Sketches and Skulls

Photo of Skulls

 I always thought I was bad at realistic drawings... Until I took a drawing class. We've been drawing skulls from different viewpoints and mediums for the last few weeks and here are some of my best works.

Black and White Charcoal Drawing

Gesture Sketch with Charcoal

Pen and Ink Drawing

One-Page Comic (Framed!)

I've been doodling a lot more than usual lately, I blame it on my drawing and design classes that a) force me to, and b) give me the confidence to. I've been talking about making comics for a few years now, I even keep a notebook of comic strip ideas. However, I never actually drew them. I have this notebook filled with characters and plots and events and no doodles to back them up! That's all about to change. In the last two weeks I have been in comic heaven, I started by drawing homemade postcards of funny memories with friends and sent them off to the Northwest where they were well received. Next, I created this short, one-page comic for my friend Meri. Then I framed it. Boom! Instant, one-of-a-kind, sentimental gift that's so cheap, you don't even need a reason to give. Check out Meri's amazing blog here.

Wrap Cardigan

 My friend Jeannie had this beautiful wrap cardigan--it was exactly the type of sweater I'd been wanting to make for myself, and had yet to find a pattern for it.  I was desperate--you know how you know there is something you want to make, but just can't find someone who's designed it?  That's how it was.

So I borrowed it from her and laid it out.  I measured it, and decided what sort of alterations I'd like to make.  I bought some yarn, about 10 skeins of Cascade Yarns 220.  I measured out my guage on size US 8 needles, and then I did some algebra to figure out how often to decrease and increase.  Then I started.

It's basically one back panel, two large triangular side panels, and two sleeves.  It was monotonous.  I think for each side panel I cast on 90 sts.  It hits me mid-thigh, and that took a lot of knitting, a lot of time, a lot of note-taking, and a LOT of tally marks.  But my figures didn't let me down, and I am thrilled with the results.  You can bet I won't be throwing this one in the washing machine any time soon.

I love this sweater.  I wear it all the time.  It's the first thing I pull on when I wake up in the morning, or when I get home from work.  I wear it out over leggings or jeans.  Super warmy.  Who needs to pay a heating bill now?

I knitted a belt for it, and I also sewed some buttons on the side--I'm still deciding on my favorite closure.  I love the way it drapes around; it's very snuggly.

Thanks to my sis Jess who came over today to take some pictures of the sweater for the blog.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Winter Hat with Welted Brim

 Having lost all his hats, and feeling the cold of winter come on, my sweetie asked me to make him one.  On of my many favorite yarn stores, The Textile Arts Company, was having a sale a few weeks ago so I headed over.  Among other things, I found this lovely variegated 100% wool:  Wisdom Yarns Poems in Olive Grove.  I bought two skeins and got to work.

On US 9 needles, I cast on 60 sts holding the yarn double, and knit one round, followed by one round of purl.  I continued this, knitting alternate rounds of knit and purl, for about 12 rounds, then went to stockinette.

When it was long enough, I started decreasing every other round, starting by knitting two together every 14th & 15th sts (six decreases per round).  And then it was done!  The wool is very soft, not itchy, and the color variation turned out really pretty.  Hopefully this one won't get lost until winter is over...!

Got Sole?

 We had a visitor from California recently for whom I had previously made a pair of felted clog slippers.   Our floors are cold up here in the Pacific Northwest in October and we wanted her feet to stay toasty, so we reminded her to bring her slippers along for her visit.  Unfortunately, when she got here, she found that her slippers were a slippery combination with our oak floors, and didn't want to wear them.  When faced with a situation like this, I know to turn to my sailmaker's bag.

Out came the cutting mat, the awl, the hammer.  Out came the waxed thread, the curved needle.  Out came the scrap leather, the heavy duty Gingher shears, the sailmaker's palm.

I traced the bottom of her slippers onto the leather, then cut about 1/4" inside the line to accomodate the "bumper" on the edge of the slipper.  I marked another line on the leather just inside of the edge.  Along this line I punched holes with my awl and hammer, spaced about 1/4" apart.  Then with my palm on my hand, I sewed the soles on.  It took a little work to get my hand inside the slippers, and coordinate the curved needle.  But they turned out perfectly, and she was thrilled with the result.
Now she not only has non-skid slippers, but they will last so much longer with the leather in place.  I wish I had thought of doing this sooner to my own pair, whose soles are so far gone that I'm in the process of making a replacement (more on that later).

Sure is a nice time of year to have thick wool slippers on hand (or foot...)!

Grown-Up Crayon Melting

I can't take full credit for this project so I'll start off by explaining my inspiration. Yesterday I was at my favorite kid's art studio when a new piece caught my eye. Betsy, owner and teacher of Arts Aloft explained to me how she made the striking image with a box of crayons and a heat gun. As some of you may know, I'm a sucker for cheap art supplies almost as much as I'm a sucker for color. In terms of the background color and crayons I chose, I was influenced by the Gauguin exhibit I recently saw. I love visiting art galleries and seeing big and unknown names alike. I didn't really know what I was going to when I secured my ticket to Gauguin with my student membership. I can honestly say I have never been more moved by an art exhibit before. The colors were breathtaking and the story of his love for Polynesia is in line with my love for the Dominican Republic. If you've ever felt more at home in a foreign place (specifically poor, complex, and in stark contrast to your home country), you should research Gauguin's story. I ended up having an hour long heart-to-heart conversation with a security guard afterwards, I was so emotionally drained from the exhibit. Enough about all that, really what I'm trying to say is that his work inspired my color choices.

Betsy's Work of ART

Gauguin's Tahitian Woman

I first misted the top half with water, then brushed on a minty aqua acrylic. I went over the paint with my fingers because I didn't want any brush strokes. I then misted over it again to give it white splotches and to fade and feather the line where the paint meets the blank canvas. Then I let it dry.

After picking out my crayons, measuring the total width, and marking it on my canvas with pencil, I began gluing the crayons down with a hot glue gun.

Lastly, I warmed up my heat gun (which I usually use for heat embossing but I must admit, melting hot wax is way more fun) and heated the ends of the crayons. Because it's wax, the melting crayons drip slowly enough to have a bit of control over the outcome.

Flag Banner Notecard

 After a little hiatus to do some major traveling to exotic and tropical locations (Mexico, Hawaii, and -most notably- the Dominican Republic), I'm back! Back in craft. I've been focusing my artistic efforts into other projects lately but I always come back to paper, my one true love.

This card is incredibly quick to whip up and also utilizes scraps of beloved paper not big enough for most other practical uses. Here I used paper I designed myself - a yellow on white marbled by hand, and a red stamped safety pin pattern. I "strung" the triangles on a piece of cotton striped string with a tape runner, attached them to a recycled craft A-2 card, stamped with Distress Ink (by Tim Holtz), and used chunky pink staples as embellishment with my Fastenator (by EK Success). It took about 20 minutes to create 4 matching cards. Why even consider buying a card at the store?

Pockets!!

I've been working night shift for a few months, and my wardrobe at work consists of hospital-issue ciel blue scrubs (shirt with one chest pocket, pants with one back pocket) and a navy blue jacket (two front pockets).  Last month I switched to days and evenings, which is a bit of a busier routine.  Pair that with the lack of so-tired-should-be-asleep-this-time-of-night chill that accompanies night shift and I'm way too hot at work for the jacket.  Well, that decreases my pocket capacity by about half.  Where the heck am I supposed to put all this essential stuff?!

As I was mindlessly sewing another project I'm working on (I have to sew 124 cones together out of sail cloth--don't ask--it's amazingly tedious) my brain had the chance to wander, and it really took off.  Finally I had to stop mid cone and go eyeball exactly what I had in my sewing box to see if my thought might come to fruition.  What did I find?  A scrap of navy blue Sunbrella.  About a third of a gorgeous cream-colored hide of lambskin.  A roll of 1 1/2" webbing.  Velcro.  Hmmm...

So I laid out a pile of pens and some other junk, trying to replicate what I pack around all day at work, to come up with the size I needed.  I cut out one large rectangle of fabric, and hemmed two ends.  This would be the inner pocket.  I cut out another rectangle of fabric of the same width, a fair bit shorter, and hemmed those ends.  This would be the outer pocket.  I put them together and sewed a few seams in them to hold my pens and scissors.  

Then the fun part.  I cut a heart shape out of the lambskin and used seam stick tape to tape it onto the outer pocket.  I tested the width of my zigzag stitch on a scrap first to make sure I could make this happen, then oh-so-carefully and meticulously sewed the heart onto the canvas.  Adorable!  

Sewed the velcro onto the webbing and the webbing on to the canvas, and finished the edges up with strips of leather.  Voila!  All my stuff, neatly packed away in a pocket around my waist.  All my essentials are at hand, and I'm no longer over heating for the mere sake of the stuff I have to carry.  Cute, huh?

I already have an order to make another one for one of my fellow nurses :)

Heart applique.

Oh how I love seamstick.

My hearky machine.

Boyfriend Gloves

Well, the Christmas and birthday rush was over and Valentine's Day was looming.  My sweetheart hasn't received any hand-knitted projects from me in a while, so his turn had come.  I bought this yarn for its natural, undyed, undulating color variegation and its supreme softness.  It is the same Cascade Yarns Eco Duo that I used to make the Cabled Earwarmer Headband.

 I wrote this pattern up copying down my scribbled notes.  If you find any typos or mistakes, I will not be surprised, and would be ever so grateful to hear about them.  Please don't hesitate to comment or email.

Needless to say, he loved the gloves, and I love them possibly even more than he does.  Another pair, this time for myself, is now on my ever lengthening project list.

Happy knitting, happy warming.

Pantone Color Border

I bought a set of 100 postcards at Blick Art Supplies a few weeks ago. The postcards feature Pantone's iconic color chip design in 100 different colors (and 100 different names). They were so cool and for $20 I had to have them. Instead of sending them in the mail, I taped them up onto my wall to create a colorful border for my incredibly high walls (I'm lucky enough to live in an old building with high ceilings). I measured the length of my wall beforehand so I knew how many I could fit in an even border. It turned out I only needed 78, so I didn't include the browns, grays, and blacks. $20 for an awesome Pantone color border? Anyone can do that.

Cabled Earwarmer Headband

So, the Cascade Yarns website has a TON of free patterns. That's where I found this one: Up to My Ears in Cables. I used Cascade Yarns Eco Duo (70% undyed baby Alpaca and 30% undyed merino). It's as soft as anything and lovely to work with. A really soft, subtle natural stripe emerged as I was knitting, which accents the pretty cable really well. Joined it with the three needle cast-off for a really pretty, nearly undetectable seam.

Happy warming, happy knitting!

Knitpicks Victorian Lace Scarf

So I'll start this post off with a story of being in the right place at the right time. The moral of which is that accidental felting isn't always as disastrous as it may initially seem.

I found a pattern for a belted cardigan/jacket that I really loved. I perused my yarn store all afternoon looking for the perfect yarn for it (but, which wouldn't break the bank, with my 10-skein requirement). I started the sweater in November and just finished it about a week ago. I had a solid three months of on and off work into it. When it finished it was just *this much* too big, so I thought I'd casually just throw it in the washing maching and felt it down a little. Well, after the 5 minute check, some hollering and cursing ensued as I realized that my huge investment in yarn and time had just been felted out of my size range. (There's a lesson for you). I was so disappointed, but stubbornly determined to make the best of it. Who doesn't love a too-small sweater, anyway? It was hanging on the back of a chair when a friend of a neighbor stopped by. She was drawn to the sweater, fascinated that I had made it myself, and sufficiently sympathetic to my glum report of its shrinkage. She asked to try it on, and loved it. It fit her like it had been tailored just for her, and she was completely enamored. She offered to buy it, and when I doubtfully told her how much I'd spent on the yarn (it is NOT a cheap endeavor to make your own clothes), she promptly offered me double my cost. Well, turns out my mistake with one sweater provides me enough yarn for two sweaters. How lucky was that?

I've always made really warm, cozy scarves, and they're great from November to January. But now it's February and the days are getting warmer. (Seriously!) I've been wanting to make an autumn/spring scarf for a while--something not to stiflingly hot on less than frozen days. And of course, you now know that I have a thing for infinity scarves.

I'm still going through this lovely home-spun wool that my friend gave me and I've been saving this one ball for a special project. It's super soft and I love the color (nearly everything I own is blue) and the gentle variation. I found this Victorian Lace Pattern on Knitpicks.com and fell in love, deciding to just join the ends with a three-needle cast-off, leaving me with not a traditional scarf, but more like a cowl (it goes around my neck just once).

If you look closely at the middle photo, you can see where I knit one row out of order...! Normally I'd have torn that row out and fix it, but I didn't happen to notice it until I saw the photos on the computer. Well, who can blame me? I was watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows while I was knitting this up and was understandably distracted.

I love how this turned out, feminine and delicate, and perfect for that in-between warm/cold weather.

And now my knitting fund is replenished, so I better head downtown and buy some more yarn.

Lacework Headband

I used up some left over yarn from another project to whip up this headband/ear warmer. I am terrible at making knit patterns and since you may want yours wider, smaller or bigger - I'll just give you the general stitch pattern so knitters can customize! I used size 8 needles, casting on 13 stitches, and Lion brand Wool-Ease yarn for this gauge. After casting on, Row 1 is K1 *yarn forward, K2 together; repeat from * to end. Rows 2, 3, and 4 are K to end. These 4 rows are repeated until desired length, cast off, and then ends are sewn/weaved together. I am excited about this machine washable yarn because I wear the headband running in the cold February weather! It keeps all my hair out of my face and my ears toasty.

Quick Children's Scarf

My niece turned 7 last weekend and I made her a scarf that knit up quickly and was very inexpensive. I usually prefer using expensive and luxurious yarns - but for this little girl who likes to run around and play hard I went with a machine washable acrylic (yet, so soft!) yarn. I worked in a 2x rib stitch (K2, P2, etc.) and it knit up very quickly, it was done in just a few hours.

Pedicure Toe-Up Socks

I've been intimidated by the idea of sock knitting for a long time. And why? I figure if I can make gloves, I can probably manage a wussy pair of socks. But still--the toothpick sized needles, the skinny, skinny yarn...

Anyway, the time came to knit birthday presents for the girls. Jess already knits scarves, I've already made her two hats, and she has a pair of my fingerless gloves. It was time to branch out.

Every time we go to Jess's apartment in the city, we end up on the floor, socks off, surrounded by her myriad bottles of nail polish, and get creative with our fingers and toes. Jessica is a connoisseur of nail color. And since she has an old drafty apartment and lives in a chilly, breezy city, it was a natural conclusion: pedicure socks. Alas, it was time to face my sock knitting fears. So I did a cop out.

I have some more hand-spun yarn of questionable quantity, so I definitely wanted to make them from the toes up. That way, the length would be determined by the amount of yarn, and I wouldn't run out before I finished the foot. Also, I knit these simultaneously on two sets of #3 double points.

Since I made them in a stripe pattern, and the heel is comprised of only one color, I had to carry the other strand up the center of the heel as I was knitting it. So I ended up crossing a purl stitch in front of the unused color every other row.

Due to the sport weight, rather than sock weight yarn, I used #3 instead of the usual #2 sock size needle. However, I probably could have gone with #4, too. Check your gauge. I based my pattern off of this generic toe up method, courtesy of Wendy Johnson.

I was relieved that the project was successful, and I'm now inspired to make a real pair of socks, toes included.

I went ahead and wrote up a pattern. Download it here. Feel free to comment with any questions. Happy knitting! Happy toenail painting. Happy warming.