Lace and Selfishness

I had decided to make a friend's daughter a pretty lace scarf for Christmas....but it turned out to be her birthday present in February. Ah well. It still turned out beautiful.

I really do like knitting lace and think I'm ready to tackle something bigger than a lace scarf. Darn, this means more browsing on Ravelry for patterns.

This scarf was a free pattern and is super simple. After a point, I didn't need the pattern in front of me anymore.  The yarn I got from Etsy and it's a handdyed bluish/purple and looks very pretty.

The Buddha models the scarf for me.

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I did finish my shrug and wore it out to an afternoon play. I quite like it but I'm thinking I need a pretty shawl pin to keep it closed (especially in the winter - spring will be ok opened). I don't have pictures because I'm a poor model but hopefully I'll get some done up soon.

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I always enjoy looking at knitting magazines and marking what I'd like to do. With the Interweave Knits Spring 2012 issue though, I can't get over 2 patterns and 1 isn't even a pattern, just a picture of the finished project. The first is on page 19 and is a Big Cable Front Vest by Mari Lynn Patrick. Her work is AMAZING - look at the #5 Marilyn Top in the link of her name.

Isn't this great!?!

Ok, then I found a pattern that is a little intimidating but I have to do because it blew my mind. Page 26 of the magazine is Erica Patberg's Cobble Hill Pullover. It's a sweater you can wear at least 4 different ways. I already know I'm doing this. I'm already searching for the right yarn.


I'm ready for some more selfish knitting....

Where I Pretend I'm An Artist... Again

God bless Groupon.com

Without this little service I would never had thought to take art classes. Honestly, the Wine and Canvas classes were more socially oriented than actual classes but I did have fun and I came out with 2 not-great-but-definitely-mine pieces of art, both of which are hanging in my house. When a Groupon came up for a 2 hour introductory art class from a Carmel art gallery (Anthony J Padgett Gallery) my friend and I jumped on it. Only $49 for the 2 of us. It's a deal you can't pass up. I think my friend is more determined than me to be able to paint, but I still figured I'd give it a try and see what happened.

Turns out the class we got was a watercolor class. Now, I've seen my old classmate's watercolors and I was questioning whether I could do this. Once we get to the gallery, we find out it's a small class....like 4 of us. I get excited because this means actual learnin'! (The Wine and Canvas classes hold about 40+ people). The teacher was an older gentleman, very nice and very talented. And did I mention nice?

He got all our little stations set up and Susan and I took a look at what we'd be painting. *Gulp* Doubts were consuming me and I was wishing that I had drank before I got there. The painting was a pretty scene of a river and trees and his version of it was gorgeous. Soooo...

The class lasted about 2 and a half hours and he really taught me something. He would sit at our tables and show us how to improve things and fix mistakes. He joked that my painting ended up quite pink but...I love pink. So I went with it. Mine was much softer than the others too, as I drew the initial outline with a light hand. I didn't want to see the big pencil outline on my painting (as the teacher advised). It was a nice feeling when he sat with me one final time and just showed me how to add grass and then said he didn't see any more need to change things. =D  <----- that was me.

So, here is my final painting. I still need to get a mat and frame because this one is definitely a keeper. And I found out that I really enjoyed watercolors much more than I did the W&C type of painting. Let's see where this one takes me.

a monster gets more monstery

A monster I made had a terrible run in with a new beagle puppy. By the looks of it, the monster lost. The monster was returned to me to try and repair and, I'll be honest here, I wasn't sure I could do it.

The front of the monster with savage damage from the beagle. Most of Monster's brains had leaked out and were in the shopping bag his body came to me in.

The back wasn't too terrible but still.....leaking brrrrrraiiiiiiiiiinnnnns.

Luckily, I save the excess yarn from each project (if there is any) and I had saved some from the Monster. Luckily because it was a handdyed yarn I bought off of Etsy and the seller didn't have that color anymore.

I finally decided to gather as much as the loose stitches as I could without deforming the monster too much. I wanted him to have the same shape. After I did that I still had gaping holes, so I used the excess yarn and made "band-aids" and then just stitched them on. Part of me wanted to be very careful and make it look seamless but the part of me that said "Make this more Frankenstein!!! MUWAHAHAHAHA" won out.

So now, Monster looks a lot more monstery then he did to begin with and his little owner is happy to be reunited with him. Apparently, Monster looks so good that the little owner's brother wants HIS monster to look like her monster. Here's hopng the beagle doesn't get another treat.