Super seekrit knitting project. I’m using Lion Brand’s new Shawl in a Ball yarn, and am really enjoying working with it. It’s a bit tough to rip out, though. I mean, not that I make mistakes. Not me. Nooooope.
Also, Red My Lips 2016 has kicked off.
On the one hand I kind of feel like I’m cheating because my default color these days is red (Stella from Elixery). But then I thought about it and decided that since I pretty actively support and espouse the ideals of Red My Lips even when it’s not April, it’s all good. #supportsurvivors #ibelieveyou #ok2share
No post for yesterday. I swallowed a crown and, well, dealing with that took up most of my free time.
Today I just did a couple of rows on my shawl and a rough re-work of part of the tattoo I’m getting started Saturday. You can see a bit of the full rough under the tracing paper — the tat is going to be quite a bit different from my sketch, but I’d planned for that going in so that’s fine. I met with the artist last week, and I’m really excited to see how he reworks my ideas. We’re doing the line work Saturday, then we’ll fill in the color in a few weeks (I have to make sure I schedule for when I’m going to have a couple weeks off derby — don’t want to risk falling on it fresh!).
On the shawl, I screwed up the last two rows I did. It’s in the mosaic section, which really doesn’t read strongly with the yarns I chose, so I’m not sure it’s worth it to rip back. OTOH, if it does end up being more obvious, like maybe in the light where the solid is more gray than pink, it will always annoy the hell out of me. Sigh. Time to do some un-making.
No, for real. I made these to take to my fantabulous fellow clinic escorts tomorrow, because I’m team lead and that’s what we do. But seriously, these are on the top 10 list of most disgusting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. Just nasty. So I’ll be buying something delicious in the morning for my team. Maybe I should bring these for the protesters.
*You may have noticed I skipped day 3. No big mystery — I just didn’t make anything yesterday (Wednesday)…I had a really full day and was exhausted. I knitted a couple of rows on a pair of fingerless mitts I’m working on, but not enough to count for mnt. I’m not beating myself up over it, just resolving to do better going forward.
You may notice that the time stamp on this post is a bit after midnight, so technically no longer “day 2” as such. But I haven’t retired for the evening yet, so I’m going to say it still counts. Edit: And then the damn thing didn’t post! But it was done and photo’ed and written. Thwarted by technology still counts.
That hot mess up there is a silk chiffon cowl. (I’ll update tomorrow with a pic of me wearing it — it’s actually really pretty. Updated!)
Please to enjoy my morning face. Also please note, because I feel this shows significant personal growth, there was a much better picture of me but the cowl didn’t look so great in that one.
This yarn (LB Collection Silk Chiffon) comes in one of a kind skeins, and I think this is my favorite so far (I’ve made 3. Or maybe 4.). It works up really quickly on size 50 needles, with a drop stitch row every 4th row. Also, it’s a good thing it works up quickly, because size 50 needles just suck. But! I’m happy it’s done, and I’m probably going to make more, too. They’re just so pretty!
I made a sign! I was going to make other stuff today but, well, I didn’t. So this is the official Make’n’Tell 2016 sign. I’ll change the day # every day, and maybe add more embellishments to it here and there. Ink on paper, hand lettered. My pen ran out of ink while I was coloring in the “tell.” That’s what I get for not using one of my beloved fountain pens.
Photo credit: Jennifer Sumilang Painting at Artistic Giraffe in Hackensack, NJ — this would’ve counted if it had happened in March.
I’ve got a problem. (No, it isn’t that I haven’t been blogging. Shut up.) I have giant piles of “won’t this be awesome when I finally get to it” projects lying around. And also, yes, it’s a problem that I haven’t been blogging. Those of you who read my old blog may remember a few years ago I did what I called a “Make’n’Tell”, where I had to make something every day and blog about it. It occurred to me that a Make’n’Tell is just what I need to get those projects cleared out and jumpstart my blogging.
So, starting March 1 (because it’s the day after my birthday and what a great way to start a new year!), I’m going to be doing a Make’n’Tell. I encourage you to join me — if you don’t have a blog just share your stuff on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr or heck, call your sister and tell her about it. Whatever gets you making and sharing your creativity. Here are my rules for this go-round — feel free to tweak them so they work for you and your life:
Every day of March, I will make a thing, take a picture of what I’ve made, and post about it here on the blog.
I may not complete the thing in one day, and that’s okay, but I still have to take a picture and blog about it.
The Make can be in any medium, including but not limited to yarn, fabric, digital graphics, food, photography, drawing, painting, etc.
The Make should be either a complete work OR consist of at least 30 minutes of work on an ongoing project. I do a lot of bigger projects, and I don’t want to stop doing them, but I don’t always have time or ability to do a big project in a single day. On the other hand, if I have a small project in mind and it only takes me 15 minutes to complete it, I’m okay with that. And some days I might only have time for that one little thing. So I think that should count, too.
I may not use the same ongoing project any more often than once a week (last time I tried this it petered out because I was working on a big knitting project and blogging about working on the same thing all the time is bo-RING).
The Make can be similar to a previously completed project. For instance, years ago I made several dresses for my daughter. I used an original pattern and modified it pretty much every time. Each instance of dressmaking would count as a Make.
This time around, I’m going to try to focus on those big piles of projects-in-waiting, so to prepare I’m going to start making lists of all of the things I want to get done. Then I’m going to make a list of any additional supplies I need AND procure them. Possibly I will make a tentative schedule of which projects to work on which days. That should use up most of the 11 days I have until this thing kicks off.
You guys, I’m so excited about this. It is going to be FABULOUS!
TBT, or Throwback Thursday for those of you not on Facebook or Twitter, will feature old posts from Tasteful Diversions and maybe even A Frayed Knot Knits.
This post was from the Make’n’Tell I tried to do last February (I ended up flaming out in the middle of the month 🙁 ). I had completely forgotten we did this — but now I remember that we had a ton of fun with it. And, easy clean up! Originally published 02/09/14.
I saw this pin a while back for making clay with cornstarch and dishsoap, and I actually meant to make it for the kids on one of our many snow days, but kept forgetting. Today Becky was looking for something artsy to do, so I decided to throw this together for her.
The artist at work
Ours didn’t ever get ropy like the picture, but was more the consistency of paper clay. I think she found it a little frustrating to work with but it held her attention for 20 or 30 minutes, and I think it was also a good introduction to impermanent art. See, Becky’s a lot like I am, and channels her creativity into making “things”. Making something useless or impermanent is almost anathema to us. So I think that sometimes pushing ourselves into doing that — even though it’s frustrating — is a good thing.
