Scandanavian Baby Wear

I am a sucker for Scandanavian stranded knitting, so when I saw this pattern for a squirrel yoked baby sweater I had to knit it for a pregnant friend. Of course, I didn't really follow the pattern, only the charts. I started trying to follow the pattern, but didn't agree with the designer's sizing and shaping so I went my own way (with a little help from EZ.) All-in-all I love the finished sweater and I can't wait to see it on the baby.

Vanishing Yarn

The problem with trying to stick to a blogging schedule is that sometimes I don't have anything to share. It's not that I am doing nothing, currently I am in the middle of two large projects and one top secret project that have been consuming much of my time. Since I have no new projects to post I am going to share my eight second video attempt at stop motion. This is what happens when you leave me alone in a slow shop with my dslr and a tripod.  


Now off to create something more exciting for my next entry.

Wheel Throwing- Night Three

Last night was night number three of my wheel throwing class. While I saw a pretty big progress between nights one and two, night three was a little different. Maybe because I was working with a larger chunk of clay, maybe because I missed the practice studio time I had planned- for whatever reason I had far less control of the clay than in the last class. I did manage to throw a bowl big enough to be used as a yarn bowl, but I am not entirely satisfied with the shape and weight of the walls. My plan is to focus my practice time Friday on creating large bowls with heavier walls.

Rock Island

High on the list of things I love in the world of knitting are patterns by Jared Flood. His designs are classic and his patterns are well-written. When Lorna's Laces announced that he would do a lace weight yarn in their color commentary series series I bought the yarn and pattern immediately. The yarn is a lovely deep purple and the pattern is an extremely light-weight shawlette. I finished knitting my Rock Island Shawl in less than two weeks, unfortunately it took me another several months to get around to blocking it.

International Womb-en's Day

Yesterday was International Women's Day so to celebrate and to show support for women's reproductive rights, my local snb had a Snatchel Campaign knit-in last night. Since I work through most of the Thursday snb, I made my womb a little in advance and brought it with me. If it looks familiar, it is the Womb pattern on knitty by M.K. Carroll and I knitted one in 2005 for the Wombs Over Washington campaign and several for friends (if you knew me at the time it is likely you own one of these.)

Terrariums!!

My schedule is jam packed for the next several months with very few free spot so I was really surprised to find an opening at the exact time Michler's, a local greenhouse, was offering a terrarium building workshop. I love terrariums, but I tend to be intimidated by greenery so while I have checked out tons of terrarium building books from the library and spent hours reading about how to build one I have never actually tried it. I love the idea of a class because I can ask questions as they come and I can watch and learn from the process of the other students.

Last night was the workshop and I showed up with a backseat full of thrifted glassware that I have been collecting for the day that I finally build a terrarium. Most of the class started with really large vessels for their terrariums and while I had a big glass piece in my car, I decided to do small terrariums since they are really my favorites. I did two open and one closed terrarium so that I could learn a bit about what the differences are and what plants work well in each one. Hopefully I can keep these babies alive and thriving.

A top view of the three finished terrariums. To give you an idea of size, the largest one is about 7" in diameter and the smallest is about 4". The top right is the closed system (photographed without the lid.)

This is my favorite of the three. It is a succulent surrounded by mosses and a little of the round low plant in the largest terrarium (I left my notes at the greenhouse so I have no idea what that plant is.)

The is the top view of the closed system. It contains three types of moss- reindeer moss, some wild moss and something else that I can't remember. I found the snail shell laying in a pile of sticks and stuff so I gave him a little place and plan to add some friends.

Wheel Throwing- Night Two

I am amazed at what a difference there was between night one and night two of wheel throwing. First, I had a lot more control of the clay. I wasn't in complete control, but if I set out to make a shape, there was about a 50% chance that I would end up making it. Also, I only had two clay collapses as opposed to so many I didn't keep count on the first night. Friday I am going to do some of my open studio time and try to throw a larger bowl before we start trimming on Monday. I really love this class, so excited that I finally decided to take it!!

Wheel Throwing- Night one

One of my goals for the new year is to finally learn to throw pots on a wheel- like it or hate it, I want to learn it. In order to achieve this, I signed up for the Wheel Throwing I &II class at Kentucky Mudworks which is a ceramics studio right outside of downtown. My first class was on Monday night and I was the only beginner in the class, everyone else was there for the intermediate part of the class. It took me a good hour of the class just to be able to center my clay on the wheel, I was really struggling for awhile. After I got comfortable centering my clay things started going a lot smoother and by the end I had one symmetrical bowl (and five other pieces that weren't very good, but I kept them for practicing other things on later.)