Works in progress, finished objects, yarn, patterns
I AM SO FENG SHUI
Remember my purple door wish??? It came true today! Is this amazing or what? If you missed the original post, you can read about it here.
I love it!
REALLY….
Babymama and I took a field trip to BabiesRUs earlier this week to check out something called a NuRoo, a shirt/baby sling thing, which is not a new idea, moms have used these in some form or fashion for thousands of years. Everything old is new again as they say.
ON THE NEEDLES
Los Manos Locos aka The Crazy Monkeys, with just a couple more pattern repeats before starting the cuff. By the way, this is a free Ravelry pattern. You can find it here.
BOOKLOVE
i have two books today, one in progress and one finished. I finished a great one last weekend, The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh. Good, good book, well worth a look. In progress, almost finished, is Gifted Hands, an autobiography by Ben Carson, M.D., a pediatric neurosurgeon. Another great book well worth reading.
OUT OF THE DYEPOT
Here is a look at the fiber I dyed Sunday-
Dyed with Jacquard Acid Dye, Sky Blue
I started spinning this today and so far, it’s spinning up easily and quickly. I really love the intense blue. I’m a little out of practice, but I’m shooting for sock yarn. The spinning bug again took up residence in my head, I didn’t realiize just how much I missed spinning until today, when I started on this roving. I’m glad to be gettting back into it.
I’m linking today with Tami, Ginny and Frontier Dreams.
PARTING SHOT
No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit. Helen Keller
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TDL CONTINUED
I’m moving right along with my Documented Life Project art journal. The last challenge, #28, was to add a tiny photo to the page, which gave me a chance to use a couple of little square pics from Social Print Studio. My only difficulty was choosing which ones to include! Here’s a look at my take on this week’s challenge:
I love the little three inch photo squares, if only for their cute factor, but they work well with art projects, mixed media, etc.
*MOMM
Speaking of mixed media, I have a couple of projects to show off. The one I’m especially proud of I made to give to Mr. Iknead’s mom for her birthday, if I can hold out that long. She has an October birthday, so what usually happens is that I get so excited that I jump the gun a little bit and she gets her gift early. I don’t think she minds s bit.
I tried to include as many things as I could, things she loves and things that I love about her.
My next MOMM show and tell I call howdoesyourgardengrow?. I’ve become pretty obsessed interested in drawing flowers, so that’s where this project’s inspiration came from.
It has a little bit of everything, stencils, cut outs, stamps, drawing, painting, 3D stuff, whatever catches my fancy.
I ran across a photo of Johnny-Jump-Ups snd couldn’t resist trying to paint them using watercolors.
I’ll never be a great painter, but I love doing it and that’s all that matters.
*my own mixed media
A man that has a taste of music, painting or architecture, is like one that has another sense, when compared with such as have no relish of those arts. Joseph Addington
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INTO THE DYEPOT
I’ve finally gotten around to dyeing the last bit of roving that’s been hanging around Violet, looking so sad. It’s been so long since I started spinning it that I can’t remember where it came from or even what type fiber it is. I know it’s wool, but what kind, no clue. Maybe when I get in there I’ll get lucky and figure it out. Wish me luck! Found it! It’s superwash merino. Meanwhile, here is a look into the dyepot.
Jacquard Acid Dye
Sky Blue
INDEPENDENCE DAY GRANDS
We had a big cookout for the holiday, unfortunately, I took no pictures because my camera was kind of inaccessible, in the same room that JosiePug is banished to whenever the little ones visit. Unhappily, she’s not good with the kids – not because she doesn’t like them, but because she loves them TOO much, jumping and running and just generally being way too much pug for them. She still outweighs the two littlest grands and 20 pounds of Josie goes a long way. We still hope for the time that we can ALL enjoy each other, but until then, we keep them apart. I do have some photos from the concert and fireworks at the river that night that Bigmommy and Babymama were nice enough to share.
Lots of dancing and flag waving!
PARTING SHOT
Hand Study
If A is success in life, then A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut. Albert Einstein
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SOUL FOOD
I’ve been sort of hit or miss with blogging these past few weeks, and I’ve missed sitting down and putting my thoughts in order and then onto paper or into my iPad. I’ve been too busy painting or drawing (these are new things for me) or reading or knitting or baking or gardening or art journaling or throwing pots or grandmothering or any of the other things that grab my interest. Here’s the perfect description for what I’m blessed with – an embarrassment of riches. According to (all-knowing) Wiki, an embarrassment of riches is an idiom that means an overabundance of something, or too much of a good thing. All these things do more than keep me occupied – they feed my soul, I guess you could say I have an embarrassment of blessings. With all the above said, I think what I really mean is “Thanks, God, for everything”.
Now, moving along…
ON THE NEEDLES
A pair of Los Manos Locos or Crazy Monkey Socks, a twist on Cookie A’s awesome Monkey Socks, toe up and purl-less.
This colorway is called Java Jive and I’m loving how it’s knitting up. You can find out more about this yarn here.
The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it. Carl Jung
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FAMILY TIES
Mr. Iknead and I spent a wonderful Saturday with his mom and three cousins, with one cousinly spouse from Oklahoma last weekend. We had such a great visit, and decided that it had been altogether too long since we’d gotten together, with promises to do it again soon, with kids and grandkids in tow next time around. I especially loved hearing Mr. Iknead’s and his cousins’ “remember whens” and “who did what and got away with it” stories. Altogether, there were six cousins, three boys snd three girls, all within a year or two age-wise; it sounded like so much fun! There was so much laughter and a few tears, remembering family members no longer with us, but that’s what life really is, people linked together, some by blood and some by choice, forever. I’m blessed to be included.
Nila, Gail, Dale and Mr. Iknead, Cousins All, With Mr. Iknead’s Mom, for Good Measure
PARTING SHOT
Kind words can be short and easy to speak but their echoes are truly endless. Mother Teresa
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SOOOOOOO
If I was smart, I’d be working on Christmas knitting since I lost patience, crashed and burned on the Wavy Garden Shawl today. If you missed it, you can read up on it here. I tinked and tinked and tinked for hours, getting more and more frustrated, with lovely yarn getting more and more fuzzy (and not in a good way) and then, the fuzzies getting stuck to themselves, with me getting more and more aggravated by the minute. Finally, I decided to cut myself some slack and have relegated it to the Will Probably Never See The Light Of Day Again Basket, at least for now. What is it with me lately? Am I destined to never complete another WIP and be stuck in an endless loop of starting, frogging, starting again, frogging again and on and on. OK, so I’m a tad dramatic, but frustration seems to be the order of the day lately. I’ll get over it, probably by tomorrow, at the latest.
24 HOURS LATER
So I made peace with Wavy Garden and feel OK about putting it aside temporarily and have begun a pair of socks with this lovely yarn-
Fingerpaints Supersock Self Striping from Cherry Tree Hill Yarn, in Java Jive
Knitting two at a time, toe up. I haven’t completely settled on a pattern yet, but that’s the beauty of the toe up technique. The toes are plain stockinette, giving the knitter more time to find “The Perfect Sock Pattern”, while still getting on with the sock knitting; and, when knitted toe up, the socks can be tried on while in progress. A win-win, I say. I learned the technique by watching Silver’s Sock Class, I think their instructions are the clearest and the easiest to understand.
SAVING FACE
I’ve been practicing drawing whimsical faces, spurred on by the YouTube demos that I’ve become addicted to. Actually, though, practicing is way too mild a word, obsessed is more like it. This all started with my decision to give art journaling a try, joining The Documented Life Project back in March and getting a new, just asking to be written/drawn/painted upon journal. Is there anything more exciting than a new journal? Well, yeah, new yarn. New yarn is way exciting, way, way exciting. Oh, look, here’s a photo that blends both!
Ummmmm, did I mention that up until this, I’d never, ever, even considered picking up a pencil or a paintbrush? But I digress. Here are a couple of faces I drew and colored in with color pencils.
Something else I’ve learned – if you can think it, someone has posted a demo of it on YouTube. Hopelessly old school, me, but, maybe not completely hopeless, I’m learning new stuff all the time.
I’m linking with the usual Friday folks, Tami and Frontier Dreams.
Learning is not attained by chance, it must be sought for with ardor and attended to with diligence. Abigail Adams
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ON THE NEEDLES
Wavy Garden Shawl is presently OTN, but not for long. (heavy sigh). I saw that somehow, what I call the backbone, where a pattern calls for a yarnover, knit, YO, is wonky, off a couple of stitches. So I suppose you could say it’s developed scoliosis. I hope I can take it back a few rows and reknit instead of frogging the whole shebang and restarting. Dang.
BOOKLOVE
I finished Wouk’s The Caine Mutiny Monday and am just as enamored as I was when I first read it, lo those 45 or so years ago. So, I’m giving away my age (you do the math), who cares??? In my head I’m 16. When does a person become a grownup anyway? OK, back to booklove. I started an smazing book right on the heels of Mutiny – The Snow Queen. I don’t have the author’s name right at my fingertips, but I’ll get it in here before I post. Take a minute check it out here. Michael Cunningham, that’s the guy’s name.
Here are a couple of *MOMMs that I’ve working on:
Curlicue Tree
Because I Like It #5
TDL Week 26 Challenge
Add a Bible verse or a line from your favorite book that inspires you
Mine is Proverbs 17:22
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones.
ONE OF THE GRANDS
Babydiva
I think it was a reward for behaving in the store. She’s going to be a big sister here in about seven weeks!
Oh my gosh! That skin!!!!
Linking with Tami, Ginny and Frontier Dreams.
*My Own Mixed Media
Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person. Mother Teresa
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POT THROWING
Hurray! It’s back into the pottery studio after a two week break. I have some new ideas and several things I want to try, like this
Yarn Bowl
and this
or this
and maybe this
So ready to get in there and sling some mud!
Work while you have the light. You are responsible for the talent that has been entrusted to you. Henri-Frederic Amiel
XXX
Look what Mr. iknead found when he checked on some flowers at the side of the house this morning:
Is the male giving us the stink eye or what??
After a quick photo, we left them to their lovemaking. I think these two are box turtles, named that because their shells are hinged front and back, allowing them to shut up tight when they feel threatened. Nice to know they found a nice, safe spot, away from traffic. This is the time of year that thousands get squashed trying to cross roads to meet their beloveds.
If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one. Mother Teresa
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R.I.P.
It is with ginormous regret that I inform you that the Cable and Pleat Tunic is no more. (Sobsniff). After taking a hard look at it last evening and then sleeping on my decision , I decided to go ahead with my plan to frog, let it rest and then start from scratch in the near (I hope) future. Next time, I’ll go down a couple of needle sizes, it was very loose and I knew I’d never wear it without something underneath and knowing how hot Arkansas summers are, it just wasn’t going to work. Besides, it’s not like I don’t have other WIPs to work on. I can hear The Socks On A Plane Socks whimpering to be picked up even as I type.
BUT THEN, AGAIN
A Wondrous Box arrived in the mail today, and man, is it ever going to be hard to keep my grubby paws off the goods long enough to carry out the abovementioned plan. Take a look and you’ll see what I mean!
Two hanks of incredible merino and as a little extra surprise, a sample of lovely silver silk with sequins and beads, all from Artyarns, thanks to Yarnbox. Could you stay strong in the face of this???
BOOKLOVE
I’m rereading an old, old favorite, The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk. It still lights my dials. I read this book as a kid, maybe junior high or a little younger, probably because my parents owned a copy and I’d most likely finished my library books and then gone hunting for something else to read. This became a favorite immediately. One thing I’ll always be thankful for is that my parents never, ever put any sort of limitations on what I read and I loved to read. My dad was also a Reader with a capital R and it wasn’t unusual for he and I to be reading the same book. He was an omnivorous reader and thanks to him, so am I. Best gift ever, thanks Mom and Dad!!!!
Linking with the usual Wednesday bunch – Tami, Ginny and Frontier Dreams.
I’m not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today. William White
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TUESDAYS
Anyone remember the Seinfeld schtick about how Tuesdays just don’t have a “feel”? A feel as in “Mondays have a let down feel, just coming off the weekend and all; Wednesdays have a definite, halfway to the weekend feel; Thursdays carry that almost Friday and the end of the work week feel; and then that incredible Friday feel, which needs no explanation. Poor Tuesday, with no real “feel”, except maybe the “at least it’s not Monday” feel. This really isn’t going anywhere, just some random thoughts that run through my head, taking up some of the short term memory circuits until another totally random thought moves in and hangs out for a while.
TDL UPDATE
Week 25 Challenge
Cover Your Page with Hearts
One of my favorites so far!
More information on The Documented Life Project can be found here.
*MOMM
Here’s a look at my latest independent mixed media project-
As usual, this one has a bit of everything, paper, buttons, stamps, stencils, just whatever strikes my fancy at that particular moment. Mixed media has taught me that the concept of art is very, very fluid, with no right or wrong way to create. I totally LOVE that!
*My Own Mixed Media
PARTING SHOT
The only real valuable thing is intuition. Albert Einstein
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A little about knitting and a lot about nothing...
Exploring the world one fiber at a time
Food Photography & Recipes
The Cricket Pages
Raku pottery, vases, and gifts
Just a little crunchy.
Playin’ with mud after midnight.......
...and sewing, quilting, painting, and a whole lot more
Celebrating life, literature, and the persuit of fiber-y goodness.
yeah right.
Yarn Collecting and Occasional Knitting
A geeky creator just making through the days
Enjoying the little things in life.
Welcome to the world of cats!
mud&string 