Knitting Dragonflies

Watching the Preakness and sketching a bit. Inspired by the moving horses. Interesting Horse related facts: In the state of Arizona, it is illegal for cowboys to walk through a hotel lobby wearing their spurs Horses younger than 4 years can concentrate for a maximum of 10-15 minutes A horse typically sleeps two and half to three hours a day A zedonk is the offspring of a zebra and a donkey Horses generally dislike the smell of pigs I’m planning on getting back to my knitting soon! Seriously!! LOL

A quick sketch of an Amaryllis that I have. I love these flowers, they give us a bit of color when the days are cold and grey. I did a fast sketch with some Crayola paint brush pens , which I bought on an impulse, thinking they would be good to pack and take (and the price was right). With basic primary colors they are fun, but don’t blend well. I used a standard office black marker to add some details, and then regular Crayola crayons to add depth to my colors. It was a fun project to play around with. Compact, cheap and fun. Find the child inside of you again.

A quick sketch of a tree in my backyard, now minus its leaves. Done with a office supply felt tip marker, a fairly fat one. And finally some fibery progress…. After dithering about after every two rows, I decided to forge ahead on my Iced Sweater from Knitty made with Colinette Point Five. Due to the flash, the colors look pinker than the actual yarn. This is a top down sweater pattern, and after sweating the gauge for a bit. I’ve decided to consider it as a suggestion as to how much “off” I’m going to be, and try to compensate from there. I have no idea if I’ll have enough yarn to complete the sweater. I have 10 skeins of 50 m each = 500 meters or 546 yds. of Cardinal, (it is fairly bulky, I’m not sure if it is considered super bulky). The recommended needle size on the label is 17 and I’m using a 10 to get close to the gauge needed. This resulted in most of my problems, the knit is turning out to be thick and rather stiff. But I’ve decided to think of it as a warm sweater/coat

Sketch was made with standard office markers, while sitting in my back yard. I’ve been working on my computer for the last couple of weeks! It progressively got worse to the point I took it to the Geek Squad. I finally decided on reinstalling Windows myself and seeing if I could “make it work”, saving the repair money to put toward a new computer if necessary. I can say I’ve learned a lot, and am now trying to decide if I need a larger C drive, (cheap and I think I can install it), or keep going until it dies. Hummmmm, close to Christmas and I just bought a new refrigerator! Bottom freezer and I love it! On the knitting front, I’m knitting with Collinette Point Five yarn, a bulky, thick and thin yarn. I must say, I hate knitting with it, but like how it looks when it is done. I’m in the process of making a top down pattern from Knitty Fall 2010 , I love the pattern. It is one of the patterns that was love at first sight for me. Don’t you love it when that happens? Still spinning m

I have managed to squeeze  in a variety of things this week. A fast sketch and watercolor of one of my beds, and bird bath. Just having some fast fun. A little knitting….I’m using my Point Five Colinette yarn to knit this pattern, Iced from Knitty . I’m not sure I like the result, I had to use small needles to “get gauge” and the yarn is fairly bulky, this is resulting in a fairly dense knitted sweater. Too stiff? I’m still on the fence. If I frog it I need another pattern for this yarn, ideas?? I’m stumped… I have been spinning also, my pound of BFL is slowly getting smaller! Yay Happy fall! Enjoy the weather while it lasts! "Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass... it's about learning how to dance in the rain."

TMC ( The Twenty Minute Challenge from Katharine Cartwright) I have really gotten interested in sketching and then laying down some watercolor on top of the sketch. Limiting myself to 20 minutes has really been key to my realization of what the necessary lines are and a huge editing lesson. Not to mention, I can allow myself to “play” for 20 minutes. It is a lesson in organization also. With a 20 min limit, having everything ready is key. I like to start with the simplest of things, like pen and paper, and maybe some basic watercolors, and one brush. I enjoy looking at efforts of others also, and reading what they have learned, and seeing their choices. This is a quick pen sketch of some trees in my backyard, then I quickly used some watercolors to add some character! Time to rake leaves!