Project 111

#acrylic #painting on #canvas. 5x7” — “Loki puppy”

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 21:38:00 -0700

#acrylic #painting on #canvas. 5x7” — “Loki puppy”

#acrylic #painting on #canvas. 5x7” — “just breathe”

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 18:42:47 -0800

#acrylic #painting on #canvas. 5x7” — “just breathe”

{made} — crochet rock cozy. On a walk I found this fun rock and...

Tue, 29 May 2012 18:36:05 -0700

{made} — crochet rock cozy.

On a walk I found this fun rock and crocheted up a hot pink cozy for it. Personal pattern; created it as I went.

{painting} — watercolor with ink illustrations. “Endless...

Tue, 29 May 2012 11:11:51 -0700

{painting} — watercolor with ink illustrations.

“Endless Love” by Jill Cannon
(top image)
9”x 12” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.

“Spring Breeze” by Jill Cannon
(bottom left image)
6”x 6” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.

“Cheer Up” by Jill Cannon
(bottom right image)
4”x 6” watercolor painting with ink illustrations.

These paintings/drawings were done while I was home at my parents during my father’s recovery from brain surgery last year. They are all originals.

{handspun} — Franklin. I joined my first spin-a-long with Diane...

Mon, 28 May 2012 12:01:00 -0700

{handspun} — Franklin.

I joined my first spin-a-long with Diane who does the Knitabulls podcast and ordered the hand dyed fiber from GnomeAcres. It is 100% Superwash Merino and a 4 oz. bump. The colorway was designed after Diane’s bird, Franklin, which is a girl. We had just over a month to spin and I loved working with this fiber. It was so wonderful to draft and spin… and the color is gorgeous. Amanda, of GnomeAcres, has an unique method of hand dying her fiber, she dyes it while it’s still braided so there is a touch of white in the middle. At first I wasn’t so sure I’d like that, but it really grew on me. The colors blended so well together with that touch of white in there.

I also tried fractal plying for the first time. It is where you take a braid of roving and split it length-wise completely down the middle so you have two ropes that are identical. Spin one as is onto one bobbin, this will result in a very slow color change.

Break the other half of the roving apart length-wise about 4 times (I did once down the middle, and then did each of those halves again, etc.) so you have a lot of skinny ropes. I kept the same colors together at the ends, or mirrored them, for example if it was grey at the end of one of the skinny pieces I joined it to the other grey ended half I just separated. (I hope that makes sense!) It will result in a very quick color change on this bobbin.

Then, I 2-plyed the bobbins together and voilà, delicious looking yarn!

There is also a pretty decent write up on Knitty about fractal plying:
http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwbis11/KSFEATfractal.php

Here are all the details and how long each took me:
First Bobbin (split half into eights): 5/3/12–5/6/12
Second Bobbin (spun half whole): 5/8/12-5/9/12

2 Ply: 5/10/12-5/11/12
Re-ran through wheel to correct overspin: 5/11/12
Soaked: 5/12/12

Approximately 376 yards
WPI: 17-18 Sport Weight

I have a little bit of one bobbin left that I will Navajo Ply at a later date.

I donated this skein of yarn to an art auction fundraiser I hosted for my parents :) art for Jerry.

{made} — Girly Kitefish Shawl. Fell in love with this pattern...

Fri, 25 May 2012 10:26:43 -0700

{made} — Girly Kitefish Shawl.

Fell in love with this pattern the first time I saw it; just knew I had to make it. Used madelinetosh merino light in Antler and Espadrilles colorways. The details and texture in this pattern were amazing, lots of wrap & turns, but they’re worth it in the end. Also, the unique loop hole is so clever!

{made} — Rustic Ruffle Pillow. I only crochet the front of the...

Fri, 25 May 2012 08:29:45 -0700

{made} — Rustic Ruffle Pillow.

I only crochet the front of the pillow pattern and sewed a fabric back with a slit to allow the removal and washing of the pillow insert. Closed and secured the slit with a button. Whip stitched to attached the fabric to the front of the pillow.

My pillow front kept growing larger and larger as I crocheted… therefore I stopped the last ruffle two rows early. The pillow insert is 16 inches in diameter, the final pillow size is probably around 18 inches.

This was a long overdue mother’s day present for my mom… it took a lot longer than I thought it would (but doesn’t it always!).

{handspun} — Fresh Cut Grass on a Summer’s Day. This is my...

Fri, 25 May 2012 06:54:08 -0700

{handspun} — Fresh Cut Grass on a Summer’s Day.

This is my first skein of yarn that I’ve spun on my newly acquired spinning wheel! A lendrum single treadle wheel basically fell into my lap and I am so thankful; it is truly something I’m going to love experimenting with. Fiber is my new addiction! So many to try and all the hand dyed fiber is so delicious looking, I can’t resist! :)

Yellow – Sincere Sheep, 100% BFL Wool
Green – High Bid Farm, 100% BFL Wool

2ply… about 13 WPI — 225 Yards

{made} — Catchall Crochet Tray. Wildfiber yarn shop had a...

Fri, 25 May 2012 06:38:11 -0700

{made} — Catchall Crochet Tray.

Wildfiber yarn shop had a crochet doily swap May 2012 and I wanted to do something a little out of the ordinary for it.

I was inspired by this basket/tray, but wanted it to be much fancier. So, I designed my own version of the pattern and used a homemade starch to stiffen the tray; directions can be found online here.

{made} — Kotori the Owl. LOVE using my handspun for this cute...

Fri, 25 May 2012 06:37:08 -0700

{made} — Kotori the Owl.

LOVE using my handspun for this cute little owl. I didn’t have safety eyes that were big enough, so found some fun buttons to use instead… think the yellow matches good and I liked their shape.

Pattern can be found here.

{made} — Pearl Necklace. Crocheted up an adorable little...

Thu, 24 May 2012 19:58:49 -0700

{made} — Pearl Necklace.

Crocheted up an adorable little necklace for a birthday present, might be making more of these! I used this pattern, but made the brooch eight pedals instead of six, and put a loop on the back to thread a necklace chain through using a single crochet foundation stitch. The chain also uses a single crochet foundation row with ch 8 in the middle to help hold the petal in the center. I put a metal clasp to close.

{made} — Lu-Lu the bear. Lu-Lu is a crochet bear for the Mother...

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:38:40 -0700

{made} — Lu-Lu the bear.

Lu-Lu is a crochet bear for the Mother Bear Project. They are a great organization helping thousands of kids around the world who are affected by HIV/AIDS. People can knit or crochet up a bear, send it in to the project, and they mail them out all over the world. You can purchase the pattern from the Mother Bear Project for 5 dollars, they will mail you a physical copy of the pattern, and you send in your bear with 3 dollars when you are done to help with the cost of shipping them out overseas. We are collecting the bears at the shop, Wildfiber, to send in… she is the first of many I’ll be making.

I used some handspun yarn for the bear, and added a skirt and a little rose flower on the top of the dress to match the ruffle.

art for Jerry Silent Art Auction, Fundraiser Sunday, May 20th,...

Sun, 20 May 2012 09:59:00 -0700

art for Jerry
Silent Art Auction, Fundraiser

Sunday, May 20th, 2012
5:00-8:00 PM
Ann Arbor Art Center, 117 W. Liberty St. Ann Arbor, MI 48104

All donations will go towards helping us fund my father’s recovery and continued fight against brain cancer. Thank you for your love and support.

{found} — dog portraits by winnie Oh my goodness… these...

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:14:00 -0800

{found} — dog portraits by winnie

Oh my goodness… these are the most stylized dog portraits I’ve seen!
Talk about cute! Wonder if they do cat portraits…

Make sure to scroll across the top images… to die for!

{made} — sour apple milkweed shawl. As soon as I saw this...

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:00:42 -0800

{made} — sour apple milkweed shawl.

As soon as I saw this pattern I knew I had to make it. I purchased the pattern on raverly, started it with some multi-colored sock yarn I had actually dyed myself, but it wasn’t looking right. The color changes just weren’t how I envisioned it turning out, so I was on the hunt for a different yarn to use. This is sometimes tricky because I’m allergic to wool, which narrows the field a bit. Atlas, while home in Michigan for Thanksgiving, I found some linen based yarn to use in a bright sour apple green color.

I casted on right away and it became my traveling project while flying over the holidays. I finished it shortly after Christmas, so just over a month on the needles.

The linen is a tad slippery, so might keep my eye’s peeled for a fun shawl pin to hold it in place. But other than that, I am in love with it!

{wallpaper} — november 2011 desktop wallpaper. Felt like...

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 23:09:00 -0700

{wallpaper} — november 2011 desktop wallpaper.

Felt like november needed some love.

Main font used is available for free here.

{video} — ‘Polarity song’ by Seventeen...

Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:58:03 -0700

{video} — ‘Polarity song’ by Seventeen Evergreen.

What a weird video! But, all the colorful knitting and crocheting in it is very inspirational.

{made} — candy striper headband. One of my great friends...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:43:00 -0700

{made} — candy striper headband.

One of my great friends sister had brain surgery to remove a tumor and I heard she was worried about them cutting her hair… so this cute hot pink striped headband should work nicely to camouflage that.

Finished knitting the day of the surgery, which was halloween, weaved in all the ends and blocked it. I knitted to gauge and ended up with the dimensions the pattern called for (18 inches long) , but it didn’t fit around my head which is pretty petite… so I added 7 more rows at the decrease end (which made it a mirror of the increase end) and blocked it pretty heavily. My end length dimensions are 20 inches. It is still a little tight, but I’m hoping it’ll stretch out with use.

The pattern can be purchased here.

Have to thank my husband who took a few pictures of me modeling the headband on his lunch break. We were goofing around and being silly which makes any photo shoot more fun! :)

Here’s to a healthy and fast recovery!

{made} — classic oatmeal wreath. Wow, this was so fast and...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 17:34:35 -0700

{made} — classic oatmeal wreath.

Wow, this was so fast and rewarding. Took me a little less than an hour and a half from casting on to weaving in my ends.

Used up some stash yarn. I could only find a 12 inch foam wreath at the craft store so mines a little larger than the pattern. I casted on 105 stitches and used a P/11.5mm hook.

But, this simple crochet wreath looks great on our front door. We needed something in between summer and Christmas :)

Pattern is available online for free here.

P.S. Don’t mind my messy desk area!

{made} — smoldering snow necklace. This is my first go at this...

Sun, 16 Oct 2011 16:21:00 -0700

{made} — smoldering snow necklace.

This is my first go at this pattern to test it out, therefore used stuff I had around the house, stash yarn and some decretive polished rocks. Definitely improved my techniques with each stone I placed in it… was tricky at first to know how many increases to do and when to start the decreases, but I’ll for sure be making more.

The yarn is a rusty brick red and the rocks are snowy white. Total length is 31 inches.