A Master At Her Craft
Lorrayne Hurlburt’s Hurlbut Crafts…
It’s amazing what can be created with a simple hook, some yarn and thread when they’re put in the hands of a talented crafter like Lorrayne Hurlbut, the creative force behind Hurlbut Crafts, who has found a special niche making crocheted stuffed animals. “Each pattern is different. Some of them you start at the head and work all the way down. There are others that you do the legs and then go all the way up. And then, there are ones like these little dragons that had 22 individual pieces. That one took me longer to sew together than it did to actually make all the pieces.”
Hurlbut knits, as well, but it’s the crocheting she likes best. “Knitting takes too long. I like to see my results faster, so I crochet. It also helps me use up the yarn faster which is good, because at one point I had probably 50 totes of yarn.”
Hurlbut comes from a long line of crafters. “I did crocheting and knitting way back in the 1960s when I was in grammar school. My mom always knitted and crocheted, my grandmothers knitted and crocheted, so I just carried on. We also did a lot of woodwork and ceramics. Then, it kind of fell to the wayside, and I got busy raising four girls. I didn’t really get back into it until around 1996 when my husband was in a bad car accident. And, while I sat with him in the hospital for a month, I made him an afghan and it all started back again from there. First it was mainly hats and baby blankets. I didn’t get into doing the little animals until around 2013.”
Now, a number of Hurlbut’s endearing creations are sold out of the Trading Post in Fort Jones, and she does personal orders when she can. “I’ve got an order right now for three baby blankets that I’m working on that’s interesting, mostly because this friend’s mother used to buy baby blankets from my mother, and now both of our mothers have passed away, and so she comes to me for the baby blanket orders. So, it’s like a second generation of working together.”
Hurlbut also tries to give each item she creates a unique personality. “I usually try to not do things exactly alike unless somebody requests it. So, the horses might be the same pattern, but they’ll be different colors,” she says. “If I’ve got a good seller, I’ll do three or four at a time because it just goes faster to do all of the heads, and then all of the ears at the same time. But when I put them together, I’ve got three or four done, but they all look different.”
Hurlbut has spent years mastering her craft, and isn’t afraid to keep pushing herself to try new things. “If it’s something different, I’ll try it one way. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try it a different way. Like any art, it’s not something that you’re going to pick up just overnight. You’re not going to be able to create a sweater just because you sat down for an hour and learned how to work that hook and yarn. I’ve got a lot of little dolls I want to try that are based off some drawings my granddaughter did when she was around 12. Of course, I’ve stuck them in a file somewhere, so I may still may get around to it when I finally figure out which of the pattern binders they’re in.”
A busy person by nature who “does a little bit of everything,” crocheting also provides Hurlbut with a healthy winter outlet that she greatly appreciates. “Now, with the weather changing where we don’t have the garden and yard work, I’m able to work on more stuff during the daytime. It’s also something I can generally do. I’ve got fibromyalgia, so there’s a lot of physical stuff some days that I just can’t get out and do, but I can almost always sit and crochet.” •
Find Lorrayne Hurlbut on Facebook
Craftwork is also generally available at the Trading Post in Fort Jones
