Stash Sunday

Now that I’ve finished the Jewel Scarf, I’m at a loss for what to make next. I want to do a top-down sweater, but I don’t feel up to something new and complicated. I have a bunch of yarn left over from the Bryce Canyon Shawl, and I don’t like the hat I made with the leftovers. I decided to take another shot and make another hat.

Top-down hats are easier than they seem. The nice thing about making them is that you can try it on halfway through and make sure it works how you want it to:

Cast on 8 stitches; join to work in the round.
Increase in each stitch; 16 total.
Work 1 round even.
Increase 8 stitches in next round.
Work 1 round even.
Repeat last two rows until it’s round enough to cover the crown of your head.
Work straight for as long as you want it, down to the ears or longer, if you want a foldable brim.
Then bind off and you’re done.

I like Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewing needle bind off best, because it’s a nice edge, and isn’t tight or rigid.

Leave a long end of yarn and thread it in a blunt sewing needle.
Insert the needle into the next 2 stitches as if to purl and pull through, leaving the stitches on your knitting needle.
Insert the needle into the first stitch as if to knit and pull the stitch off the knitting needle.
Repeat these steps across the end of the row.

What about you, Dear Reader? What’s in your stash?

Saturday Stashbusting

It’s 2016. A new year, right? I saw something on Facebook the other day that made me laugh. It was a meme about new years, where we focus on what we didn’t accomplish in 2015, and wanted to do in 2014, etc. I do want to work on my stash busting, but I know better than to say “I will bust all my stash this year.” I did that once.

Once.

So this year, I’ll focus on playing. The shot, above, is of my jewel scarf that I’m making for Rachel. I’d say it’s about 60% done. Boria is sound asleep next to my spot on the couch, with the Ohio State afghan my mother crocheted.

My craft shelves. I installed them this year and like them a lot better than what I was using. This has a whole bunch of projects to play with. My biggest challenge is to work on making sweaters.

This holds a number of overflow supplies, including my ivory yarn that I want to use as my first top-down sweater practice yarn. I tried one with some colored yarn, (purple heather and pale pink), but it was too challenging to work with the color design and the new technique at the same time.

This is my list of stash containers that live under my bed. I had an idea, at one point, to go through the list and make stuff one by one. That’s where things imploded, because I got too overwhelmed by the project. Instead, this year, I’m just going to focus on one thing at a time.

This is my mess. I’m working on reorganizing my filing system. This is actually more organized than it looks, because the piles are specific things, but they still don’t belong on the table. I need to get them into the filing cabinets.

How come I can’t use a magic wand like Hermione?

A little more close-up of the scarf, where you can see the pattern of the yarn as it interacts with the lace stitches. I can’t wait to finish it and see how it blocks out.

This is my latch hook rug frame, with the start of the peacock/firebird rug on it. This is what I got away from this year, because I kept getting intimidated by how much I had left. This year, I want to try applying what I learned in NaNoWriMo – meaning, do thirty minutes at a shot, make small daily goals rather than big giant ones.

We’ll see.

And this is the cabinet I bought to organize our sewing supplies. Obviously, I haven’t PUT the stuff in the cabinet yet, but hey. Once step at a time.

That’s my motto for this year: one step at a time.

What about you, Dear Reader? What projects are on your list?

Friday Funnies – Happy New Year!

Thoughtful Thursday – 3D and Writing

Coyote poses in front of my mobile craft dalek, three drawers and a surface for dreams.

It’s strange. As I look back on 2015, I wrote less fiction than I usually do, despite putting out several books and writing a short story for a podcast. I’ve also knit a lot less than I’m used to, though I’ve finished more than I think I have when I take time to talley.

The nature of 3-D creation, things like making soap, knitting, and sewing, to name a few, is that they all operate in the real world, the three-dimensional space in which we physically live. To an anorexic, this physical space thing is puzzling. By and large, we live in our minds, and coming down out of the mind into realspace can be scary and unfamiliar.

Oddly enough, my three-dimensional experimentation this last month and a half has been at the gym, rather than my crafts. In going to the gym everyday except holidays, I’ve learned a number of things. I already knew that “showing up on the page” is the way to accumulate words, it never occurred to me to apply it to the gym and getting fit. Now that I’ve made the connection, it seems obvious – I mean, if “showing up at the barre” works for dancers, or “showing up at easel” for painters, why wouldn’t it work for fitness? I’ve been working to apply the same regularity that I have with morning pages to my gym-going. It’s been working, if a lot less spectacularly than I thought it would have to be.

I suppose that’s the lesson, in many ways: reality is a lot less spectacular than the echo chambers of social media and drama would have us believe. The echo chamber wants us to be up in arms, heartbeats pounding, as we worry about the next crisis in some other place over which we have no control and no actual connection. We need to remember that we are physical bodies, not just mental, and that as such we have our own realities. The echo chamber is not reality. On a good day, it’s a reflection of reality; most of the time, it’s simply a tool of drama llamas.

So, while my thoughtful Thursday is less about crafts and writing, it’s still about three-dimensional space and writing. They relate to each other more profoundly than we realize.

What about you, Dear Reader? How do you experience your three-dimensional space today?

Work In Progress Wednesday

I’ve been coloring a lot this week. I find it relaxing. These are more from the Dover Stained Glass Coloring Books that I talked about earlier in the week. I love the one on the right page, top left, with the two men. Who knew the Celts were into m/m romance? ~grin~

What are you working on, Dear Reader?

Tuesday Tips – How To Avoid Smudges When Coloring

As much as I like the color of water color pens, they are still wet when you’re using them. They don’t dry quickly and this can lead to smudges – from ink that gets on your hands while you’re coloring, or from ink that gets on whatever surface you’re coloring on.

Here’s what I’ve learned works for me: I use a clean sheet of paper when I’m coloring. If I leave the pattern in the coloring book, then I use two sheets, one on each side of the design. If I remove the pattern piece from the book, then I use one sheet under my coloring, then I rest my hand on the other one so that I don’t accidentally transfer color with the heel of my hand.

The only thing you want to be careful of, is if you have a particularly wet pen, you don’t want it to transfer from your blotter sheet to the design.

What about you, Dear Reader? What tips for coloring do you like to use?

Make Something Monday – Coloring

Image drawn by John Green, from Dover Publications Little Seashore Stained Glass Coloring Book; colored by A. Catherine Noon.

Okay, ever since I started knitting, I’ve discovered that I’m hip. Not because I’m, like, hip, or something; but because, apparently, what I’m into is the new black. My theory is, it’s all us X-Geners putting our collective spending power together and making stuff popular because we want to buy it. Take coloring books, for instance. I’ve adored coloring books for years. My two favorites are the Dover line of Stained Glass Coloring Books and mandala coloring books. The latter were hard to find up until this holiday season when, apparently, booksellers started listening to me and my X-Gener pals and poof – lots of options.

Just in time for me to be on a budget, of course. 🙂

But I figured I’d share some of what I’ve been up to, particularly because it dovetails nicely with the whole yoga-meditate-getinthemoment-beinthebody vibe that I’ve got going lately.

This one is held up against my monitor so you can see it by the glow of the light. That’s why I like these, because they are translucent. One project I’d like to do at some point is make a Japanese-style paper lantern using these colored designs.

Here’s the back of the book so you can read a little more about it. (If you click on the image, it will jump you to the Amazon page if you’re interested in shopping.)

I figured a discussion of pens is warranted, especially since there’s such an interest in adult coloring books now. I’m a pen snob. This will not surprise any of you who have been reading me a while, but I say it because I’m extraordinarily picky about what pens I like to use. Pentel pens are, by far, my favorite for luminosity and lasting power of the pens themselves. I know there are more expensive and higher quality pens (I made the mistake of telling a graphic artist friend of my love affair with Pentel and got an ear-full). But here’s why I like these: I’ve owned this specific set for OVER 20 years. No, that’s not a typo. The red’s a little dry now, and so is one of the greys, but by and large it’s still working for what I need it to do – color coloring books so I can relax. I don’t use them for serious Art with a capital A. (Well, that’s not true – I have used them for that; my point is, I’m not saying these are the best pens out there, just that they’re my favorite).

Here’s the inside of the set; I like this wallet type. I saw online that there’s a version in a rectangular case, but this one allows me to put them in the order I want them in and they stay organized. They do sell smaller sets, if you don’t want to fork over the money for all 36; I used a smaller set for years too. They really seem to last. I’ve put a hyperlink to Amazon in the image so if you click on it, it’ll jump you to the shopping page.

Tell me, Dear Reader, what are your favorite coloring books and tools? Pens? Pencils? I’d love to know.

(I think I’ve fixed the comment problems, but holler if not; email is a.catherine.noon AT gmail.)

Too Many???

People have said to me, upon occasion, “Gee, you do too much!” Aside from annoying me (I personally hate that comment), it makes me think. How much is too much? If you enjoy crafting, then when do you say when? After all, it’s not as though there’s an addiction, at least not in a usual situation (addictive behaviors aside); the joy of creating is just that: joyful.

My answer continues to be, there is no such thing as too much. Crafts fulfill a deep-seated need for me to create. I make no apology for that fact. I enjoy multiple expressions of that creativity, and don’t care if it appears scattershot to others – they’re not paying my bills, or worrying about my time. I am, and that’s what matters.

However, it’s worthwhile, I think, to discuss the underpinnings of how to go about “doing so much.” Here, then, are my thoughts:

First, I made a rule for myself when I learned to knit: I don’t care if I finish any project, ever. I am not knitting to complete things. I enjoy the process, and I love fiber. I really mean that. My hands tingle when I see a new yarn shop, a yarn shop I know, or even the craft section at a big-box store. When I found out Dollar Tree carried remaindered Lion Brand? HEAVEN. The process of knitting and of handling the fibers makes me happy and spurs my creativity. More importantly, it relaxes me.

Second, despite what seems to be popular opinion from the “you do too much” crowd, I don’t do every craft I am interested in every day. I rotate things. I make candles every February. I decorate eggs every March. I made soap once or twice a year. To do these things, I enlist others to help me. When I have a group showing up at 10:00 on a Saturday expecting me to have melted the wax, it spurs me to set up the candles and melt the wax.

Third, I do what catches my fancy at any given moment. I’ve learned basic design and I play with things. If I get stuck in a particular project, I fiddle with something else. I have many different types of yarns in my stash and rotate what I play with.

Fourth, I keep good records. I know what’s in my stash, where it’s stored, and what I bought it to make. I keep organized using bins and boxes, and I keep my lists updated.

Fifth, I share the love. Blogging about my crafts keeps me organized and motivated to finish things so I can blog about them. Again, this is using the many in support of the one.

My crafts aren’t about focus, they are a means to an end. They are about play and exploration, creativity and fun. They are not about a stepwise creative process, they are a celebration of the fact that I am a right-brained thinker. This is something that our society doesn’t really understand, sadly. In fact, a friend of mine who is very left-brained told me with certainty, “You’re a left-brained thinker.” I stared at her and she said, “You do all these things in a highly organized way.” It’s very interesting to me that to her, “right-brained” meant disorganized. That’s quite far from the truth. Some right-brained people are disorganized, but so are some left-brained people. That’s not the point. What is the point is understanding how our own thought processes work and to work with them.

And if that means playing with lots of different little crafts at different times, then I say, go for it! It’s oodles better than wasting time watching television or drinking or spending lots of money. It’s a relatively inexpensive habit, I can do it while I’m talking to others, and it builds community. These are all excellent points in favor of crafts – any kinds of crafts – and the more the merrier.

So the next time you’re tempted to think, wow, too much; define for yourself the answer to the question: “Just what is too much?” You might be surprised by the answer.

Stash Sunday – Becoming

It’s coming together. Slowly.

2015 has been a difficult year as regards output. Most of the work has been internal; journaling and the like. When Rachel was in town in October, we bought this yarn and I started farting around with some lace patterns, and realized I needed to drawn it out in a chart because the swatch was decidedly not cooperating. As in, sticking out its tongue at me and going “Nya-nya-nya.”

I finally finished the first of the two skeins yesterday. If this were a scarf for myself, it would be way too short – one, I’m five-eight; two, I like loooong scarves.

But it’s not for me; it’s for Rachel.

She’s a similar height to Leticia (my dressmaker’s form). This length comes right about to her hips, which is actually where Rachel prefers her scarves because she is using them more for an accessory, given that she lives in the desert; whereas I, living in Chicago, am looking for warmth and the ability to wrap it around my head and my neck several times. So yay, it fits!

Here’s a view around back, and there’s plenty of room for the second skein to make it a full length scarf for her. I’d like it if it could be longer, but the third skein is a different color (and only one skein of that color, so it’s probably going to be made into an Amazeball or a truffle; I haven’t decided yet.)

An Amazeball: I came up with this a couple days ago when my bud and I were sharing hard-won kudos with working out. I thought, we need some kind of trophy or something that we can mail around in our group of friends, and whoever gets it gets to take a picture of themselves with it, and gets to decide to wins it next. But we need something, and I figured a ball of yarn (not a ball of unmade yarn, but a knitted ball) would be a cool trophy. A truffle, if you recall, is a creature from our Persis Chronicles that’s a cross between an aardvark and a cocker spaniel. I think I’ll modify an elephant pattern and make a small one; only problem is, I think I need more yarn than I have for this project, which is why the Amazeball.

Glad you asked?

What about you, Dear Reader? How long do you like your scarves?

Tuesday Tips: Keeping Notes

I just realized something as I was looking at my design notes for the lace wrap I’m making. My notes go back to about 2010. That’s like five years, sports fans! Cool! So, I figured I’d share some reasons why I think Keeping Notes is the Thing To Do:

Keep track of your current project. This way, if you have to set it aside and you forget about it for a month or ~cof~ year, you’ll remember what you were doing.
Keep notes of stuff you are planning that you might make someday. In other words, it doesn’t have to be the Notebook of Things I Will Make. It becomes a NOTEbook. Of notes.
I found a list of gifts I wanted to make from 2011. I haven’t made everything on there, and the ideas are good ones, so why not crib from that for the 2016 gift planning list?
You can use it for the 2016 Gift Planning List. (See how I did that?)
Pro-tip: if you get yourself a pad with grids on it, then you can use it for regular notes, in words, but also for design concepts if you’re learning how to use charts (which I am). In fact, that picture up there ^^^ is my vereh first real chart. (My vereh first unreal chart is actually page one of the notebook, but I couldn’t figure out charting, so there you go.)
Number six in my list of five things: the point of number 5 is that this is a work in progress. Keeping notes, and reminding yourself that they’re notes and notes by their nature are informal, reminds us that we are learning, always developing, and that it’s not important to get it right the first time. It’s just important to show up with yarn, needles, a pad of paper and a writing implement.

Happy making!

Knoontime Knitting

One Writer's Journey Into 3D | Bestselling Author A Catherine Noon

Category Archives: Knoontime Knitting – One Writer’s Journey Into 3-D