An Asheville crafter’s monstrous creations make sweaters better. Catch her—and more than 100 other indie crafters—at The Big Crafty this month.

by Joanne O’Sullivan . photos by Matt Rose

Whenever she gets anxious, Krista Allison’s monsters come out. At first, says the 38-year-old Asheville artist, the monsters were little pen-and-ink doodles or collages that she made into presents for family and friends. Later, while studying ceramics at Eastern Michigan University, they went 3-D: tiny ceramic “finger puppet” monsters emerged from her imagination. Then, in 2008, she found herself with an upcoming craft show, nothing to sell and no materials with which to make anything. Very anxiety-provoking. That’s when the monsters got really creative and started to emerge from her old sweaters.

Allison’s felted recycled sweater monsters were a hit, and she’s been making them ever since. She sells them on her Etsy store Canoo, at galleries such as Woolworth Walk and the DryGoods Shop in West Asheville, and at local craft fairs like The Big Crafty. That event, which rolls around twice a year, is coming up again on July 10 at Pack Place in downtown Asheville. Started by Brandy Bourne and her partner Justin Rabuck back in 2008, The Big Crafty used to be held at the Grey Eagle with a small crowd of crafters. Now, as the indie craft movement gains momentum, the couple has had more applicants for vendor spots than they could possibly handle.

For a crafter like Allison, each creation starts with a sweater, usually purchased from Goodwill. She shrinks sweaters in the wash and lets them air-dry, rather than go through a dryer cycle as many felters do. She also says she’s “obsessive” about keeping like colors separate so that the fibers don’t get mixed up. With the shrunken sweater material, she’s then able to envision a monster. “The shape dictates the form of the monsters,” she says. Those forms range from small and rectangular to tube-shaped or squid-like, and from hats to dolls to finger puppets. But the real personality of the monsters comes through in the facial expressions: bewildered, mischievous, even nonplussed. There are mouths or beaks, and occasionally, teeth. She adds tongues and noses as needed.

Allison says one of the most critical decisions in creating a monster’s personality is matching the fabric for the eyes to the sweater body fabric. It can mean the difference between a monster who’s shy and sweet and one who’s a little sassy or menacing. Most monsters are anything but intimidating, but still, she says, she was surprised to find that people often purchase them for kids. She had always envisioned them as collectibles more in line with the adult craft collector market.

Allison says she almost always listens to music or watches movies while making her monsters, and certain lines, phrases or names catch her attention. Those snippets of inspiration are the basis for her monsters’ unique names, such as Uncle Bertie, Parker Posey, Moxie Freck and Scotch Bonnet. She once got on a Prohibition-era mobster kick and ended up with monsters named Jimmy Mack, Mack the Nugget (a sweet, chicken-like creature) and Big Bam Boozle.

Using recycled materials (including recycled polyfill, when possible) helps keep materials costs down, and Allison gets help from both her mother and boyfriend with the sewing and stuffing. But each monster is still very much a product of Allison’s artistic imagination. While some have suggested she pursue going big like Ugly Dolls, Allison prefers to keep Canoo lean, green and (sometimes) not so mean. As long as there are discarded cashmere sweaters in thrift store bins, the monsters will keep coming out.

Krista Allison will sell her monsters at The Big Crafty on July 10 at Pack Place. Check www.bigcrafty.com for more info on Canoo and other local craft businesses.