I dabble in a lot of different types of media and when I can "marry" the two of them together it is such a thrill for me.
While waiting for my sock knitting book to come in the mail I went to the library just to see what they had, one can never have too many art books. In my collection one can find anything from sculpey clay books to glass fusing to quilting and embroidery books. I love learning new techniques and am always inspired by other people's work. So in the library I found this wonderful "combination" book entitled Knitting with Beads by Jane Davis. Right up my alley! I love beads and I love to knit... why didn't I think of this?
My first project from this book is on page 83 and it's called Cascading Diamonds Scarf. The pattern calls for 2 skeins of yarn and I am to string 725 beads on each skein. I only have about 200 beads on the first skein so I don't have any progress pictures to show you yet but this is what it will eventually look like:
The color of the scarf in the book is eggplant but I will be doing mine in a marina blue with blue beads. I will definitely be purchasing a copy of this book after I have returned it to the library because this one needs to be in my collection.
Happy knitting... and beading!
Good riddance summer... we are now moving into my favorite season, fall. I love the crispness of the air, the pumpkins on my neighbor's porches, and the vibrant colors of the changing leaves. I can wear my hair down again and not worry about it sticking to the back of my neck like it does in hot, humid Virginia.
I have so many creative interests and one ever knows what I'll be working on a month from now. I may be revisiting old projects or trying my hand at something new. Well the knitting bug bit about two weeks ago. With the weather changing as fast as it did it seemed only natural for me to pull out my needles again. My mom taught me the basic knit and purl stitches six years ago but I have never gone any further than that. I've knit on circular needles which I find to be tons of fun.
I'm not aspiring to knit a sweater, frankly because I don't wear too many sweaters, but I definitely want to learn some different designs. I told my husband that I'm going to try not to buy any new yarn until I use up some of my old stuff... and complete some of the knitting projects I started last fall. I'm off to a great start. I pulled out the 2 small tubs of yarn I had stashed away. I inventoried then organized all of it and to my surprise I had many UFO's (unfinished objects) that were nearly done! Which means I'll be able to buy new yarn sooner than I thought, yeah!
Like I said I'm not aspiring to knit a sweater but I would just LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to knit a pair of socks for myself (or two or three). Last night I got on the computer and ordered, what looked like, the easiest sock knitting book there was. By the time the book arrives I will have finished two more projects from my stash. I think that may be enough to treat myself to sock weight yarn... YIPPEE!
Happy Fall Everyone!
To get myself out of this creative rut I've revisited my two all-time-favorite podcasts. I simply LOVE listening to these two women. Their podcasts and websites are totally independent of each other. Sister Dianne writes Craftypod. And Dianne Ackerman Haywood writes Craftsanity. They have interviewed each other and that's where I found Dianne Ackerman Haywood, Craftypod's Sister Dianne was interviewing her. I would like to start putting up more links on my blog so I thought I'd start with these two ladies.
This morning, for inspiration, I was listening to Sister Dianne of Craftypod. Episode #122 was called A New Dress A Day with Marisa Lynch. I was listening to this podcast in the car on the way to work. I could not wait to get home to see what Marisa was actually doing! (our computers at work are filtered so we can't surf the web at all!) Marisa buys $1.00 dress a day from either a thrift store or garage sale, etc. then transforms it into something that is actually wearable... $1.00, one dress, one day for 365 days! Marisa is AMAZING and so inspirational! I almost want to run down to my local thrift store right now! Please visit A New Dress A Day to see what I'm talking about.
And a big thank you goes out to Sister Dianne for bringing me out of this creative rut I seem to have fallen into.
I've been in an artistic rut lately. I've had a lot of things going on in my life and they have taken precedence over my creativity. One thing that I've found that gives me immediate gratification is drawing zentangles. This is something that relaxes me and I can immediately see art emerging from my doodles. Since I have two small children I usually cannot start on a big project (such as quilting) during the day while they are awake. But then at night after they go to bed I head right for my own bed! Zentangles are now my art of choice. I love to pick up my fine point black Sharpie marker and just start doodling. It is something I can work on for five minutes or 50 minutes.
I have described and given examples of zentangles in previous posts but today I wanted to share with you a deviation I've started working on. It's a little different and I'm not sure I "love" it or not. It definitely gives the work a different slant. I have started using colored pencils in my black and white doodles. I will no longer call them zentangles as there is a specific definition for zentangle and I don't think color applies. I have finished two so far. The third one I'm currently working on I like the best. I'll post a picture as soon as I'm finished but I wanted to post something so you all don't think I've totally abandoned my blog.
I have tried to stick to about four colors for now. To me it looks a little more cohesive but we'll see what tomorrow brings! Happy doodling everyone.
