Thursday, March 29, 2007

I found my people!

I went to my first Park Slope knitters' meetup today, and it was so much fun. I was a little shy at first, but as soon as someone started talking technique, I dove right in like I found my people. It was held right in my neighborhood a couple of blocks away from my place -- but I had to have Scott walk me there, since I was hesitant about going. He didn't end up staying because it was so crowded, but that was fine since once I dove into the conversation, I didn't notice much else. What fun. It was like being in one of my knitting podcasts.

Monday, March 26, 2007

Dodge This.

So, more progress towards the Matrix sweater. I think I made the neck too big, 'cause it barely stays on my shoulders. I may have to knit a border on it, but that'll kill that whole unfinished look.












Here's the inspiration -- the Matrix sweater from the movie.












I also finished my legwarmers/armwarmers.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Ground Control to Major Tom


Here's my latest. I'm not sure what to think of it. It's kind of weird. I started it a few nights ago when I was feeling not so great -- I think I was feeling isolated, as if I was shut off in an astronaut suit.

The first is from earlier today and the second is what it looked like that first night.


What's interesting is that, when photographed, I almost like the drawing spare like this, but it looks unfinished in person.


Here are a couple of little throw-away drawings I did just to loosen up and feel the paper.


It's funny how differently each type of paper responds to the punishment of the repeated smearing, smudging, and erasing. The cheapest paper (illustration board) crumbles like it's made of toilet paper, while the expensive one (Arches hot press watercolor) is smooth like marble. And my mid-grade printmaking paper is decent, but pills under a lot of abuse and absorbs the graphite/charcoal too much.


Knitting Life:

These projects were completed a couple of weeks ago, but I never got around to uploading the pictures.


Here's my first KnitPicks yarn project. This was going to be knee-high socks, but I like the idea of having separate calf and foot sections. I'm still working on the 2cnd calf, but afterwards, I'm going to make footies to go with these.






This is a baby sweater I made from leftover yarns from other projects. I like how it turned out, especially the colors.






This is one of several stitch markers I made out of thin brass wire and beads. Aren't they pretty? And practical, too. And much cheaper than buying them!!!

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Ragtime Queen

You know, I have this idea for getting back into the swing of creating music. I thought I'd make myself some lullabys using lyrics from here and there. Lyrics were always the tough part of making music for me, so I figured I'd make it a little easier and crib. Well, I looked for a while and couldn't find lullaby lyrics on the web that weren't for children. I found a huge database of folk songs, but they weren't quite right either (many seemed like they were written in Old English). But you know what I did find -- great lyrics by....



Fraggle Rock.

Seriously, check out these lyrics:

Ragtime Queen

You're made of rags,
And scraps and tags,
And no one thinks you're real.

And when you go,
They'll never know,
The loneliness I feel.

Dance with me,
My ragtime queen,
Before I set you free.
On lonely days,
You'll know the ways,
That you are just like me.

To make your face,
I found some lace,
And sewed you, every part.

To make you feel,
That you were real,
I gave away my heart.

Dance with me,
My ragtime queen,
Before I set you free.
On lonely days,
You'll know the ways,
That you are just like me.

Isn't that nice? Who knew that Fraggle Rock could be so cool.

My friend MJ told me that she's been thinking of this phrase a lot: "what you focus on expands." So true. Tonight, I was having one of those blue moments where I felt pretty shitty. And then I thought, I need to do something with my life that I'll be proud of, something that'll bring some perspective back in, something that I've always wanted to do. I said to myself "why can't I just drop off the grid for a while and travel the world for a few months. Why do I need to wait for an opportunity?" So I think I might try to do it. Scott's game, too. Save up some dough, try to find a subletter, ask for a leave of absence from work (or just quit), and then go! Weeeeeeeeeee! And you know what my second thought was -- what's the perfect knitting project for travelling around the world? It's a sickness.

So this is what I want to focus on -- expanding my horizon, breaking out of my moldy rut, reminding myself of the possibilities.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Spring's sprung!

I’ve been a little blue lately, and maybe that’s why I didn’t blog recently. The blog images started acting up, and it’s totally taking the wind out of my sails. I know that’s an excuse, but I’m feeling a little fragile…Or maybe it was Pan’s Labyrinth.

But I’m back. And lots going on in my head.

I would like to devote this spring (since today’s the first official day of spring) to exploring spiritual communities in this area. I’ve been feeling a need to become part of a community (Scott included, or it doesn’t really work) and also a need to return to myself spiritually. I think they don’t necessarily need to be accomplished in the same way or through the same spiritual vehicle, though it would be nice and convenient if it was. For the community, it’s the people that really matter and I’m not so wedded one way or another to the denomination or dogma. It just needs to be a place where it feels right. For the personal spirituality, I think I’ll start by reading the book that MJ gave me (eightfold path or some such), though I’m still on the introduction. Then maybe I’ll try sitting/meditating. Scott says he’ll come along for that, so that’s a good thing.

I realized how hard I’ve been on myself, and I need to find a way to stop or at least quiet the voice that push me to feel like I’m not good enough or not trying hard enough. Joy has been hard to come by these days and it’s because I’m trying to position myself to accomplishments or achievements more than happiness. When I am happy, it’s usually from something very simple and small. Yarn, time, sun, space. I would like to follow that road more than the road to achievement.

Along that vein, I need to keep remembering that creativity is its own end. The end product is irrelevant. Again, no matter how much I try to be aware of this, I find I judge my product more than I enjoy the act in and of itself. Of course, the only exception is knitting. I’m amazed that it escapes this judgment, and I wish I knew why.

I’ve been thinking about doing a bunch of lullaby’s for myself, as a way to inspire myself towards music. I found a bunch of lyrics that I liked and started improvising this weekend, but I found I really didn’t like what I did. Again with the judging, but it wasn’t pleasing to my own ear, which is something I was going for. Maybe the guitar is holding me back from creating the kind of melody that I want. Or maybe I should try to collaborate with others – this usually works for me.

Now that I’ve had a little space from the drawings, I’d like to approach them again. I was getting a little wound up about how the end product was looking and getting really anxious and frustrated. I have to keep reminding myself to doodle, noodle. Maybe I need to give myself some small direction, like “elephant” to keep my focus for a given day. That’d be interesting.

Yarn Talk:

I’m jumping on the knitting bandwagon and doing stash management this year. Actually, I think I was doing it last year, too, so maybe I’m ahead of the curve. I don’t know how my yarn stash compares to the average knitter, if that’s even a number that can be determined, but it’s bigger than I’m comfortable with. And ever since I started keeping the yarn spreadsheet, I know EXACTLY how much I have. 22,239 yards, to be exact, or approximately 6 miles of yarn yet to be knitted. That’s around 185 balls of yarns. Mind you, 132 of the 185 comprise 12 brands that are earmarked for a given project. So really, I have yarn for 12 sweaters plus about 50 balls of odds and ends, which is really not so much if you consider how many of those are remnants from completed projects.

Ok. I know I’m protesting a bit too much, but it’s natural to get defensive about my yarn hording (whoring?) ways.

I just had a great idea for the spreadsheet. I’ll start keeping track of when I bought it. That way, I’ll shame myself into buying less!

Anyway, I’ve started three new projects, two of which are from old yarns that’ve been hanging around for a while. The big stash muncher will be the IBM coat. It’ll be very thick, very bulky, and I’m sure not very flattering. I’m calling it the IBM coat because it’s made of two yarns held together -- black mixed with forest green—so that it reminds me of those old black computer screens with green text. I started it on Saturday, and I have the chest area done already. Nothing like big needles to make it go faster, even if the knitting experience isn’t as pleasant.

The other stash project is a plain old pullover a la Matrix. (You know, the beat up, holey old sweaters everyone wears in the “real” world.) The yarn I have is an olive-colored, very thin cotton and strangely scratchy as it runs through my fingers. So I thought it would make a decent breathe-y summer pullover, the kind that you have to wear a tank underneath. This is the same yarn that I brought with me to Istanbul and couldn’t stand it! I’m not sure why it’s feeling better to me, maybe because I’m knitting on much larger needles, so it’s not as picayune.











The last project is a pair of footless knee-hi socks. Or tight-fitting legwarmers. But you get the idea. The pattern is very simple -- no cables or lace -- but there is some shaping to fit my calves. And the yarn itself is hand-dyed, so it's creating some funky patterns all on its own. Can't say I'm in love with it, but it's not bad. But I do LOVE knitting on these tiny, tiny needles. It's actually not considered that small for a sock, pretty average really, but for me, it's small. The needles are about the width of the main ipod headphone cord. I just ordered the next size smaller, which should be the size of the splitted earbud cords. Fun, fun, fun.

You might think it's more fun using thick mongo needles, but teeny tiny knitting is so much more tactile. There's a delicacy to the motion that is such a pleasure so that switching to large knitting feels a bit like going from doing a waltz to tackling a linebacker. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit.

Friday, March 9, 2007

Pan's Labyrinth

I feel unsettled and traumatized after seeing PL. I thought it would be more like Alice in Wonderland ala Mexican director, but it was more like Schindler's List meets Dark Crystal. Brutal, violent, and scary but with dark, wild magic fluttering in the fringes. I know all those things add up to a good movie, and PL was definitely well made, but it was so sad and tense that I found it hard to enjoy myself at all. I don't know if I feel better for having seen it. But maybe it'll settle into my psyche better over time.

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

What's the deal with honey?

Is it me, or does honey kinda stink? I mean, it's definitely the best thing for granola/yogurt and great in certain teas, but on it's own, it's always just smelled kind of funny to me. But man, people really go nuts for it.

Anyway, that's not why I'm writing. I want to remind myself to start doing a new music project -- a lullaby album to put myself to sleep. I've been having insomnia lately and it occurs to me that nothing puts me to sleep faster than listening to my own songs. (I'm not sure what this says about my music.) Anyway, I like the idea of doing music for an audience of one.

Monday, March 5, 2007

Some experimentation...



I decided to treat this piece as my experimentation piece. I really don't like the paper -- it crumbles and pills if you rub or use an eraser, and it absorbs watercolor like cheap cardboard -- so I've decided it's going to be my crappy experimental drawing. Today, I made some homemade glue (flour, water, stove) and pasted tracing paper over parts of the drawing. Interesting effectm though I'm still not sure where I'm going with it. But it's kind of close to what I was going for.

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Sick as a dog, therefore....

I am watching the AKC dog show, surrounded by tissues and an empty mug of tea. I don't know why I'm watching this -- I'm not particularly a dog lover, and I think the whole idea of a dog show is pretty weird. But there's something hypnotic about watching middle-aged women in Janet Reno outfits parading pretty dogs with long, flowing fur trailing behind them like a runway models.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Phlegm is spelled phugnny.

I sound like Brenda Vacaro (wasn't that her name?). It really sucks that this is the second weekend that I'm sick. If there was any justice in this world, I'd have gotten sick on a Tuesday.

I've been thinking of drawing all week but didn't have the chance/energy to do any. I'm trying to figure out how to create the sense of layers in a drawing. It's easy to do in photoshop with layers and transparencies, but in pencil/charcoal drawings, what's the best way? Using tracing paper? Vellum? Fixative? Could I somehow incorporate collage and still draw on its glossy surface? Maybe I have to experiment with some homemade pastes like flour and water. Wouldn't that be funny. Actually rabbit skin glue would probably work, but I really don't feel like going through the process.

I'm too sick to do any art right now, so I'm posting some pictures of my finished knitted projects instead.










My most recently completed project, it's made w/ super-soft & stretchy merino wool and is my own pattern.


This is a simple sweater made from Rowan's Vintage Style pattern book. I'm so glad I'm done with this sweater. It was done on very small needles (think bamboo skewer) so it took almost a year! Not to mention I kept having to redo each and every part (each sleeve, back, front) to match up to the other sections.





My first Fair Isle project, and of my own design. I tried working off a pattern, but I really don't have the patience to follow a pattern. It's easier for me to do calculations and wing it than to meticulously follow a complicated pattern. But I'm still amazed that the calculations I did to determine the sizing worked! Well, almost worked -- some of the neckline was a little fudged, but who cares.



This is a kid's sweater that I made for the Dulaan project, which sends handknit goods to streetkids in Mongolia (www.fireprojects.org/dulaan.htm). The mantra for a Dulaan project is "the warmer, the better." Those kids are so cute.






The yarn for this project was one of those bargain bin deals that you later think, "what the hell am I going to do with this?" You can't quite tell from the picture, but it's a ribbon yarn and cotton, so it's a little stiff. I kept starting it as one thing or another then undoing it because it didn't look right. I think the final pattern (my own design) is a perfect match for the yarn, though I almost didn't have enough to finish it.


Ahhhh!!!! That's what you think when you feel this yarn -- angora/merino blend. It's incredibly warm and soft. Unfortunately, two months after completion, it's already pilling. The pattern is my own design and, while it looks very simple, it's made to have no seams (provisional cast-on, pick up stitches for the sleeves, everything in the round). It also has a bit of short-row shaping for the bustline. The subtle purple edging is courtesy of my friend, Linda. I think it gives the simple sweater a certain je ne sais quoi!


My oldest sweater, I've only worn it once. The yarn is really soft and warm, but since it's a boucle, it adds a couple of pounds. I'm still playing around with the idea of ripping out the yarn and making something else.