Brain Dead

That about describes how I am feeling.  I'm sure getting two hours of sleep Thursday night has something to do with it, but I have been feeling singularly uninspired for awhile.  I did some work on my IT! piece today, but I still don't have a definite idea of where I'm going with it.  Right now I'm praying for a miracle in that department.

The one fiber thing that has been going well is knitting- something that is ideally suited to those brain dead times.  I am so happy with how my sock is coming along! I am past the heel, and now just knitting up the leg- I'll just keep at it til I run out of yarn, since I only bought two skeins.  These will go great with jeans this winter!

I just can't believe how easy this has been on the two circular needles.  I purposely  bought two different kinds, and that has turned out to be a good decision.  So now I'll just keep knitting up the leg with a 2 X 2 ribbing till the yarn runs out.  Look what you started, Judy!  My family is already thinking they will be getting socks for Christmas.  And I know my next pair will be wilder, both the yarn and the stitch patterning.  Size two needles turns out to be not so bad when you're only knitting on sixty stitches.

Well, hopefully I'll have something quilty to post later this week.  Right now I think I need some more catch-up sleep!

Socks

I've knitted since a neighbor taught me when I was a teenager.  I may go years without making anything now, but every once in awhile I get the urge to feel the needles in my hands.  One thing I have never done, however, is socks.  I hate knitting on double pointed needles, and as far as I knew, that was the only way.

A couple of weeks ago, I learded that assumption was wrong.  My cyber-friend Judy turned me onto several webpages that show how to knit seamless socks on two circular needles.  Now that I can manage!

I got the yarn, and got some needles- sizes 2 and 3.  I guarantee I have never knit anything on needles that small!!  Then I started trying the special cast-on with two needles.  It didn't sound that hard, and had some similarities to another invisible cast-on I've done.  I tried, and tried.  No luck.  I found a youtube video showing both the knitting and the cast-on.  The first was a great help, answered one question I had that the webpages didn't.  The cast-on video, not so much.  So I went back  to the pages Judy sent me.  Once I thought I had it, and started knitting.  I dropped stitches all over the place, it drove me nuts.  And where was my nice purl ridge between the needles?

I read the instructions again, and tried one more time.  Success!!  The stitches stayed put on the needles, and I had a lovely purl ridge.  Yahoo!  So I started knitting and increasing.  I even had a lovely toe that was starting to cover my toes.  I thought I was on  my way.

Then I looked closer at the piece on my needles.  It was starting to look like a Chinese pagoda roof.  Obviously I was increasing more than four stitches every other round.  

So I ripped it all out, and  cast on again- this time I got it right the first time.  I know I will have to count stitches every round, to make sure I'm not messing up again.  And, I've made my life easier by relaxing the cables on my needles.  I had no idea that running them a few times through boiling water would make such a difference!

Other than that, my fiber life has been a bust.  I rusted some scarves, and am not thrilled with how they turned out.  I keep thinking about my IT! piece, and trying to figure what I'll do.  I think I know, but I can't say I'm excited about it.  Even doing some research on the photo didn't help me.  It all feels so BLAH!!

I've been here before, and know it will pass eventually.  In the meantime, I'm glad I have something else to occupy my hands- and hopefully cover my feet!!

Slowly. . .

I'm getting back to 'normal' after ten days away from work and my other routines.  Today I've been playing some in the studio.  I got the edges zigzagged around this little piece I finished while I was in Florida--

I knew I'd need something to work on while I was there, so I threw together this little piece figuring I'd do the handwork.  Call it a sample or test piece for my 12 by 12 group for 'Prairie'- it's loosely based on a photo of prairie grasses.  The 12 by 12 piece will be similar, with different fabrics.  And it won't be hand embroidered!  I'll use this one in a demo for my Surface Design group meeting in November on how to mount and mat small fiber pieces.

A new product came up on a couple of my fiber lists- Decolourant Plus.  I saw an ad for it from Quilting Arts online, I think, and it piqued my curiosity.  When list members were offered a free sample to try, I jumped on it.  First I tried it on two notoriously difficult colors to discharge- turquoise and fuschia.  Here's the results-

This was an already-quilted sample.  I applied the Decolourant with a foam roller using a light touch, I didn't want it in the 'valleys' created by the quilting.  The bottom part is with just the Decolourant, the top part is with the Decolourant Plus, which adds a color in addition to discharging the fabric.  I got a Deep Purple color.  I rather like how that looks, I'm not too crazy about the discharge with just the Decolourant on turquoise.  Here's a closer up look at that--

Then I tried both of them on a scrap of fuschia fabric, using a thermofax screen and a stamp.  I like the effect on the fuschia better--

You can definitely see the discharge effect on the flip side of the purple.  I for one like being able to deposit a specific color if I want, I think I will be trying this some more.

A couple of people have done this just with sunlight.  We don't have any of that right now, it has been cloudy and rainy all week.  So I now have two different black fabrics with Decolourant on them, sitting under a heat lamp.  If nothing else, it will dry it quicker- and maybe I'll luck out and it will discharge too.

On a not-fabric related note- I think I mentioned recently that I've finally joined the bandwagon and bought myself an iPod.  It's turning out that I don't listen to music much on it, but I do lots of other things!  I found a free app called 'Lose it' that a number of reviews said was very helpful for losing weight.  It's nothing but a food diary and database of calorie and nutrient counts, but it's amazing the difference it can make when you track that.  One week into it, and I've lost a pound and a half.  I'm taking this slow and easy, and not making huge changes to the way I eat anyway.  I guess I'm lucky in that I don't much like junk or fast foods, and I love fresh fruits and veggies.  We'll see, but I'm hopeful I can keep this up and be at my goal weight next March.

And now I'm off to try something I've sworn for years I'd never do- knit socks!  Judy convinced me that it is fun, it can be done without double pointed needles (which I hate)- so I got some yarn and size 3 circular needles.  First step is to figure out the toe-up cast-on- you'll know my progress (or lack thereof) later this weekend!

No Visuals Today--

although I have been working on stuff. I've got a lot of beads on Tsunami, maybe 75% of what I want to do. No color, just clear beads in a couple of sizes to play with the light when the quilt is hung. I am liking the effect.

And, the sweater is almost done- I'll be sewing on the buttons tonight, and that's it. A good learning sweater- next time I will snug it in at the sides in addition to the four darts I did in the front and back. I already have the yarn for the next project.

It was an eventful week in many ways. I did come home for a couple of hours to watch Obama's swearing in and speech. I have been pleased with the vast majority of steps he's taken in his first week, and can't believe the difference in my attitude. No more snarls and swearing when the president is on TV or even mentioned. I will be praying for his safety, well-being, and wisdom, as well as the safety of his family. We so much need for him to succeed!!!

My surface design group met last Wednesday, and I took a bunch of stuff (including the dryer sheets) for our exchange table. I was very happy to see almost all of it taken. I came home with a smallish piece of hand dyed silk noil, and a half finished piece that the owner decided she didn't like. I did- especially the colors. I'll be putting both up on the design wall to let them talk to me for awhile. We're having another show at the Covey Center here in Provo, and want to have at least part of the show be the works created from this 'green' challenge. I think it will be fun!

And, we are back to winter here. Last week was unseasonably warm- more like March, except we also had the dreaded inversion. (Translation- it's no different that the southern California smog I grew up with, only in winter!) This weekend has bee rainy, then today it started turning over to snow. So our front yard, which had all the snow melted off, is white once again. And it's not the famed dry Utah powder, it is heavy, wet snow. Bleaghhh! The storminess is supposed to continue at least through tomorrow, then stay colder. Oh well, at least the storms blow the smog away.

Don't know how much creative stuff I will be doing this week. I have to get serious about getting taxes done. Since I am not that organized, it is a bit of a feat. Hope your week is more fun than that!

It finally got me-

The crud that has been going around, I mean. I started feeling like I was getting a cold Wednesday- by 4 pm, I left work. Thursday and Friday I spent mostly in bed. Yesterday I made it to the couch downstairs, but all I've done is knit and watch the inauguration coverage. I've loved every minute of it, and am rather peeved that I'll have to figure out a way to leave work long enough to see him take the oath and speak on Tuesday. No way I'm missing that. I can live without the parade, the balls will be on that night, but I won't miss seeing his speech live.

The other good thing that has come from being sick is the knitting. I've got a sweater about done! I completely ripped out a vest I'd done over a year ago and wasn't happy with the result. This time, I decided to do a raglan short sleeve sweater knit from the top down. I've decided it's long enough, I'm ready to start the ribbing. Then all I have left to do is pick up the neckband stitches, and do six rows of that.



Hopefully I can get this done before my appointment with the orthopedist Wednesday, for my elbow and thumbs. Both have been bothering me, although I started taking Motrin and that helped. But if I'm going to be told to give up my repetitive motion activities for awhile, I want this done first.

Hope you are keeping warm- it's winter here, but at least we aren't in the deep freeze like Chicago and the rest of the midwest. I don't miss that weather at all!

Progress on Two Fronts!!

While I haven't secluded myself in the studio this weekend, I have managed to get further on both the TIF for this month, and my Autumn Mountains tree.

First, the TIF challenge. Bentlee and I painted some fat quarters yesterday morning, mostly in gray and grayed blue tones. I had the idea of a stormy background, since I feel like I've lived through many stormy times, both in the larger world and my personal world. i ended up using a solid gray piece that I sprinkled kosher salt on while it dried. I wanted a stark contrast to the grayed background for the watch gears, so I raided my stash of hand dyes and found a lovely yellow/orange piece of pima cotton. So here's where we are thus far--



I like this arrangement, although I haven't yet decided about the orientation. Next I need to get the gears fused on. That leaves only the writing I want to do, and quilting. I might even have this one done early!

As for the tree, started doing some free motion zigzag to see if that would add to the illusion of bark I'm hoping to achieve. I've only done a little bit on the top part, but my question has been answered- it absolutely does what I'd hoped. This tree is BIG, so doing this stitching will be a time consuming process. And, I will probably want to use more that one color of thread. I've started out with a darkish brown (Isacord), which both blends with the colors already there, and adds definition and texture. I don't know what this is so hard to photograph, but hopefully you can see what I've done.



This work is somewhat mindless, I'm hoping I can get motivated enough to work on it at night. I need to get this on the quilt and the quilting started, since that is what I stress over the most!

And the knitting I started last week? I got plenty done while working the polls Tuesday, kept at it, and managed to finish the body today. Now I just need to sew the shoulder seams, and pick up and knit the borders. Love that chunky yarn that knits up quick, I could be wearing this next week!!