Thursday, January 7, 2010

Meet the Forest City Crafters - Anne / Ennadoolf



My name is Anne and my Etsy shop for handmade gifts is http://ennadoolf.etsy.com. I have 2 other Etsy shops, one for patterns and crafting supplies at http://PatternsAndSuch.etsy.com and the other for vintage at http://VintageAndSuch.etsy.com - yes Etsy keeps me busy!

My ennadoolf shop has something for almost everyone. My husband had a hand in the making of the corking sets - he made the actual wooden corkers (aka knitting nancy or a number of other names!) and I put together the kits. My topsy turvy dolls are a favourite and whenever I can find some more time I have plans to make more using different skin tones and hair colours and styles. Other than the dolls, I also sew doll clothes (for Barbie mostly) and other miscellaneous items that catch my fancy. Currently there are head bands, wristlets and wrist cuffs in my shop and my sewing could take me in almost any direction in the future.

I learned to sew on the Pfaff machine my mom brought to Canada from the Netherlands - she packed her belongings inside the cabinet along with the machine. At first I had lots of practice "sewing" a straight line without any thread and using lined paper and then graduated to sewing with real fabric and thread! I still use a Pfaff now - and my mom still has that first machine.

I learned to knit in Brownies. I could never remember how to cast on though, so I'd always have to ask my mom to do that whenever I started a new project. When my girls were young the only pattern I would knit up was the Speedy Slipper pattern by Patons ( available on my blog at http://r-anne-dom.blogspot.com ). I stopped knitting for about 15 years and was inspired to pick it back up to make Harry Potter scarves! I think
> I made 6 in the fall that his first book was published. Funny thing was, when my girls saw me knitting, they didn't know I could since it had been so long.

Since those Harry Potter scarves, I've become more adventurous, trying new stitches and even rewriting patterns. One in particular had a scalloped edge to the scarf, and I rewrote the pattern so that halfway through, I reversed the design. That way, both ends had the same scalloped look.

Now you can see the results of my knitting in my ennadoolf shop - scarves, hats, cup cozies, slippers, and mittens. I'm particularly pleased with the idea of the Work Sock Cup Cozy - a great colour combination for men and women alike! I don't have a favourite thing to knit but I do prefer repetitive patterns so that I can knit while watching tv. I am addicted to several tv shows, so if I knit, I can validate the time spent watching tv!

You may notice a few prints of flowers in my shop. They are from my gardens and I do love them. I was asked once if I had extensive gardens... [sigh] I have many gardens. I love my flowers. I love the variety of
plants and flowers we have. I just do not really enjoy gardening all that much. If only the flowers would do their thing and the weeds would simply stay away. From a distance my gardens look great ... please don't look too closely because you're sure to see a few weeds sneaking around in there.

[smiles] And outside of my knitting and sewing and such? I am a member of Girl Guides of Canada - I do the finances for a local Guide unit and I also volunteer my time for http://e-guiding.com which is run by volunteer Guide
leaders (though not an official site). 2010 is the 100th anniversary of Girl Guides in Canada so be sure to buy cookies this year!

hehe, and lots of people ask me what ennadoolf means ... I'd love for you
to leave a comment with your guess!



[Note: other Forest City Crafters who'd like to be profiled, send yoursubmissions to Elizabeth at Forest.city.crafters@gmail.com]

3 comments:

ennadoolf said...

Thanks for the great feature! I can't wait to read about the other members of the Forest City Crafters etsy team!
...any guesses on the shop name? :)
Anne

mamitosami said...

Is it your name backwards?!

Great feature on you Anne, nice to 'meet' you. It's so great that Etsy keeps you so busy. I can't believe you make all those little clothes for Barbies!!!! Wow, the dedication and skill..... I'm looking for clothes for my little girl's 15" dollie and I'd love to get them from you if you make that size, instead of someone else--yes, I sew too, but I don't have the patience for clothes!!!

Good luck with all your endeavours, amazing work and dedication... you are an inspiration!!

Jessie.
aka mamitosami and J Designs
mamitosami.etsy.com

Gillianbeads said...

What a great article, it's so nice to "meet" you Anne (and we have met in person too)!

I love your work, London has a really talented bunch of crafters!

All the best,

Gillian
aka gillianbeads
gillianbeads.etsy.com
www.brilliantbeads.net