Name: L-A Steeleworthy

Usually found: in my messy craft room/office in Halifax

Hometown: That’s actually a hard one. It all depends on the day of the week and the context: I live in Halifax, but grew up in Pasadena, Nfld, and before that, just outside of Ottawa. My parents live in Southern California now, which means I never get back to my “hometown,” so I don’t have that connection to it anymore. I’d make Southern California my “hometown” in a heartbeat.

Age: over 30

Occupation: This and that. Mostly a grad student.

Website: http://hellopineapples.com

Tell us about your craft/art: I do a bit of whatever, but almost everything is focused on sock monkeys. I’m mostly self-taught, with the exception of some drawing classes during my undergrad or from continuing ed at Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (and drawing is something I do just for fun, for me. I rarely share that). The bread and butter of what I do are actual sock monkeys made from socks. It used to be re-using old socks, but that’s hard to keep up with since you want socks that don’t look too worn/dirty or are too full of holes. My mom finds a lot of my socks for me.

Sometimes I paint sock monkeys using acrylics. I’ve also made linocuts of sock monkeys and my latest project is needle felting sock monkey portraits. Sometimes I make other plush creatures, but the focus is on the monkey.

I also really like embroidery—also self-taught—but I don’t do that as much as I’d like to. There isn’t enough time in the day to do all the crafts I’d like to be doing. I have yet to break into my screenprinting starter kit and that’s something I really want to learn. I think if I won the lottery, I’d hire someone to organize my craft space and then spend all my days making things.

How long have you been crafting: Forever. I’m not kidding. The monkeys are recent in terms of my arts-and-craftsy history. Those I started about four years ago because I had a favourite pair of socks that I couldn’t bear to part with, so I figured out how to make a monkey. He’s rough around the edges and I didn’t cut out a tail for him. His name is Trevor and is the only sock monkey that I’ve kept. At first I just gave them away as gifts, but then I got to the point where I had given just about everyone I know a monkey. I had a chance to sell them at an event and people bought them. So I kept making them. And hopefully, making them better than my previous monkeys and different from what other people might be doing.

But I’ve always been into arts and crafts. As a kid, I was happiest if I had some pencils and paper to doodle. I was knee deep into Girl Guides, so I think that’s where I get some of my love of crafts. It’s also something I grew up with. Both of my nanas were knitters. And my mom sewed and knitted. Knitting came late for me —there were a lot of failed attempts to teach me and then I finally taught myself in my mid-twenties. My nana was always really proud that I eventually learned to knit…although I don’t knit as much as I used to. Sewing is still something I struggle with—I’m kind of scared of sewing machines.

Art inspiration: For the longest time, I just made stuff in my own little bubble, but the crazy explosion of craft blogs has given me the chance to see what others are doing. And there is some really fantastic stuff out there. I’m in awe of what some people are making with their hands. So I read a lot of blogs. A sample of the crafty folks on the internet that really impress me are people like Jenny Hart of Sublime Stitching , Janick of Neawear, and Kimberly Scola of Chez Sucre Chez. And just about everyone featured in the documentary Handmade Nation. Etsy is also a fun place to go to see what is out there.

In the real world, I find just about everything I see at the Halifax Crafters markets to be inspiring. That place is busting with talent. It blows me away. It makes me want to push myself more and more so that I can keep up with the awesomeness there. One of the great things about participating in these shows is getting to meet the Crafters that I’ve shared table space with and just talking to them about what they do and what I do, which is not something I get to do in my everyday life.

Do you engage the community with your craft/art: I guess I do. I’ve always taught people how to make their own monkeys, even before I sold them. And I’ve taught friends knitting. I used to organize a stitch n’ bitch at the Women’s Centre at school. In the past I’ve done monkey workshops with the IWK Telethon. I’ve also taught workshops through Love, Me Boutique. On the other hand, it’s because of my monkeys that I’ve become involved with the crafting community in this city.

Where can people find your craft/art? Love, Me Boutique in Halifax is where you can find my monkeys year round. It’s a fabulous store that sells only Canadian handmade/small run goods. I work there, but I took the job because it’s a store that I really believe in and support. I wasn’t even looking at other retail jobs at the time.

I also sell my monkeys at the Halifax Crafters markets. These happen about three times a year. Crafters is a loose knit group of local artists/artisans who want to create a marketplace for handmade goods. It’s getting bigger with every show, but I like that part of their mandate is to give emerging artists an opportunity to sell their work. I like these shows because they’re different from your typical craft fair. Not that there is anything wrong with the traditional craft fairs, it’s nice to have something different. Our holiday show will be December 5 + 6 at the Olympic Centre (newer, bigger venue for the Christmas show. Usually it’s held at the North Street Church—which is lovely, but was really packed last year).

I do have an etsy shop, but it’s on hiatus until I can get into the habit of making enough monkeys to have online and until I can figure out fair shipping charges (fair to both me and the customer. It’s suprisingly expensive to mail a sock monkey)

what craft tool would you love to have: I think it would be a good camera, so I can take some decent shots of my monkeys. Although, in close second is a button maker (they’re really fun) or a gocco (which I’m pretty sure you can’t buy anymore). What I probably need most is shelving/storage for my crafts.

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