The Woollyhoodwinks vs. the Dark Patch

I am a fan of full disclosure, so I want you to know upfront that the fine people over at Immedium Publishing emailed me last week and asked if would like to review this book and sent me a preview pdf. They thought you might like to hear about it. After reading the description and looking into it a bit, yes to both. I had a lot of fun reading this 36 page adventure into the Black North Forest where the Woollyhoodwinks live and I think that you would too.

It’s a fun story based on the creature creations of Jeff Roots, the ‘hoodwinks! They are super cute and originally they were made from old wool suits that the artist purchased at Goodwill. Even though they have gone larger scale since then they have maintained that sense of thrift, handmade, and ethical responsible production. On their website they just announced their partnership with Southwest Creations Collaborative, a wonderful company that was founded on the desire to provide low income woman with jobs. They now employ 28 woman and work on handmade production for sewing as well as other handmade products, what a lovely choice for making these sweet little critters.

Back to the book. The illustrations were done by Jeff Roots and Scott Runcorn. I have a background in illustration (it was my first major, long story why I changed to painting) and was delighted to see the art work in this book. They successfully and uniquely preserved the stitched textile aspect of the Woollyhoodwinks through a combination of fabric texture and digital illustration. It’s a joy simply for the visual aspect! The story line was created and written by Phil Dumesnil and Asa Sanchez. The narrative gives leads you nicely into their bedtime and then the discovery of the “dark patch” oooooohhhh noooo! What to do? They go through a variety of problem solving until the…… not going to spoil it for you, here is what they say about it on the site:

“However, their carefree existence is interrupted when a piece of the sky falls to earth. There this dark patch begins to grow! As it spreads over the ground and disturbs the tranquility of their woodland home, the five friends take turns trying to solve this strange mystery. How will the naturally inventive ‘Hoodwinks save the day?”

You can preorder the book (it is due for shipment/release in September) from the Immedium website or The Amazon.com (you can “look inside” and see some of the beginning pages of the book on amazon).

I’ve been pretty taken with these little guys, the website is really fun and you can see each Woollyhoodwink and get the info on each one’s sweet personality. They even have their own theme song! There are free downloads and then you can actually get your hands on a little Woollyhoodwink for your own home. Being a fan of sandwiches, I love that they are referred to as sandwich sized. You can get one or all of them here or here.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Now make sure you go pick up your subscription to Craft Leftovers Monthly (1 or 3 months available in the shop), today is the last day to pick up a September issue. I’ll be taking them out of the shop tomorrow morning, first order of business after morning coffee.

In other news, I went a little “stitch marker nuts” yesterday and had a ton of fun playing with polymer clay. I have a lot of ideas for handmade beads and will be sharing them after I get back from vacation. Sporadic posts next week, but still a pattern this Friday. Jason will be manning the shops though so feel free to order kits, yarn, and postal goodies to your heart’s content :)

I have a lot of plans for September: pattern testing will start (i’ll be sending out to everyone who responded to a call the last week of August), a newsletter for the mail list, and other things that are underwraps for the time being. It should be a lot of fun for all of us! I’m hoping to recharge and foster some ideas while I’m away and be all set and energized for September onward!

See you all Friday! Have a good hump day! It’s all down hill to the weekend now!

++ Kristin Roach ++