Welcome to our Newest Vendor!!!

Lucy and Bill Chapman have been enthusiastic supporters of the Virtual Market since it opened in 2016, and now Lucy joins the market as our newest vendor, with the 100% wool dryer balls she designs and felts!

Coming from an artistic family of painters, potters, and tailors, Lucy was no stranger to creativity. After taking up knitting in college, she attempted her first felted project in 2002 when her oldest daughter was just a baby – and as she talked about that first pair of slippers, she laughed at how badly they turned out!

But she fell in love with taking everything she had hand-knitted, from socks and hats to rugs and bags, and carefully felting them with special barbed needles until the stitches completely disappeared, creating a product she could sell with a genuine life-time guarantee – remarkable to be that sure of your product!

Lucy says as soon as she attempted those early projects, she instantly “caught the bug”, as she practiced and grew to appreciate the balance of science and art, being exact yet creative. She relishes how the wool fiber was so totally unpredictable, it changed during the process until the resulting item looked entirely different than when it started. Not only might the texture change, but even the way the colors in the wool blend together, as was evident in the sturdy, colorful rug she showed me in her bright, cheery kitchen. And the size! Although many of her bags are a finished 8”x10”, they start out three times that size when she originally knits the piece… that is A LOT of fiber, especially when you realize it’s 100% wool!

What set her apart is her commitment to sourcing her wool locally. And her oft-used source for natural, lovely fiber? None other than our very own Dennis and Keba Hitzeman, who own and operate Innisfree on the Stillwater Farm in Pleasant Hill! Familiar faces on the Virtual Market with Dennis’ custom-roasted coffees and the pottery Keba throws, Innisfree is also home to several Shetland sheep who often supply both Keba and Lucy with the beautiful roving they transform into so many different creations!

Dryer balls are used to reduce the static caused by overdrying – and with a few drops of essential oils added, they also eliminate the want of a dryer sheet. But they’re even more multipurpose than that, as was proved by Grace, the 12 year old, four-legged Welcoming Committee who greeted me with one of Lucy’s felted balls in her mouth! I was ready to declare the thing indestructable as Grace went to town with her chew toy.

The plain wool balls are functional and pretty enough, but don’t hold a candle to the ones which Lucy painstakingly adds images – the sheep, goats and pigs would make the most darling mobile for a newborn, or toys for a young child, especially because they’re completely natural and non-toxic. And don’t get me started on the ladybugs and frogs she fashions, as I had to see them in person to appreciate how darling they really are!

When I had pulled up to the Chapman home, my immediate thought, as I battled an extreme case of Stone Porch Envy, was whoever lived in such a gorgeous example of workmanship should be creative – and I was not disappointed!