Tour de Fleece 2012

Do you know what today is? If you are a spinner (or if you read the title of this post) then you know today is the first day of the Tour de Fleece. Basically, the idea is to spin every day of the Tour de France and try to challenge yourself. This is the first year I'm participating and my goal is simply to spin every day. This is slightly more of a challenge than it sounds when you allow for the fact that I have a very, very, active four year old. 

Luckily, today being a Saturday, Daddy ran interference and took her to her swimming lesson this morning. So, between spinning some before everyone was awake and then some more while they were at the pool I managed to accomplish this... 

Spunky Eclectic Gotland "Robin Red Breast"

All told that was about two hours of spinning which used up 3 1/8 ounces of fiber. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be able to finish up the 4 ounces before the end of the Tour (making thicker yarn makes spinning go faster - noted). This is destined to become a felted singles yarn which is a technique I've never done before so I'm pretty excited (read: scared) to see how that goes.

In fact, I'm really trying to talk myself down from just trying to finish spinning it tonight. My muscles think that after twisting into awkward positions to paint our kitchen that it might be delightful to take a break this evening. Stupid muscles.

Flashback Friday: My First Knitting Project

I first learned to knit when I was in college. I took a beginners class at the Local Yarn Store. We made a few squares just to learn how to knit and purl. Then, for everyone's first project we made these...

Felted Slippers

While I'll be the first to admit they are not the most attractive slippers I have ever seen, they are surely some of the warmest. I think they are actually a genius project for beginners. Now I know some people right now are thinking, "Double pointed needles? In the round? And turning a heel? And this is a good beginners project how?" Stay with me.

You see the teacher explained that once we made these, we were fully prepared to make socks, a sweater - anything really. If we jumped in and made these in the beginning we would never have a chance to be intimidated by anything else. Of course, there is also the fact that it's a big, chunky yarn on big needles so it goes quickly and any holes or mistakes get hidden when you felt them (there were many and yes, they did get gloriously hidden). 

I can honestly say this method worked for me in a really big way. From that class onward, I've never looked at any project and thought, "Oh, that's way too complicated for me." or "I've never done this before and I'm too scared to try." I follow the directions, I make mistakes, I rip back, learn and try again. These ugly slippers are what I have to thank for that. They taught me not only how to knit and purl - but that on some level, no matter how complicated, that all knitting is just knit and purl. 

Sadly, these slippers are no more as, unattractive as they were, I loved them literally to pieces. 

Row Gauge Can't Be That Big A Deal...

I like to always have some sort of mindless knitting project. Right now this is it.

Roxborough Dolman

 Miles and miles of stockinette make for good T.V. watching. Or is it T.V. watching that makes miles and miles of stockinette bearable? Anyway, like a Very Good Knitter I did a gauge swatch and everything checked out alright. Many hours of fingering weight stockinette later, I reach the point where I've finished doing the increases and need to check how much longer to make the body before dividing for the armholes. The pattern says I need to keep knitting until I reach 16 3/4". So out comes my trusty tape measure...

Ruh roh.

I've got 17 1/2 inches just to the final increase. Now the good news is that I'm somewhat tall with a longer torso so I'm telling myself that an extra inch in length isn't going to be a big deal. For just a second though, before my brain had a chance to kick in with the logic, it was panic city. Frankly, I still have a fear that instead of looking drape-y, fun, and easy this will instead look like a big yellow and gray sack. There is only one way to find out.
Knitting onward...

What I've Been Doing for the Last Few Years

So...
It has been a long, long while since I last posted. In all honesty I haven't been doing much in the way of sketching for quite a while. Fear not, my fingers haven't been sitting idle all of this time - they've just been busy creating in a medium that is much more friendly to picking up and putting down.

Any guesses?
Here I'll give you a hint...

Mmmmm. Yarn. I've been obsessed with yarn - touching it, knitting with it, wearing it, and recently, even making it. Now, I'm also going to be blogging about it.

I still have a few old sketches that haven't made their way onto this blog and they might slowly trickle their way here; but I have even more older fiber-y projects that will certainly be showing up. The plan is to have Flashback Fridays for a while to catch up with all that I've been doing.

Now back to that picture hint. This is actually yarn that I spun from this...

Spunky Eclectic 4oz. Corriedale Club Fiber "Abstract"

Into this...

470 yards of navajo-plied light fingering weight

I cannot completely explain the sense of supreme satisfaction this gives me. I just look at it and think, "I freaking MADE this." Which, incidentally, could be a perfect name for this blog if it didn't already have one. In any case, get ready, because it's about to get sheepy up in here. 

Peony Kinshi

I actually remember drawing this last Spring. Grandma was watching my daughter and I remember it feeling so luxurious to have the time to sit and draw. When I draw, and then later look at those drawings, it almost has the same power as scent as a memory trigger for me.

Dent De Lion

Chloe's Backpack

Here's a sketch I did of Chloe's little backpack. I find that now that I'm a parent, I'm making little notes and sketches everywhere of the funny things she does and says. Most of the time it's just a quick note written in my cheap planner. Occasionally, it ends up being one of these full blown illustrations.

I find it amazing looking back at this stuff at how much of it I would have already forgotten had I not written it down somewhere.

Normally I Don't Criticize My Sketches But...

I don't like to criticize my sketches. They are just sketches in a sketchbook. Sometimes I try something and it works - other times it doesn't. Generally there is always something I learn - which is the point of a sketchbook really. I can always find something I like in any drawing I make. On the other hand I can always find something I would do differently. I refuse to go down the road of "this is awful, that is awful, I suck, blah, blah, blah". You don't want to hear that. I don't want to hear that.

With all of that being said, I am also a mother. And as a mother I must let the record show that my daughter is way cuter than this. This is creepy. My daughter is not creepy. Even when she throws a blanket over her head and says, "Boooo. I am a ghost. Run away." she is still cute and not creepy.

So there sketch. I criticize you in defense of my daughter.

Castle Tea Room Before Watercolor

Here is the Castle Tea Room just in ink. And yes this was done over a year ago. Over the next few weeks I hope to post some older sketches that just never made it to the blog.

Castle Tea Room

I've been wanting to do a series of sketches of my city's downtown area. A new year and a new larger formatted journal have made me decide no time like the present. This sketch has eaten up bits and pieces of my daughter's nap time for the past week. My favorite part of the drawing-the tree in the upper left corner added as an afterthought. Go figure.

Vanilla Extract Painting

I couldn't post this earlier because it was actually a Christmas gift for my brother and his wife. Over their last visit he looked through my sketchbook and asked if I could do a larger version of my vanilla sketch. I blew it off as him being nice until he asked about it again a month or so later. And so here is a watercolor painting (my first actually). I get nervous when I'm not doing a pen drawing first - but I think it's good to do work out of your comfort zone every once in a while.

Molly

This is an important post for a few reasons. It is the last page in my first moleskine notebook. As such it marks the first sketchbook I have completely filled. It took a few years for such a small book but it is done. I fully intend to start on another notebook soon now that the holiday craziness is dying down.

The real reason this drawing is so important to me is because it shows Molly. Molly passed away just shy of Thanksgiving after being with our family for almost 16 years. To put that into perspective Molly was a Christmas present when I was a girl and now I am married and have a child of my own. We grew up together. She was technically a dog, but had more personality than many people, and was a definite member of our family.

I love this drawing so much not because it is a picture of a dog. Not even that it is a picture of a West White Highland Terrier. I love it because it is a picture of Molly, that specific little being who is much loved and much missed.

Acorns

Here's a quick sketch of some acorns I did recently just to get back in the swing of drawing. Without realizing it I drew this the wrong direction in my moleskine - which is neither here nor there but this is how I see it since this is how I drew it. Turn your screen upside down and you'll see how it looks in my moleskine.

St. John's

I drew this in late summer when we were at a local park. The tip of this church tower just reached over the tree tops and my husband graciously chased around our daughter while I sat on a park bench and drew. I didn't have a pencil and had the drawing in public jitters so after a few lines I looked and realized it was off. Way off. Instead of scrapping the whole thing I decided to just use what lines I could and just ignore what I couldn't. So here is the slightly wonky drawing with a few extra lines with absolutely no right to be there. But you know what? I kind of like it.

Unfortunately this is the last drawing I've done in a while. In the meantime I've made a quilt, worked on a stocking for my daughter, and now am knitting slippers for her. I guess I've just been following my creativity in other directions lately. Hopefully soon I'll have some more current sketches to share.

Noodler's Ink

So for my birthday a while back I received a bottle of Noodler's Bulletproof Black Ink and a much discussed Lamy Safari fountain pen. I then did this quick sketch using both. I find I have trouble getting different line thicknesses with the Lamy but it also loosens me a up a bit too. I'll probably try again with it sometime but I can say for sure that I love my Lamy for everyday sorts of writing.

Before the Haircut

This is only the second drawing I've done in public. I notice that everything is less accurate, more loose. It's not necessarily a bad thing to occasionally get more loose even if the results are less than stellar.

Chloe's Sunglasses

Coming up are a few sketches I did over the summer that I never got around to uploading. Should be easier now that we have a new printer/scanner that is always attached to our computer.

Flag

Here's a sketch from around the 4th of July. Just a little plastic flag that was handed to my daughter when we were taking a walk downtown.

Words Chloe Can Say (Sort of...)

This drawing is a little more doodle-y than what I normally do. Sometimes you just have to do what you have to do to get drawing again.

Tree Outside the Dentist

Here is a sketch from May that I never got around to posting. It was done while waiting in the lobby at the dentist. It was my first sketch I've done in a public place. Finished it up at home. Next time I'll have more recent sketches.