• 
• CLASS
• JOBS
• AUTO
• HOMES

Yarn creations full of personality

Photo

Kathleen M. Ward

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

One of Kathy Ward's guys sits in a tiny chair on display at the Artisan's Coop on Main St. while Ward works on another in the background. Ward, of rural Edgerton, creates the strange little knit creatures for sale at the gallery.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

A wacky yarn creation by Edgerton area artist Kathy Ward on display at Janesville's Artisan Coop on Main St.

Photo

Photo by Bill Olmsted

A wacky yarn creation by Edgerton area artist Kathy Ward on display at Janesvill'es Artisan Coop on Main St.

JANESVILLE — Kathleen Ward has come a long way since she was a 5-year-old crocheting with her big toe.

Fifty-four years later, the artist now uses a needle and her imagination to create AuntyK’s GUYZ—whimsical yarn creatures with big personalities.

Ward’s grandma kept Ward busy when she was young by teaching her to tie a string around her toe for an anchor and loop single crochet stitches to make chains.

Later, Ward graduated to a needle and learned to make afghans and doilies.

“That’s where I first fell in love with color and texture,” Ward said.

An artistic person, Ward has for many years also painted watercolors.

“Every once in a while, the muse just leaves, and I look at that blank paper,” she said. “I know where I can get color and instant gratification, and I pick up the yarn and needles again.”

Ward and her husband, Jim, are originally from Chicago. They moved to Edgerton nine years ago after retiring and live on the Rock River.

She started making her GUYZ three years ago.

Ward has eight grandchildren, and she’d whip up little squares or rectangles out of yarn and give the shapes personalities and stories. The kids loved them, and soon her daughters were asking for the creatures for bazaars and charity auctions.

“I found I was really loving it,” Ward said.

Now, the grandkids don’t get the creatures nearly as often.

Ward crafts her GUYZ anywhere: on trips, in front of TV, in waiting rooms.

“I always keep my hands busy,” she said.

When she starts a creature, she picks up a ball of yarn to see where it leads. The GUYZ “just happen” and seem to take on personalities on their own.

She can’t help but give them names and stories as she crochets.

Ward mostly uses a basic single crochet stitch and colorful acrylic and cotton yarn. She also crochets in the round—called amigurumi. She uses polyfill for stuffing.

She embroiders features such as freckles and also does a bit of freeform crochet when she attaches ribbons and specialty yarn.

She spends anywhere from 12 to 45 hours on each creature. They sell from $16 to $85.

GUYZ are suitable for children ages 3 and older.

The GUYZ are not only children’s toys but add a bit of whimsy around the house. Some of the bigger creatures can serve as pillows. Teens love them and carry them in their backpacks and make up stories about them, Ward said. She also makes key chains.

Ward likes that the dolls prompt children to use their imaginations.

Ward gets a bit attached to some of the creatures. One of her favorites is Rosa, who she described as being innocent and yet a little flirtatious.

“I have such fun with them,” Ward said. “I start thinking about what they might be doing at any given time if they were real.”

It’s tougher to put a personality on a yarn creation than a painting, she acknowledged.

She does it with googly eyes and pouting lips; rosettes and skirts; teeth, freckles and lip piercings; purple tongues and heavy eyelids; and wild acrylic hair, kinky curls and ponytails. Glass and acrylic eyes are hand painted, and they usually never match.

“I like to think of my GUYZ as anthropomorphic, if I could only say the word,” Ward said. “That’s my intention—to bring them to life and give them personalities.”