Doing what I love

I am a fortunate person.  I love working with fiber with all the beautiful fibers, yarn, spinning and knitting tools...but I did not start out doing those things.  I began as a studio artist, which I thoroughly enjoy.  Recently an opportunity arose for me to draw and paint again.  I confess that it was not easy to pick up and begin, but soon I felt comfortable and now it is flowing easily...I have missed this for some time.  It is easy to allow other things to monopolize time and as much as I love knitting, it was beginning to feel more like a chore than a passion.  It is still important to me, however, it is time for a change and a return to the studio.

Some of the paintings for an upcoming event in keeping with the furry theme.  The painting on the left is a grisaille I did for some black and white prints.  The center painting is an underpainting I started this afternoon.  I preferred the sheep in the photo on the iPad and the landscape from the photo I took before this on the same day.  The photo is from our drive around the Connemara loop on Valentine's Day.  It was a great place for a photo opportunity and a sheep encounter.  As I walked closer, one of the sheep looked up and posed nicely for me.  Thank you sheep.  The angora rabbit was visiting Anoka Fiber Works  and was a perfect model atop a pillow.  

Fortune smiled on me when I had my recent post-surgery check up with Dr. Parke.  Dealing with my dwindling vision from the eye surgery last May (Memorial Day weekend) has been a challenge.  A cataract formed quickly since the surgery and the doctor referred me to Dr. Conrad, a cataract surgeon.  The timing was perfect, as Dr. Conrad had a cancellation and I was able to go directly from one appointment to another.  Timing is indeed everything and surgery was scheduled.  That brings me to some happy news.  Last week I had cataract surgery on my left eye and now my vision is restored and even better than before.  None of my glasses--new or old are usable and I ordered a pair of non-prescription glasses to wear when I do not need "cheaters."  I do not mind wearing glasses and like the protection of glasses.  In four weeks I will have an eye exam for a new prescription.  I have a variety of frame from which to choose!

Caught up!

I finally finished Greta!  The cardigan came out very nicely and it is now hanging at the shop by the Rowan yarns.  I picked out some small buttons and sewed them on before class last night.

Greta on display.

Yoke detail

The other project is the Beaded Beret.  I used a skein of Richard Devries yarn in the colorway Twyla Brae.  The clear beads look like raindrops.  I like the pattern so much I think it needs to be a class!

I love this hat!

This is a perfect first beaded project.

The Minneapolis Institute of Arts is celebrating 100 years this year.  Three masterpieces will be on display throughout the year.  The first is Vermeer's Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, which I saw many years ago in  Amsterdam.

I took this while sitting at the cafe way across the room.  

Weaving in ends...

23.1.2013
I wish!  No, I am just getting things finished--such as:  sample sweater, website, painting new office, UFOs and WIPs, Goodwill, Half-Price Books, and the list goes on...

Secret Garden Cardigan: If I with the body and sleeves done, the colorwork will be my reward.  I am leaving the steeks and bands to be finished by someone else.
Tangled:  The steeks have had plenty of time to heal and now it is the moment to pick up the stitches and knit the bands.

Kili(aaaahhhh!)manjaro:  Just finish already!  The knitting was easy, but the decreases over the offset lace pattern caused headaches (so to speak).  Very annoying.  

Future work:  rewrite patterns to  sell on Ravelry, pick up Eala Bhan and continue knitting, get going on the Master Handknitter Level II, and start my handspun Bláithín.  Between these projects I can work on samples for the shop and upcoming classes.  That is a full plate for the next few months, which must include my Scouting events.  

This week between classes I managed two trips to the MIA to see the Terracotta Warrior exhibit.  It was amazing!  Sadly, I couldn't take any photos or sketch, but I managed to take notes.  On the second visit I purchased the catalogue and it is chock full of information and lovely photos with details!  As always, I paid my respects to Hortense and wandered around looking closely at the tapestries and textiles.  My goal is to take time to visit at least once a month.  It's refreshing to wander around all the wonders of the museum.

7.2.2013 
After the wild and woolly weekend up in the north country, I am back to working on catching up.  I managed a quick and easy project with Malabrigo Rasta and size 35 knitting needles.  The herringbone stitch is fun and I love the way the stitch shows off the hand-dyed colors of the yarn.

One skein of Rasta + BIG needles + fun stitch = neck warmer!

...and don't forget the great buttons!

Another project finished is the cap pattern I submitted to Cascade Yarns for their new book 60 Patterns from America's Yarn Shops.  I used the Stitch and Pitch hat pattern I wrote for Comfort when I worked at AAY.  This time I made the hat in a child and adult size, improved the topper, and improved the pattern instructions.  I have my fingers and toes crossed that it will make the book.  That would be a HUGE boost for me!  

The new normal

October 2012, up to now the year has shaped up to be full of change and transition.  Mom C., Eevee, and Mom are now gone, Ben graduated, etc...reviewing where I am right now I decided to go back to school (online).  Who would have thought that it was possible to do that!  I prefer the classroom and interaction, but it will be nice during the winter to work from home.  The three years we lived in Texas were profitable and fulfilling for me artistically.  It is time to explore options for this stage of my life.
Enough of that for now.  Time for some autumn photos.

Hosta changing color

Birch tree beauty

Fall fluff

A lot of stockinette and a bit of color

Wingspan progress (Opal Van Gogh's Sunflowers)

Halloween town has reappeared--BOO!

Upcoming events:  We have been in our home since 1999 and every couple of years we make improvements.  This year we will get new flooring on the main floor of the house (it will be nice to update the original floor from 1984), some new furniture (Ben is grown, no pets currently), and with those updates deep cleaning and sorting through things are part of the preparation.  We used to move often, which kept us from being pack-rats.  The past few months, many trips were made to Goodwill.  Also, with Ben looking for post-graduation employment he will be getting some household goods.  This is a good thing!
On the fiber front:  Sample knitting for the shop.  Love cardigan, soft yarn, knitting in the round, however it is all stockinette stitch in brown.  There is light at the end of the 14.5-inches with a lovely yoke of color.  I taught the polymer clay class at Creative Souls on Saturday. We had so much fun.  Despite the drizzly rain there were lots of people in Anoka that day, and we had lots of folks looking in the large windows and coming inside to see what we were making.  I popped in next door at the yarn shop and Kathy was busy, Rachel's knitting class was upstairs, and shoppers were milling about the yarn and products.
On Sunday at church, I spent all three services at the art show.  The chapel was a wonderful space for the small show of three-dimensional mixed media pieces.  We had a wonderful variety--wood turned bowls and pots, wood carving, blown glass, pottery, jewelry, drums, quilting, and my hand-spun, felting, and knitting.  The show was a success and our committee agreed that our second show (last year was painting) will lead to an annual fall art show.

Autumn show in the chapel (my fiber pieces are on the left)

17.10.12  Yesterday was a gorgeous day.  Ben and I took a walk around the neighborhood and lots of campaign signs were out and surprisingly there is still quite a bit of color left on the trees.  Today that is supposed to change and I can see from our maple trees in the back yard that when the wind dies down we will again be outside raking!

UFOs hovering about the house

My hands certainly get a work out.  We are back to painting the Advent banner as of Friday.  It is so close to being finished!  I took some photos.  It is large and we do not have much room to move around.

I finally got through the first couple of rows of the Eala Bhan and now I am working Chart A.  The Nepali Hat had the strangest fit, so I hand-felted it and manipulated the heck out of it before blocking it on my wooden form.  It will have a cloche-like appearance rather than making me look like a conehead and I call it the Kathmandu Cloche.  I have to dig through the project bags to find x_OTangledO_x, aka the Sakori Vest.  I think it has aged enough and it is time to add the edgings.  I know where the XO Vest is, but for some reason it will age a bit longer.  Of course, I received my Kauni solid yarn in the mail this week and now the New Box of Crayons, aka the Paintbox Scarf is calling to me.

We finished the Advent banner this week.  Today (Thursday) after Morning Break, we glued the edges of the canvas down.  This one will be up the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and I cannot wait to see it.  Lynne's design is amazing and it was a joy to work on this piece.

You can see our small work space.  

Speckled eggs in the lower right corner.
The yellow will be touched with gold,
so when the light hits it, it will glow.
The golden thread runs through the painting.

I like this area of the painting.
The drawing is Lynne's design and we
worked from it.

 My Kathmandu Cloche.  

The yarn for New Box of Crayons

Eala Bahn in progress on size TWO needles!

Autumn

I cannot believe it is now mid-October!  We had a brief color change with the trees this year.  Looking at my photos, I would never think that all those lovely trees would be bare or dried up.  I managed to gather some leaves for pressing, which I later dipped in wax and gave to my Mom.  She loved it.  I put them on her table so she can look at them while she has her coffee.  She used to do that when she was a little girl, and I still cannot resist picking up pretty leaves.
Being secretary of the troop has really kept me hopping.   I made templates for the weekly announcements, the monthly parent meeting minutes, and sign-in sheet.  The weekly announcements went out on meeting night after the meeting!  Huzzah!
Knitting is progressing.  The blue vest is resting after surgery (steek-cutting) and the red vest is ready to work the fronts, as the back is almost finished.  I am making a hat as a shop sample--not sure I am crazy about the pattern, but I chose a bright greenish-yellow for the main color.  The variegated yarn is in pink, purple, orange...originally I found some purple that was perfect, but it was difficult to see the rib pattern.  The new color combination will be better.  It is a child's hat, so more color is better!
I've been going through the yarn stash and reorganizing.  Painting on the Advent banner at church has made me miss creating art other than the fiber sort.  We are so close to finishing the banner.  I must remember to take my camera when we work next time.

The felted hat is a recent shop sample I made.  I quickly
designed a hat band for it.  The pattern will follow, soon! 

Kathy gave me a bit of one of the Alpaca fleeces to
spin.  I carded and drop-spindled it. It is so soft and
spinning was smooth and easy.

Here are some photos from our brief Autumn color

I love the contrast of the bright leaves and dark trees.

It was warm, so the sprinklers were going.

Eevee takes a break under the treeless tree house.

I have apples from Kathy (from the shop) to use and also Ben has requested some Hudson Bay Bread.  Today and tomorrow will be baking days.

The pencil is mightier than the sword

 I usually post my knitting  here, but today I would like to post some art work.  I had a commission from a dear friend and today I finished it.  Sadly, the dog passed away, but I hope that her husband likes the surprise.  I used different pencils from H to 9B and I love the result.  Drawing is still one of my favorite forms of artistic expression.  The simplicity of the materials is ideal!  It was also nice to do a larger work.  This piece is on 18" x 24" drawing paper.  Storage of art can be a challenge, so commissions are a great way to work.

The process began at the drawing table after picking a pose. 

I adjusted the contrast of the bandanna, and then made a grid on tracing paper, sketched the portrait, and then using my window as a light table, finished the portrait on the drawing paper (moving to the large easel after getting the subject blocked in.

The finished portrait.

Art in Bloom

The last of winter melted away yesterday with a visit to the MIA.  My friend, Lynne, and I spent the rainy day at the museum taking in the Titian exhibit before it goes away and it was also cool to watch the floral artists set up for the Art in Bloom exhibit all over the museum.  Florists chose works of art as inspiration and arranged flowers to display along side the art.  Lovely colors, textures, and smells!

A nod to Alenander Calder

This is the painting to the left of...

Hortense! 

Renoir is to her right.

This one was so beautiful and captured the light and color of the painting.

Ahhh, Monet...

This was a clever and very Americana interpretation
of Grant Wood's work.

Chagall needed no flowers!

Lynne's friend did this arrangement beside the monkey.

The art teacher at CRHS made her vase and arrangement.

This was one of my favorites--simple and elegant.

The Quant is finished!

I finally got photos of the dreaded headband.  I like the Great Adirondack yarn much better than the Noro for the project.  I used the pattern modification to make both ends the same.  The left sleeve of the Aranmor is almost finished and I started the cuff of the right sleeve.  Light at the end of the tunnel--at last!  The weather is still dreary today, which is fine--I do not have class until later.  I hope the rain stays away during the baseball game, as Jim and some colleagues from work took the train into the city to see the Twins play.

I like the pattern modification to make the ends match

A sleeve and a cuff

I have a lot of catching up to do.  I lost a few days with being miserable.  Bronchitis = ugh!  We received some "medicine" in the mail the other day from Bernd and Angelika--Ritter Sports and Milka chocolate bars, a chocolate bunny, and Milka eggs with little purple spoons for scooping out the cream centers of the eggs!  That will make me feel better really quickly!  Danke!