Category: Random

Random

WIPs As Far As The Eye Can See

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ON MY NEEDLES

I’m going to dive right in……..

 New Gray Day Sweater

Knitpicks Wool of the Andes

Sprinkle Heather

 

Five Roses Shawl

Knitologie by Knitcrate Sparkling Sock in Turquoise (speckled)

Emma’s Yarn in Turquoise

 

Twisted Flower

Yarn Bee

Rainbow Wrapsody

 

Kew Socks

URU.YARN  by Knitcrate Sugared Sock

Hidden Pool

Dissent Cowl

Faithful Beauty by The Verdant Gryphon

Arco Iris by Malabrigo

Shell Cottage from The Handmade Sock Society

Knitpicks Stroll Fingering in Seashell Tonal

Helen Stewart, Designer

So, lots of knitting happening here at Casa Coleman, just not a lot of finishing. 🙂 I’m trying to be more diligent about recordkeeping and such, so you can find pattern details and progress in my project pages.

Silence is a fence around wisdom. German Proverb

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How Hot Is It??

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It’s so hot that even thinking of working with wool yarn makes me break into a sweat, even with the thermostat is set on Arctic Circle and the ceiling fans are set to airplane propeller speed.  All my knitting WIPs that are wooly are on hold for now.  I can’t work up any enthusiasm in my pottery studio either, trying to get caught up on glazing and firing at 3 a.m. when it’s at least bearable to be in the garage/studio.  🥵🥵🥵

Still and all, I feel blessed – me and mine are all happy and healthy, the Bangkok bunch got back home to America to stay after five years of perpetual summer without hitch one, self quarantined for two weeks and came out the other side still healthy and still happy.  God is good.

The photo I planned to post is missing in action, but I came across one taken a couple of winters ago and is something to look forward to………

 

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination. John Lennon

 

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Random

Show and Tell, More Proactive Changes and What’s On My Needles

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SHOW AND TELL

My sweet son in law has been requesting a pitcher for I don’t know how long.  Being a pastor, he wanted something he could use for baptisms and communion. After many unsuccessful attempts, I finally came  up with one that passed muster.

Clefton’s Pitcher

Inside glazed with Spectrum Cinnamon Ripple

Outside glazed with Amaco Seaweed

 

Test Bowl

Outside glaze Amaco Seaweed PC-51

Inside glazed with Mayco Stoneware Glaze

SW-156

Galaxy

Here’s a better look at the inside –

 

TODAY’S PROACTIVE CHANGE

This one is turning out to be the most difficult – putting all my devices aside 30 minutes  before bedtime. Yep, this one is by far the most difficult.  There’s always just one more thing I want to  check on, which leads to another page, then one more site and then just one more peek at Facebook. Putting it all aside 30 minutes before bedtime gives my brain enough time to calm down and I fall asleep faster and stay asleep. 🥱😴

ON  MY NEEDLES

 

Shibui Sock

Colorway unknown

100% Merino

Petty Harbour by Rayna Curtis

 

We are limited,  not by our abilities,  but by our vision. Anonymous

 

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Random

Positive Changes

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Without going into detail, I’ve been dealing with some health issues over the past few months, mainly insomnia and restless leg syndrome.  It’s been a long, long time since I’ve had more than just a few hours of uninterrupted sleep a night, but I’m working on some positive lifestyle changes that seem to be helping.  Just being proactive makes me feel better mentally and physically and I intend to keep it up.

One of the things I’m doing is making a bullet journal to record things like sleep time, diet, exercise, etc. because all these things tie into my physical and mental wellbeing.

Tsuki Bullet Journal

Pastel Edition

Notebook Therapy

Another positive change I’m working on is intermittent fasting, trying as hard as I can to go low carb,  high protein, cutting out sugar and caffeine.  Do I always succeed?  Nope, but it’s getting easier. 🙂

I’ll keep you posted.

One faces the future with ones past. Pearl Buck

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PS – I put a couple of new pots in the kiln this morning with some new glazes.  Hopefully, I’ll have something to Show and Tell in my next post. 🤞

Random

Has My Warranty Expired? or Now What!!??

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It’s 11:48 p.m. and I’m wearing my insomniac hat tonight. Now, it’s 11:49 p.m. which gives me about 11 minutes to have that last glass of water before midnight. If you’ve ever undergone a “procedure”, you’re familiar with the nothing to eat or drink after midnight rule. So, yes, there is a “procedure” in my near future. To be more specific, tomorrow at 11:30, I’m having oral surgery to extract three molars on the right and placement of two screws into my upper jawbone for eventual implants and a bridge. I admit that while I don’t have a phobia regarding dentists, I do get anxious a few days beforehand. I will be under heavy sedation so intellectually I know that it will be painless and quick, it’s just that my nervous stomach and jitters haven’t received the It’ll be OK memo.

This dental adventure on top of my broken arm and my subsequent ER visit, followed by a visit to a hand and arm specialist and the surgery to repair it using a steel fixator and let’s not forget about Covid-19 and it’s cousin, Quarantine, has me wondering what next!

I got a photo of my postop x-ray. BTW, if looking at stuff like this makes you feel woozy or sick I encourage you to skip over the low tolerance stuff.

This month’s Knit Crate carried a naked hank of yarn and enough kool-ade to dye it up right. Here’s how mine turned out using cherry on half and blue raspberry on the other half. I think it will knit up into a very interesting pair of socks.

Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. Albert Einstein

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Random

This Wasn’t In the Plan

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How is everyone holding up while sheltering in place or self quarantining or social distancing or whatever it’s being called where you are? Casa Coleman was doing pretty well up until midnight Thursday. That’s when I fell down on my way to the bathroom and broke my right arm. In doctor speak that would be a fracture of the distal radius with some telescoping into the joint. We went to the ER around 5 a.m. where they x-rayed my arm and casted it.  Yesterday I saw an orthopedic surgeon and got set up for surgery to repair the break with a plate and screws this coming Tuesday.  😑 The worst thing, though, is that I’m right handed and can’t knit, can’t throw pots, can’t do anything myself except sleep.

Monday Night

Tomorrow’s the big day, the day I actually can start healing.  I miss being busy and today has been especially long and hard.  On top of being bored, this cast is starting to be less than fresh. Yuck.

Tuesday Afternoon

It’s over and done with and I’m told it all went very well – The last thing I remember is the big lights in the OR and being moved from the gurney to the OR table. Nine hours post op fracture and no pain (so far) thanks to the nerve block. 😁😁😁 Nothing lasts forever though so there are pain meds at the ready. 💊

My Bangkok grands, left to right, Annabelle, Emma and Susannah. My Bangkok beauties and their precious faith keep me going!

We walk by faith, not by sight. The Holy Bible

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If this is a rerun, I’m sorry. I think I actually neglected to hit Publish when this post was done. Musta been the pain meds!

Random

Could the End Be In Sight??

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You’d think that with the quarantine/social distancing/mask wearing and sheltering in place I’d be throwing pots and knitting like a maniac, but my orthopedic adventures brought these things to a screeching halt. The backstory is here if you missed it the first time around.

Anyhow, besides just the couple of weeks being bored out of my mind because I couldn’t do much of anything – when you break your dominant arm you’re pretty much out of luck for a while – being housebound hasn’t been too bad. You can bet, though, as soon as I got my cast off I was knitting, even if it was a super slow process. I got my hands back into the clay, finally able to finish what I’d started before I broke my arm and every day is a  little bit better than the day before. Here’s three very patient pots that waited for me to heal.

 

Word on the street is that life is starting to normalize.  Mr. iknead said there was toilet paper on the grocery shelves, no hand sanitizer or gloves, but at least it’s a move in the right direction.

 

From error to error one discovers the entire truth. Sigmund Freud

 

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p.s. Don’t forget to visit my Etsy shop, ClayDreamsPottery.  I’m always adding new pots and you don’t want to miss out on the perfect one!

 

Random

Cooler Heads

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Thank heaven for cooler heads!!! I took ya’lls advice and put Gray Days in timeout for about a week, during which I calmed down a bit, enough for an attitude adjustment. . I picked it up again Monday morning and Gray Days is knitting up well and once again, all is well at Casa Coleman. 🙂 Here’s a look at my new, improved Gray Days Gansey:

Things are also going well in the pottery studio also.  I’ve had a couple of kiln unloads that I’m  very pleased with and want to share with you all.  Both pieces are made of the same clay, Speckled Brownstone.

 

Thanks to all who sent me good advice when I was ready to relegate Gray Days to my personal limbo — the back of my closet.

Oh, and don’t forget to visit my etsy shop for more pottery love!

And we are put on this earth a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love.

William Blake

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Random

Bummed

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So for the second time, I frogged the cable section on Gray Day and tried to fix a mistake.  Made a bigger mistake that just got worse and worse.  I’m fighting the temptation to relegate it to the WIP basket that resides in the deepest, darkest part of my closet, never to be seen again.  Should I give it another chance??  What would you do?

 

One fails forward toward success. Charles Kettering

 

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Random

A Real Post As Promised

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I finally got my Etsy update finished and posted. If you haven’t visited my shop, consider this your invitation. I had a pretty good pull out of my kiln yesterday so another update is in the works so BOLO!

Here’s what’s happening here at Casa Coleman –

The Gray Days sweater has undergone a radical amputation and is about half the size it was when last shared. 😩 One of the cables went rogue necessitating a radical frogging. In my world, it’s more efficient to place a lifeline, take the needles out and just unravel. Tinking cables…..well, we just won’t go there. 😉

Here’s a look at some of yesterday’s firing –

The cookies are glaze tests; the green is Amaco’s Potter’s Choice Wasabi celadon and the blue is also an Amaco PC glaze, Downpour celadon. The large piece is wearing Downpour also.

Grandgirl #2, Harper has had the flu, but is on the mend fortunately. Now praying that the other two avoid it. 🙏🙏🙏

The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. Christopher McCandless

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Random

Surprise!

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Ever glazed a bowl or knitted/sewn a project that you had such high hopes for that, on completion, was so ugly it was a real challenge to NOT throw it in the trash or banish it to the recesses of
of your darkest closet?  Let me tell you about my latest bowl of shame………

There was nothing wrong with the naked bowl, one of my better ones IMO.  Sorry guys, I took no photos of the first glazing. Too painful. 😜

The first glaze consisted of Toasted Sage poured into the bowl and swirled to cover, followed  by Oatmeal brushed on the rim x3.  I laid a band of Textured Turquoise below the Oatmeal rim inside.  I then brushed the outside with Spectrum Cinnamon Ripple x3.  When the glaze was dry, I fired this bad boy to cone 5. All I can say about the final result was YUCK and double YUCK.  I tried to console myself by saying we can’t all be beautiful and made up my mind to keep it around for a little while; sometimes a glaze combination will grow on me. Not this time.

I decided to refire it, using a new glaze I got for Christmas, a Hot Pink by Spectrum.  So, I just sort of slapped a few coats of this pink on it all over and fired it again.  BTW – all glazes are Amaco Potter’s Choice unless specified otherwise.  This glaze was a cone 9/10 and since I like to live dangerously, I fired to cone 10. 🥵

Here’s the surprise:

 

 

Love this!!

I’m so glad I gave this pot a second chance!  Forrest Gump’s mama was right:

Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get.

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