Creating From Visuals

You may remember that awhile back I had a rather ambitious idea of a design challenge involving artists, artisans, crafters, creative types, media, materials, and such of many fields, varieties, types, bents, leanings, and visions to participate in this project/challenge of mine posted about HERE.

What you may not know is that I had contacted a tatting artist who seemed to be behind the 25 Motifs Challenge in the tatting community, and asked if she was interested or knew of anyone who might be - I think she assumed I knew "WHO" she was in the tatting community; I really had no idea at all, even though I'd seen her websites - one has no sense of a person's "stature" in any community just from websites!

Or even, really, just from being told so. Regardless, I thanked her for her time in replying, as I appreciated it, (and do not believe that she understood the concept of the project, although I suppose some may not) and I moved on. I believe since everything comes down to being based on basic geometric shapes anyway, you can make anything out of anything into anything, or at least you can form or attempt to form a shape or pattern in a variety of media and combination of techniques and arts. Why not try? That's the fun of an experiment.

Today I was browsing some blogs which I had not in quite some time, and ran across a link to a Design Challenge for tatting - granted these seem to be put together with tatting specifically in mind, whereas mine would be not necessarily with any particular craft or art or technique in mind, but I thought, cool, this is a beginning of a type of what I was talking about, anyway . . . . Tatting Design Challenge.

I've seen the same thing develop on Ravelry, where there's a couple of groups (such as Design Inspiration Challenge, link good only if you have free Ravelry account) that start with a design inspiration and then go from there, no matter whether they crochet, knit, or whatever. It's nice to see that I'm not the only one with wild ideas, although I suppose mine is rather more broad in concept, in order to compare how the inspiration would translate across and into various media and by various artists/artisans etc.

Although I do think my original time frame proposal of one month might be a little optimistic, lol. 6 weeks to 2 months might work better, depending on what arts and media were involved . . . . . lol!!!

Especially weaving, as an example of which I discovered and talked about here.

As Anakin Skywalker Would Say, "Spinning Is A Good Trick!"

Here, finally, is the fiber I've been spinning. The first fiber, that I bought for a challenge in a Ravelry spinning forum, for last September's theme (yes, that's September 2007!!!)..


Anyway, more of the fiber has been spun than you see here. It's actually down to one of those lengths you see there, about the length of my forearm, not the couple of lengths there. Just one of them, and less than a foot. The chaos that erupted earlier this year (see my main blog) what with deaths in the family, medical stuff slowly finding out about, and then all of a sudden they're poking around in my knee and then WHOA life-changing medical news!! (Another reason this blog, and all others, as well as even email, I'd stopped reading even that of late, which had never happened before, has been neglected).

It's about time I showed my spinning! What prompted this you may ask? Well, I finally did start browsing a few blogs yesterday, and today caught up on some Lime & Violet's Daily Chum blog. The particular post that prompted me to get off my tushie and edit some piccies that have been languishing on my hard drive, waiting for some processing was this one, entitled "What's On Your Bobbin?". Of course, you see that my "bobbins" are toilet paper rolls, but this IS my first spinning - I don't know if I can do it ok yet or not - you do with what you have! They work fine at the mo, anyhow, although one is a little squished (who squeezed my Charmin . . . . (the handspun IS very smooshy, sproingy, and squeezable!!! Can't blame you . . .).

The bobbin on the far right is the first spun (actually, I think I may have spun one before that, and lost it - I'm not sure), the middle is the next spun, and the one closest to the spindle, is the most recently spun save what is on the spindle itself.

You can probably also see that my spinning has become more consistent. For those who don't know, yarns that vary from thin to thick and back to thin are called "slubby"; the thicker parts are the "slubs". Beginner spinners are pretty much make slubby yarns right off the batt (ha, couldn't resist that pun, batt, hee hee). Some people call them artisan yarns, novelty yarns . . . . some spinners make them on purpose . . . . some patterns benefit from a slubby yarn - there's a yarn for every purpose and pattern, and a pattern for every purpose and yarn (usually, on that last!).

I was very pleased to see my improvement, but by the third bobbin you see there, I was becoming so consistent to my eye, that I was thinking the skein of yarn I'd end up with would just be . . . . unbalanced and odd. I was fairly certain when I started that I'd end up with slubs, as a newbie, and so I did, as I started, as you can see there are definitely slubs, especially in the first two "bobbins".

So, on the spindle, I began to slub on purpose. It took me a minute to break my consistency. But for the pattern I have already picked out for my first spun skein (going to ply it once with itself, so it'll be two-ply, but many parts of it are very thin so no worries of it being an inch thick unless two horrible slubs happen to meet, and I can fix that), it would look weird to have slubs at the first quarter of it and the rest mostly all at a fairly similar gauge/weight of yarn. That'd look odd in almost anything, unless you were spinning it that way purposefully with something specifically in mind, like say you wanted some slubbiness on the edge of a scarf, say, in the fringe or something, but not in the body. Or on the flap of a purse, but not the body, or whatever else you decided or dreamt up.

Anyway, here's some more gratuitous fiber and spinning pictures. The fiber and learn to spin kit (including spindle, and instructional DVD-ROM, created by the vendor, and a bag of some undyed fiber to spin, included in the price of the learn to spin kit (the dyed fiber was an additional purchase beyond the kit)) was purchased from a very nice lady, and someone whom I will definitely do business with again, especially since her prices are excellent, her service is excellent, her instruction on the DVD was really great (hard for me to judge, being a beginner, which is why I'm not continuing w/the excellents because how would I know yet!!! Woobies Wool is the vendor, and she can be found at the Tiny Lady Cooperative, one of a group of sellers. Seems so far so good though!!!), and she's not a "big name" in the wooly world, so she needs all the business she can get, not that I'd not shop with some of the more well knowns just because they are well known! Supporting the less known is good too though!

The Family Who Weaves Together . . .

I apologize for the lack of the giveaway and answerage to the memes and tagging. I am still flattered and so pleased to have been so tagged and awarded. It's just been a rough beginning to the year, with genetic osteoarthritis popping up and several deaths in the family and a very close call a few weeks ago soon after the other deaths.

Very maudlin, I know!

One day, my daughter came home from school with the weaving I've seen called "God's Eye" but that she referred to as something else (naturally, the schools would call it something else, and I am glad, because I am not comfortable with casual use of Heavenly Father's name). She explained to me that she had some frustration with it until a boy sitting next to her or near her in class showed her a different way to wrap and go over and under, and then she "got it" and did it with this adjustment or adaptation and really enjoyed the project.

She was so pleased with it, and herself! I was the proud mama, of course, as well as being tickled that one of the "art mothers" who comes in and helps by having projects for the children to do, chose a weaving one!

I have several weaving ideas I've got to settle on before I warp up the inkle loom, but I've got a vintage Bakelite Weave-It 4" loom that I've woven up some plain weave on, in sparkly blue Patons Brilliance yarn. I guess I'm just afraid to weave in the ends, that I won't be able to make sure they are in good enough before I take the square off the loom! I figure with this yarn I need to go the extra mile (er, figuratively) with fixing in the ends, since it's not a "sticky" yarn like natural wool. It's pretty though, and I have specific plans for it, in various colors. Coupons and clearance prices come in handy for it . . . . .

That Giveaway Soon - If you Scrapbook, You'll Like It This Time 'Round!

Well, ok, so I didn't make that giveaway by the end of January like I had said. But, it's coming!

Anyway, I don't have any pictures of the Toilet Paper Casting that we did, but I DO have some Decoupageing pictures to share! Wa-la!

These pictures are rather unflattering of me but it's not like I knew my pic was gonna be taken that day lol. We were messy, and we were having fun.

Ah, and my new word(s) for the month (I started this last month along with Jessica Sprague (too tired to insert link right now, will do so tomorrow, with the same word she chose for January - Focus) is inspired by LivE (again, ditto on the link), and is "Go Play". Now, that could mean different things to different people, but what it means to me, is a good thing. Thanks for the inspiration, LivE!

I just made this digital scrapbooking background paper to put behind the photos, although I reduced it in scale roughly average of 50% for each photo. I'll include a pic of the paper at the end; it's a grungy thing that looks like a graffittied wall, to me.

If anyone wants to give me an opinion, especially digiscrappers, what do you think?

On closer inspection (because I really only threw the paper up here as an afterthought, so I hadn't "inspected it") I see in the upper right corner and near the bottom left corner, areas easily adjusted; the layer(s) in question aren't shifted into position quite correctly, methinks. Still, you get the idea!

Fold Your Way to His or Her Heart

Small Folded Heart Box Found via the MOO blog.

I have Nancy's tag for a meme I promised to post, and that was the first time I'd been tagged ever!

I am also really flattered and tickled that Jen tagged me with the You Make My Day blog award, which I will be posting about in further detail soon in it's own post.

Thanks, Ro, for the kind comment on that layout!

I thought I'd put up this link to this nifty little origami heart box (and if you follow the Moo link, there's a link to a cute skull printed and cut n'fold box, with articulated jaw. Would be cute to put a Hershey's kiss or three in there!

I'll leave you with this extracted from a picture I took, image of my first print and cut'n fold (and tape, where necessary) papercrafting project I did awhile back; again, my friend Crafting Jen was in my thoughts when I tried this, as I know she enjoys things like that; I've got the website around somewhere, it's mentioned on the blog where the skull pdf is. This extracted image is for a scrapbooking page that is a very deep subject for me (don't laugh, when I eventually tell you!).

I have the perfect digital paper from Scrap Girls for the layout; took me awhile to find the right font. Now I just have to get the words right, since it means so much to me.

Anyway, have fun folding boxes, post links in the comments here if you make them and blog about it or upload pictures!

Things to Come

I've recently had some surprising and unpleasant health news (wasn't pregnant, and it's not deadly). As you guys should know by now, I'm always around, just not on a rigid schedule.

That said, I strive to be a bit less irregular.

You'll most likely see an updated post on the perfect (for me) storage solution for Cuttlebug embossing foldiers that I've blogged about, with pictures from a variety of angles and positions, as I have more folders than I had then, and I'd like to show how this solution has grown with the collection! (Don'tcha just love 40% off coupons, and 50% off sales?) Originally posted about in early February of '07.

Another post coming in the paper-crafting category is a tutorial on a background technique I mentioned quite awhile back.

I'll be adding post tags that will be listed in a sidebar here so you can click on the subject that interests you to pull up all associated content. This will take awhile, as I'm overhauling my life/& mental health issues blog slowly.

Another giveaway is coming up before the end of January.

As far as knitting goes, better pictures of the Chick Knits cabled headband, even modeled! will be forthcoming, as will pictures in the same vein of Crafting Jen's headband pattern that I made. A travel knitting project, the felted pillow(s) you see referenced in the sidebar, will actually be blogged with PICTURES, and seamed up soon, with some bead embroidery to follow on this first of two pillows. I haven't blogged about this project at all, methinks, so it's about dang time . . . !

As far as my spinning goes, my goal in December was to finish my first colourway of fiber that I had purchased, which came in my learn to drop spindle kit. I didn't quite make it (although there was quite a bit of Christmas and New Year's Eve/Day spinning, but I'm very close to being done. Pictures will accompany, of course!

Regarding my beautiful inkle loom made for me at my request by my father, I had used getting to start to weave on this puppy as an incentive to get our living room in order (a difficult task, although not so bad broken down into small steps). Anyone who lives with a parent or spouse or other loved one with depression, bipolar disorder, or other mental illnesses can probably attest to the fact that this is one very challenging area for someone like me to tackle, but we did it. So, soon you'll be seeing some weaving going on around here, although not with my handspun yet; I'm a far cry from spinning suitably for an inkle loom, although it'd perhaps work on a Weave-it, Weavette, or Loomette type loom (sort of like the potholder looms we remember from childhood, but more versatile, and all sorts of squares, rectangles, triangles etc. can be made to be put together into all manner of things).

Oh, yes - the sock knitting. I've been temporarily defeated, but that will be set aside, to have another go at after I've gotten some higher priorities in the knit and crochet arena farther along or done, as the case(s) may be.

My beading generally stays over on my beading blog, not because it HAS to stay separate, but since I had that blog quite awhile before this one, that's where it's place is. There will be occasionally crossover though, such as when I felt the afore-mentioned travel knitting project, the pillow, and bead embroider upon a corner of it before stuffing it.

As well, there's my rather ambitious and possibly not understood by anyone but myself, artist/motif project I've mentioned and described before here on this blog; I've been trying to accept inside, that part of the nature of art, and/or part of the nature of an idea that really kindles a passion and curiosity inside us, may very well be in the realm of "WTH?" by much of the rest of the world, or may be approached in a mode of, "um, Why?" by others . . . . and that that's okay. It is okay to follow my muse, cliche though that may sound. My goal, then, since I am at the moment a one-woman show in this project, will be to finish four different pieces in four different arts/crafts/media/techniques, all springing from the same motif, but adapted and adjusted towards the method/material I've chosen for each of the first four pieces, as well as any artistic adjustments to color, as well as to matters of, "Does the motif fill the "canvas" or is it just one part of a larger "fabric", "surface", or scene . . . as long as what is present within each piece that begins from the initial motif, is recognizably inspired by that motif, my project goals will be satisfactorily met.

I've got a full Persian chain maille bracelet to do somewhere around here; there'll be more on that on my beading blog, after I've found the brass rings (for it).

I do have some old, relatively, and new, very, pages to show (off?) in the digital scrapbooking department! I also have a hybrid project (for those who don't know, hybrid combines traditional paper scrapbooking with some digital scrapbooking techniques) that's been in my mind for a while now.

Some decoupage has been reported around these parts within this last week; fun was had by all, and will be blogged in future.

I have been leery of having the knitting & spinning "take over" this blog completely, as I do enjoy other things and WANT to show other things too! This at times has led me to not post much at all, as some of my anxiety disorders and OCD kick in with wanting things to be "just so". I am telling myself that it is okay, if there's three fiber weeks before a papercrafting theme comes to the fore for a bit, or for whatever period; that it's okay if one thing is dominant for awhile, although it is still my intent to have this be a multi-craftual blog.

I also intend to highlight other multi-craftual blogs, loosely defined by me as generally within a 2 month period they talk/show at least two varied crafts/arts, with a smattering of other crafty pursuits or more.

I will also highlight my favorite bi-craftual blogs from time to time, these being those that quite primarily involve the blogger's creativity within their favorite two pasttimes.

With so many blog optimization blogs out there, and "how to make money" from your blog blogs out there, with many or most or even all of such that I've stumbled on (as I'm not looking to make a career out of my blogs, although I haven't been opposed to a few of the things I've seen, like amazon.com windows showing relevant books, etc.) recommending that you specialize and focus on one area, one thing . . . . there are some refreshingly GREAT bi- and multi-craftual blogs out there that definitely are inspiring to me, in many cases, very interesting to read, and show that you don't have to be focused on just one niche in order to have a great blog.

I've gone on QUITE enough for now, I think, but perhaps I'm off to go play with toilet paper castings and rubber stamps. See here & here & here & here & here & here & here for examples . . . .

A Variety of Wips, UFO's, and Projects In The Works

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Kristy, do let me know when you receive(d) the badgemaker . . . I did get it sent out a bit late, but I'd think you'd have it by now. Mail this time of year does tend to get bogged down though, and who knows how that will affect US to Canada shipping!

My crafting priorities right now are, well, let's see; they WERE to work on some small knit Christmas gifts, but I've been so down that not much knitting has been seen in these parts lately. I will though have pictures of the headband I knitted from Crafting Jen's pattern, pictures of the pillow ready to be seamed up mostly and felted, pictures of a practically complete fingerless glove (perhaps complete by the time I take the picture of it!) . . . .

I have some digital scrapbooking pages to post, from awhile back as well as from the last month or two! I've even created a few graphics and digiscrapping "paper" myself now, with more design ideas in mind of course; I'm definitely an idea person.

I usually don't talk about my beading here, but I'll mention that finding the right tone and finish of red and green size 15 seed beads for the bead embroidery strawberry pendant I've been planning is a priority; the beads I purchased this summer I do not feel are quite right. It is SO hard to tell from online pics, but that's the best one can do when you don't have sample cards.

My other beading priority that IS in actual progress is a bracelet I started a year ago, from either Beadwork or Bead & Button. It's a GORGEOUS pattern that I've not seen creations made from on any of the beading blogs, at least, in the months after that issue came out; not like a certain bracelet that graced the cover of a Bead & Button issue last spring, of which many varieties cropped up on beading blogs 'round the web, if those beaders were bead-stitchers of any sort! This I feel is somewhat similar in feel to that popularized pattern, yet different in effect, especially as I've chosen to implement it; it is quite frankly stunning, if I say so myself! I hope to have it done by Christmas or New Year's; it is very appropriate in sparkle and color for those occasions as well.

On the weaving side of things, I told myself I wouldn't allow myself to begin on the inkle loom my father made me (which I need to photograph and post about!) until I had our livingroom clean, as an incentive to clean. Well, now I can weave! My first efforts will most likely grow up to be bookmarks; I'm tempted to put a binary or hexadecimal message into one of them!

As for spinning, I'd like to finish my first 4 oz. by Christmas! It's long past needing to be done; I've been so on and off with it that my learning has probably been delayed as consistently practicing is part of the learning process with spinning. I also think I need to experiment a bit more with making the divisions of the roving ropes that I pull apart, a little bit thicker or just not draft the fibers so thin, sometimes the coming apart drives me frustratedly nuts, and that's when to set it aside and walk away . . .

As far as any embroidery, which I haven't done for quite some time now (well, except for bead embroidery that I've yet to start), I've actually been intrigued recently by blackwork and goldwork; there are methods and techniques to these beyond just color, and they don't have to be just that color, although goldwork does tend to need to be at least somewhat metallic.

As well, I've been intrigued by tatting for awhile, although honestly not the stuff that used to be seen around ones' collar as a gift from ones' elders. I have my own eye and taste for what I'd like to do with it, that might be sometimes a bit unconventional. It'll be awhile before I get to this, though.

Crochet-wise I need to work on s'more blocks for the blanket I'm making, but I also want to learn how to work most of the ends in as I work as I've read among crochet blogs can be done and is a great time saver, before I proceed too far. There's also a headband or two I'd like to make, as well as crochet MIGHT play a role in a knit scarf I'm designing.

I have a few hand-stamped, hand-colored or hand-painted seasonal cards to finish for a few people, and some simpler yet nice cards for a few more people. That bead embroidery strawberry pendant is going to start with the stamping of a strawberry image on felt, as well.

As far as knitting goals and priorities, I'd say the fingerless gloves, for one; the socks, my first pair of socks that I attempted, defeated me upon the 6th or 7th row the first time 'round, and I had to frog. I tried to tink, but the mess just wouldn't allow it. I'll have to get back to that, but not right now.

For another, the lace shawl; it's been on hold for awhile only one repeat in of the 4 row pattern, as I've considered frogging and re-casting on (eeee, 540 or so stitches is a HUGE cast-on!) with a more flexible cast-on, to help the wavy edge stay and be easily wavy. I've finally decided that the only way to learn what I'd prefer is to keep going. This is a learning process; also, I tried an experiment with the stitch markers to make it easier going (I was recounting every 18 stitches far too many times; my OCD kept running with that one) and ended up with a bit of a mess with the stitch markers, but I think I've work out a way and spacing of them that will be really helpful for me, and help speed things along, once I've got the awkward mess of stitch-markering reset to the original way, first.

Anyway, that's just a little bit (lol) of an update on me.

OH, I forgot. I'd like to participate in eloomanator's Square Deal Weave-A-Long, which has been going for a while now, but I'd prefer to find the old brand of weavette type square loom thingie, that had bars one could add to make rectangular or smaller square motifs; nice and versatile and space-saving, too! It'll crop up used online somewhere or another, one of these times.

Yes, I have varied interests; variety is the spice of life!