Make Something Monday – Coloring

Knoontime Knitting
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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.

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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.

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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.)

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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).

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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???

Knoontime Knitting

Banner for Knoontime Knitting

 

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

Knoontime Knitting

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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.

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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!

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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

Knoontime Knitting

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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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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?
  4. You can use it for the 2016 Gift Planning List.  (See how I did that?)
  5. 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.)
  6. 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

Knoontime Knitting

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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!

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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!

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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!

Knoontime Knitting

ZIn 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.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What earlier forms of technology catch your attention?

Y Is For… Yarn! – Of course!

Knoontime Knitting

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I love yarn, (which is probably obvious, since I wrote about the joys of a yarn stash on my main blog today, too).  But I do love the stuff – I adore digging my hands into it, squeezing it, feeling it reflect the heat of my hands back to me.  I relax when I feel yarn – it’s a very tactile sense of calm.  Sometimes, when I’m working on a new design project and don’t yet see the pattern in my mind, I will walk around the house holding a ball or skein of the yarn.  Doing that lets me meditate with it, commune with it, and let it speak to me.

I know that probably sounds a little wooly-bully (or, let’s face it, a little nuts), but it’s true.  Designing for me is a very tactile process.  I think it has to do with the fact that I don’t translate 2D to 3D in my head, so my design process is physical and not conceptual.  By holding the yarn, I literally “get a feel for it” and am able to see what kind of textile I want to create with it.  Is it light and airy?  Do I want to make something lacy?  Is it heavy and chunky, with a strong body?  Cables might be more the ticket.  This particular yarn in the picture is a Merino wool and alpaca blend with a little bit of silk I think, if memory serves.  It doesn’t have a whole lot of bounce to it, so it’s not very springy; but it’s very soft.  The shine that it has, which isn’t all that visible in this picture due to the lighting, says “sparkle” to me – and I plan to use beads in the lace.

What about you, Dear Reader?
Do you think in words, images, sensations, or something else?

X Is For… X-Stitch!

Knoontime Knitting

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Cross-stitch is one of the easiest needle arts to learn.  It’s just making little “x’s” all over the fabric, using different colors to create a design.  This particular one is from a book called Hand-Stitched Boxes by Meg Evans.  The box is remarkably easy to make, and I’ve done several designs, but this is the pattern that’s in the book and I’m sharing it here because it has cross-stitch motifs.  I made a miscalculation on the canvas, and my design is a little modified because of it, but that’s the beauty of cross-stitch – it’s very easy to modify it and come up with things that you like better.

One hint when working cross-stitch:  decide which direction your “X’s” face.  Either have all the bottom stitches going right and the top left, or vice-versa, but keep it consistent throughout the pattern.  This is how you get the characteristic sheen that’s one of the hallmarks of good cross-stitch.  Also, keep your stitches on the back as neat as possible and don’t use knots to secure the thread.  Just sew over the tails.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What would you put in a box like this?

W Is For… Weaving!

Knoontime Knitting

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Weaving is one of the oldest textile arts in the world. The most complicated looms, like the huge one featured in the movie Wanted, are the same in principle to the simple back looms used in the mountains of Peru for centuries.  The idea is you use something to put the warp under tension.  Shown above is my simple Cricket Loom, with the warp threaded and some of the weft worked.

The thing I find interesting about weaving is that it’s more complex, at least to my brain, than knitting.  I have to make peace with winding on the warp, and with the mechanics of the loom itself.  The process of actually weaving, meaning putting the shuttle back and forth, is relatively straightforward.  But, as my weaving teacher Natalie Boyett of the Chicago Weaving School pointed out, half of weaving is winding on the warp.  Accepting that, embracing it, helps one enjoy the process of weaving even more.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What unexpected thing has your crafting taught you?

V Is For… Vinegar!

Knoontime Knitting

VI love vinegar. I use it in salad with fruit instead of dressing; I splash it on vegetables when I steam them; and I use it as part of the seasoning when cooking chicken. I particularly like flavored vinegar.

Making flavored vinegars isn’t difficult.  You cook the vinegar with the additives, either before you let it steep or after, depending on whether it’s fruit or herbs.  Then you let it steep for a few weeks in a dark, cool place and voila, flavored vinegar.

I’ve got plans for a vinegar book that talks about how to do it, but until I write it, you can find some amazing vinegars at a shop in Grand Haven, Michigan, USA called Grand Haven Vinegar and Oil.  Their dark chocolate balsamic vinegar is worth sipping on its own and their fruit vinegars will make you want to find the nearest spinach merchant.  Lovely stuff, vinegar.

What about you, Dear Reader?
What’s your favorite condiment?