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Monday, December 26, 2011

Knitting Song... LOVE IT!!!

Well I just found this... thanks to Susan of the Knitajourney Podcast... it is too awesome.



And it is 'muppets'... yes I realize they are in the Fraggle Universe... but they are still Jim Henson Muppets.

Saturday, December 17, 2011

A White Elephant's Heart?

Well here I sit after my dad's side of the family Christmas party. 

I think I was okay... I know I had other things going on in my head but that is not for here.  It was fun.  We had a lot of creative things going on, which give me an idea for the year that my dad hosts it.  Things I can do, create and help with. 

We, however, did something new this year.  We did a White Elephant gift exchange.  Now it isn't a nice gift exchange.  This was the more horrible the better White Elephant.

I suppose I should explain a White Elephant Gift Exchange.  It is basically getting rid of something you have and gifting it to someone else.  Something you don't like or don't want.  Now some of that stuff is worth something to someone else.  You never know. 

A second hand shop is a good place to find White Elephant Gifts if you do not have something you want to get rid of.  Garage or Yard sales are another place. 

I did not totally do the right type of gift.  I did a 'Choose Your Side' box.






The note reads...
"Choose your side:
Coffee or Tea
Vampire or Werewolf
Red or Blue.
Let the battle begin!"

I had red and blue coffee cups, instant packets of coffee and tea, and marbles in the theme of Vampires and Werewolves.  I thought it was fun.

I was wrong... there was an old lamp, a wall hanging cheap plastic tiki mask, and a dead animal bag.  Though the toppers had to be the tong and the heart.  Yes someone (my father and his wife) brought a heart and a tong.  Eeeww.

Mine was a party in a box... couple of old games, a blender and two other items... which will, if this continues next year, be involved in White Elephant Revenge...





Yes that is a wig and a plaster hand... oh the ideas I have.   And there will be updates... but only covertly.  Because it will have to wait until next year for the reveal.  Mwhahahahahahaha!!!!

Sunday, December 11, 2011

Brownie Queen Strikes Again...

Well here I am again.  About to go and show off my work.  Not knitting this time 'round but something delicious and fun.

Now let me start by telling you a story about me and baking.  I can't bake cookies to save my life.  They never turn out.  Whether it is because of the ingredients I put in them or that I forget they are in the oven or do preheat the oven or let the dough sit out on the floor too long I am not completely sure.  I just can't seem to have them turn out.  Brownies, however, I am excellent at. 

It started when one night I got a craving for brownies and we did not have any brownie mix in the house.  So I pulled out my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook and looked up brownies.  I made sure I had all the ingredients and went to town making homemade from scratch brownies.  Ever since then I have been the brownie queen.

My favorite brownies to make are a Yule tradition.  My mom when I was little would make peppermint brownies and I adored them, because mint and chocolate are the bestest thing ever.

Well you can see were this is going.  I started to make peppermint brownies as a regular thing.  This week I made a couple of batches of peppermint brownies and a pan of raspberry brownies, substituting raspberry flavoring for the peppermint flavoring. 


I did cheat a little on these.  Normally I make a glaze to go on top of homemade frosting.  I didn't make the glaze and I did not make the frosting. 





I bought frosting and added the flavoring to it.  I just was not in the place to deal with it at the time.  But the girls that got to eat them did not mind. 

I brought a couple of plates into my work that night.  They loved them.  One place was for the closing staff and the second plate was for the following morning crew. 


I had fun making them and have found out that baking with butter makes and even better brownie.  I ran out of butter on the last pan and had to use margarine, they did not turn out as nice.  I can't wait to make more and make the frosting and glaze style ones. 

Once I do that I might actually put up the recipe... we will see.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Colors... to drink?

I am alive!!!!! *looks at last date of journal and cringes* Sorry... it has been awhile hasn't it. 

Well on the good side of things.  I have a very very very very very rough draft of Moosehold Part Two... now all I have to do is re-write part one.  And I have earned a fair amount of points for my competitive knitting group on ravlery. *grins*  That will be coming later though.  Right now I want to show off what I have done for dyeing.

I had fun.  I figured out Kool-aid dying.  I would love to do a little bit more permanent but I really don'thave space to do what I want to do right now.  So my next couple of dying excursions will be Kool-aid as well.  But it still will be fum and I will definitely be posting stuff on the dye experiences I will be having.

So here is my first excursion into dying...

First off preparing my dye...




I had prepped up my yarn and set everything up in the tub.


Then rolled it up and set it aside for steaming and moved on to the next color set.





And set that one up differently because I didn't like how the colors on the first one ran together.


Then I steamed... and didn't take any pictures but afterwards I soaked them to clean them






Pretty yarns...


So there is my first excursion into dying and more to come next month. 

Really I will have another showing here soon enough, and it will be something pretty and inspiring.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The love and hates of a swirl...

Now for my love hate relationship with the Swirl Starry Night Shawl, and trust me it is a love hate relation ship.






It started with finding this wonderful pattern of a swirly nature that I fell in love with.  I knew I had to make it.  It was the perfect shawl for me to make for myself.  None of the lace shawls I had looked at came even close to what I wanted to do.  They were too grandmaish, nothing I would want to wear.  But this was perfect little swirls, with enough challenge to keep me entertained.  So I got the pattern and started on my hunt for the perfect yarn to use.

I initially started with a variegated sock yarn that I spent a good hour finding in Threadbender, my local yarn shop.  But I was not happy with the results.  So I sadly set it aside, longing to find the perfect yarn so that I could knit this perfect shawl. 

This last August became inspired by Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night and decided to make the swirly shawl in it's honor.  I went to a fiber festival, on the hunt for the perfect yarn.  I found it.





So I started on the first of September with grand plans to finish it really really fast.  But there were a few hic-ups.  Casting on took time, knitting in a round and picking up stitches.





Then started my second row and I was way into October.  I need to be done with the second row and working on the third by now... but disaster struck.  I found I had dropped a stitch in one of the swirls in the first row.  I had to rip it out and some how save it.  But I managed, getting extra needles and casting on in between two swirls.  I managed to make it work.





And there I stood on the couch cushions taking a picture of my shawl and realizing I wasn't making it fit in one frame.





So I took a reference picture using my sixty inch long tape measure...





And again so that I could show how long past the end it actually was.

Then I started to knit.  I had two more rows to finish before the end of the month at least.  And in ten days I managed a few more swirls, even with a couple of cast on in the wrong spot issues.







That is my normal point with it but I am enjoying it more and more.  I also no longer need to pay as much attention to the knitting.  I have the pattern fairly memorized now.





I am also half way through the second row.  I am proud of what I am accomplishing and can not wait to show it off during the holidays.  The only thing is... what big project should I take on after this one?

Monday, October 10, 2011

Cardio-Knitting

Well been awhile hasn't it but that is some times the way it goes...

I thought I would share some experience I have had with a new thing for me. Cardio-Knitting. It is when you do your exercise and knit at the same time. I walk... I very happily walk. Not interested in much else, except maybe riding a bike and since I don't own one of those I figure I would walk. I walk about a mile and a half every other day around my block. I decided this month to add in knitting. I chose something simple enough and went at it.

I decided on wrist warmers/fingerless gloves. Simple round the needles no fancy pattern go at it type thing. I picked out a great yarn and boom went to town after casting on. 



Now what you do have to understand I am not in a high end neighborhood. I live near a Sheriff Station which is located at a jail (don't know if it is county or state) so I have a lot of cops around. I am used to it.

The first day I walked with my knitting going at it was right around the shift change. (I think.) I see a Sheriffs car drive by and I smile at them but keep moving because they don't know me, I just always smile at them when I see them. Then another one passed a minuet or so later and kinda slowed down. I smiled like I always do but again kept going, thinking yeah guys I am knitting. Then a moment or two later a third drove by and visibly slowed down as he passed me. I just at that point in time got this image of the first one driving by radioing to his buddy about this crazy woman knitting while she walked. And when the second one passed radioing say yeah I think she is but I am not sure. Then the third one coming up slowing down and say yeah guys she is knitting.

But that is not the amazing part for me. As I was Cardio-Knitting I found I wasn't noticing my legs hurting as much. So I deiced to take it along on the 5K walk I signed up for on the 8th of October. 



I loved it... I got asked about four times about my knitting and how can I do that when I walked. I simply told them it kept me distracted from my legs. I will say now however I felt the last mile and a couple of times on hills (because it is a very hilly course) that I had to stop knitting to focus on getting up the hill but that was okay.

I have some ideas for next year for fundraising... but I will see how it goes.

I also decided to make the fingerless gloves for NANOWRIMO... Should be fun... and no I did not knit all of that just from walking this last week. But I need to get them done before October 31st.



Well I guess I need to walk a little bit more.

Sunday, August 14, 2011

And my 'mud' creations....


Okay... I thought I would continue with some of my older art work pictures.

One of the things that I enjoyed and actually continue to enjoy is working with clay and sculpting clay and making pottery and even painting pottery.

So I am actually going to start with the first of the painted work.... my Day of the Dead Mugs. I really really really liked how they turned out...



Now however I get into my pottery/sculpture work. I miss it building and structuring pieces.



These are my singing lizard temples...



This was the second set that I created and the set I feel is the better set...



I started with the two small ones....



… and then went on to the larger one.



I am really proud of this set and the glaze job that I did on it.

And for the record... I made these back in 1994

And so that you think I only did sculpture structures...



I did make a pitcher. I liked the design I cut into the clay and then rubbed the glaze so that it stand out.

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Some old, some new and some inspiration

As I sit here looking over my past year I have realized just how much I have grown in my artistic ways. My horizons have expanded and I have had a desire to continue on with my best foot forward. But I shouldn't forget the past. So this week I am going to be looking back at the art that has passed out of my mind and into the world at large. And since I am working on drawing I thought I would start there.

There are actually not a lot of pieces I really really like. I also do not feel I have a lot of color work. I have a ton of line work but not a lot of color work.

Ferrets have been something I have loved and kept close to my heart for many years... (check out my other blog the Furry Slinkies... my random ferrety adventures are spoken of there.)

The first couple of pictures are old ferret drawings... when I gave them really short noses...



I have since altered my style slightly...








Not colored but still enjoyable.

Some earlier work shows how I liked to draw the fur when I inked.



Though one piece I am actually very very proud of is this one...



Chalking her way to OZ Shows my love for ferrets and my love for the wonderful world of Oz.

There is one more piece I want to show off for the day...



Hopefully you will begin to see more of him... he is definitely an inspiration to my life... after all he is my muse.