on FB... and people began raving... began asking if they were for sale, could I do customized fairies and when I'd have a website... (hehe, more fun, I love creating websites and new businesses ; )

So, viola, Fairyland is born... someone already has that url.  I got "Fairieland".  Ok, whatever.  Now the Fairies are models, posing for the camera.  Who's enjoying this more?!  (oh and btw, part of the "plan" was to reduce the wool and craft stash... it has now tripled or even quadrupled...)  What's next??!  And how does it get any better than this?   : )