Author: mud&string

Mother, daughter, wife, grandma, friend, animal lover, potter, knitter, Catholic and finally, retiree. Will work for yarn and/or clay and tend to geek out on any and all the above at the drop of a hat, provoking glazed expressions from polite company and eyerolls and heavy sighs from not so polite company (read family).
Random

I’m Not Bragging, But…..

mud&string

So I’ve been coat shopping for a while but had trouble aligning what I wanted and what I wanted to pay.  Yesterday I made a run to Clothes Mentor, a consignment store close to Casa Coleman and lo and behold I found the Perfect with a capital P coat! Black, with a hood, a bit longer (think knee length), barely worn as best I can tell and the thing I wanted above all things in a new coat – down.  I always lusted after a down coat but never got one—mostly because of price,  rationalizing not getting one because I had a perfectly good wool coat. Never mind that it was 15 years old and I needed a change.  Best thing about this new coat – price.  I got a great down coat for -are you ready for this? – $25.00.🧥🌬🌨☔️

A penny saved is a penny earned. Benjamin Franklin

B

 

Knitting · pottery

Score!

mud&stringLeave a comment

After a try out of Kollage Square Circular Knitting Needles I’ve fallen deeply in love with these babies and want one of every size and length.  The rub? Kollage has quit making them.😢 My LYS does carry them, but with very limited choices.  I spent way too much time last night trying to track some down – a rollercoaster of emotion, let me tell you. I was ultimately successful, finding a nice selection of needle sizes and cord lengths at Paradise Fibers and bought three new circs, sizes 1,1.5 and 2 with 60” cables, my favorite! I’ll start stalking our mailman in the next day or so.

ON MY NEEDLES

I’m back on track  with my Gray Day Gansey and am about an inch away from separating for the sleeves.

34120738-277A-4B4D-883C-1071A266DB65

Gray Day Gansey

Knitpicks Wool of the Andes

Haze

A86267E0-6CD5-495D-BD01-AE865827CB76

Petty Harbour

First Light Handicrafts

Manos del Uruguay Fino

Turkish Delight

JUST OUT OF THE KILN

0213D32C-5B22-44B4-8675-06113AE11CA9

ClayDreamsPottery

Buncombe White Clay

Glazed w/ Blue Rutile on exterior and Arctic Blue interior

Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly. Robert Kennedy

B

Knitting · pottery

Monday

mud&stringLeave a comment

Hi ya’ll!  Here it’s come around Monday again and I have a couple of things to show you. I hope everyone’s weekend was a good one, mine was super busy which is a good thing in my case.  When I’m bored, I tend to get into trouble – think shopping, think junk food, think hours of Pinterest or Facebook. Does this sound familiar?  OK, enough of that.  Here are a few things I played around with over the weekend.

My Gray Day Gansey is STILL on my needles, due to a mistake (dropped stitch) that I was unable to make peace with.  So, I put in a lifeline and ripped  back a good six inches of cabling and fixed it. Much happier!E16E9B0A-C169-4D92-A5C4-7D9900950992

I also managed to finally get ClayDreamsPottery, my Etsy shop, updated.  Hit the link and see what’s new. I also got a bisque kiln fired, which unfortunately did not go as smoothly as I’d hoped. One of the pots exploded early on but luckily, nothing else in the kiln was damaged. 😨

889F5E76-3144-4B81-B7CF-164A7D267526

Monday’s child is fair of face.  Anonymous Nursery Rhymes

B

Random

Etsy Update

mud&stringLeave a comment

Hi all, Yes, here I am.  The Insomniac Potter is alive and well. Storms are moving through my neck of the woods with lots of thunder and lighting.  I love storms and so couldn’t pass this one up.

I also wanted to give you a look at my newest Etsy shop update.  Hop on over to  ClayDreamsPottery, my Etsy shop and see what’s new!

You don’t need a weather man to know which way the wind blows.  Bob Dylan

B

 

Random

Christmas in Bangkok

mud&stringLeave a comment

Hi all!

So, what did you think of the changes in my About Me page? It took me a long time to get the new content from my head to WordPress!  As for my 2020 Intentions, one of my main one is to start and stick to a blogging schedule.  I haven’t quite gotten that one settled in my mind but just getting started feels like a big step in the right direction! 👟👟

I hope you had a great holiday!  Mr. iknead and I went to Bangkok for Christmas with the Bangkok Bunch.  So good to see them…..even with Facetime, etc., sometimes I crave being able to hug them in person, hold their hands and hear their voices in person. Unfortunately, I was sick the. whole. time. with bronchitis. I went to the doctor and he gave me antibiotics and cough medicine.  They helped a little and at least got me through the long, long flight home.😷🤒👨‍⚕️💊

Best gift ever?  The Bangkok bunch is coming home! 🏠🏠🏠 The excitement and the relief of having them close by again is overwhelming!  🎇🎇🎇🤸‍♂️😍

 

I’m still plugging away at Gray Day.  I’ve had to rip the entire cable pattern out and start it again twice.🤬but it’s progressing slowly!

I plan to do an  update of my Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery, in the next day or so, keep an eye on it – you don’t want to miss a thing!  Here’s a preview –

Random

Blog Revamp

mud&stringLeave a comment

Hey all!

I’ve been out of pocket for a while – lots of things happening in not much time and my blogging has suffered.  Things have settled down again and I’m doing some much needed blog updating, starting with a new and improved About Me page.

Come see what’s new and stay tuned – it’s a work in progress!

If you want things to be different, perhaps the answer is to become different yourself. Norman Peale

B

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

pottery

The Insomniac Potter Rides Again!

mud&stringLeave a comment

OK, so it’s not exactly insomnia that rolled me out of bed this morning  but a commitment to play bells this morning with my Trinity Episcopal group.  And, of course, me being me, always sure that I’ll oversleep or forget that I’m supposed to ring, I calculate when I need to be up and out of bed getting ready, then set the alarm back at least 30 minutes to have a bit of a cushion and hang my vestments next to the coffee pot as a reminder.🛌⏰💤🎶

I’ve a couple of pots to show you all this morning, I apologize if these are a rerun.

26D9FA58-B99A-447F-A257-A1125C14EACA

Rim Experiment

1958C433-ED38-4E02-83A8-8EBFF54DD506

Not the same pot, but similar.  The first of the rim experiments.

Glazed outside with Amaco Arctic Blue, outer portion of inside glazed with Deep Firebrick, middle portion with Rutile Blue, bottom with Arctic Blue, all Amaco Potter’s Choice glazes.  I’m on the fence regarding my glaze choices, I may need to fire a hair lower, like cone 5 instead of 6.  It’s growing on me.

9BA7C1B4-B804-4E97-92E9-B25C7EC8CF4F

My current fave.  Glazed with Amaco Firebrick to cone 6.

These are currently in the damp box, slowly becoming ready for the bisque kiln.  Our weather has finally cooled, slowing the process, but making it much more pleasant in my garage studio.🙂

141B98F1-5225-4754-AA24-3689991396FF

Someday, I’m going to have a studio with running water.  The heat I can deal with — turn on a fan and work after the sun goes down.  I can handle the winter cold as well with a space heater and a sweater but carrying buckets of water back and forth is tiresome. Someday.

This has been a jam packed few weeks but I plan to take a breather after tomorrow and get caught up on listing pots on Etsy.  My shop is ClayDreamsPottery and I’d love to have you stop by!

Never put off till to tomorrow what you can do today.  Thomas Jefferson

B