Category Archives: Knoontime Knitting – One Writer’s Journey Into 3-D
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!
Make Something Monday – Afghan for the Uglii Chair
I love to knit. This isn’t really a surprise, for those of you who have been following me for a while. Knitting is something I do for meditation, creative expression, and because it keeps my hands busy so I can think.
But I get into jams where nothing on my needles inspires me. I feel a sense of boredom or overwhelmed-ness when I look at all my WIPs (works in progress), and wonder what I could start or just play with.
The solution is to make something large, with a fairly simple stitch pattern. My writing partner, Rachel Wilder, suggested I make an afghan for the Uglii Chair and poof. Project!
It turns out I already had yarn in my stash, too! I adore KnitPicks, and they had a great sale last year. I picked up a bunch of skeins of this great wool blend for a really great price and they’ve sat on my shelf, awaiting a project. I actually intended to do a sweater with them, but when I realized I needed yarn for the Uglii Chair and this one matched the brown, then voila!
I made a mistake on the edging, but I like how it turns out. I accidentally switch sides with the pattern, but it now looks like it was intentional. That’s the neat thing about mistakes – sometimes, they turn out to be part of the design!
What about you, Dear Reader? What are you making?
Z Is For… Zoetropes!
In researching for this post, I wandered through my Family Creative Workshop, which is a 24-volume set of craft books done around the late seventies/early eighties. I wish there was a website or community who liked these books, because they have so many neat crafts in them.
Of course, after I got my topic, I remembered “zig zag lace,” but by then I was fascinated by zoetropes and it was too late. A zoetrope is an early form of animation, a way to make moving pictures. If you’ve seen Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow, he has a lovely little zoetrope on a string that, when twirled, shows a bird in a cage and then free from it.
According to Random Motion, they were invented in 1834 but didn’t come to the States until 1867 – after the American Civil War. They were named zoetrope by the French inventor Pierre Desvignes. The thing I find fascinating about science from this time is how citizen-science it is – anyone can make a zoetrope. In present day, we’re returning to that democratization with software and open-source movements; people can now make animations and movies with relatively inexpensive equipment. It’s interesting how we’ve come nearly full-circle.