Tag: Knoontime Knitting

  • Make Something Monday – Afghan for the Uglii Chair

    Make Something Monday – Afghan for the Uglii Chair

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    I love to knit. This isn\’t really a surprise, for those of you who have been following me for a while.  Knitting is something I do for meditation, creative expression, and because it keeps my hands busy so I can think.

    But I get into jams where nothing on my needles inspires me.  I feel a sense of boredom or overwhelmed-ness when I look at all my WIPs (works in progress), and wonder what I could start or just play with.

    The solution is to make something large, with a fairly simple stitch pattern.  My writing partner, Rachel Wilder, suggested I make an afghan for the Uglii Chair and poof.  Project!

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    It turns out I already had yarn in my stash, too!  I adore KnitPicks, and they had a great sale last year.  I picked up a bunch of skeins of this great wool blend for a really great price and they\’ve sat on my shelf, awaiting a project.  I actually intended to do a sweater with them, but when I realized I needed yarn for the Uglii Chair and this one matched the brown, then voila!

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    I made a mistake on the edging, but I like how it turns out. I accidentally switch sides with the pattern, but it now looks like it was intentional. That\’s the neat thing about mistakes – sometimes, they turn out to be part of the design!

    What about you, Dear Reader? What are you making?

     

  • Z Is For… Zoetropes!

    Z Is For… Zoetropes!

    \"Z\"In researching for this post, I wandered through my Family Creative Workshop, which is a 24-volume set of craft books done around the late seventies/early eighties.  I wish there was a website or community who liked these books, because they have so many neat crafts in them.

    Of course, after I got my topic, I remembered \”zig zag lace,\” but by then I was fascinated by zoetropes and it was too late.  A zoetrope is an early form of animation, a way to make moving pictures.  If you\’ve seen Johnny Depp in Sleepy Hollow, he has a lovely little zoetrope on a string that, when twirled, shows a bird in a cage and then free from it.

    According to Random Motion, they were invented in 1834 but didn\’t come to the States until 1867 – after the American Civil War.  They were named zoetrope by the French inventor Pierre Desvignes.  The thing I find fascinating about science from this time is how citizen-science it is – anyone can make a zoetrope.  In present day, we\’re returning to that democratization with software and open-source movements; people can now make animations and movies with relatively inexpensive equipment.  It\’s interesting how we\’ve come nearly full-circle.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    What earlier forms of technology catch your attention?

  • Y Is For… Yarn! or, The Joy of Stash

    Y Is For… Yarn! or, The Joy of Stash

    I know, this is a topic one might think would be more suited to the Knoontime Knitting side of my website.  But yarn is an integral part of me, and I adore it so much, that it spills out into the rest of my life.  I also like the double entendre of yarn = story.  I\’m an equal opportunity textile addict.

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    When we moved into our bigger flat, I had the opportunity to set up an office (which, if you have the chance to do it, take it: it\’s heaven).  This, of course, meant that I had to move all the bits and pieces of my stash from one place to another.  I did have it somewhat organized, but I wanted to take the opportunity to make it Martha Stewart organized.

    Best-laid plans, and all that.

    I discovered something that surprised me.  I\’m a right-brained thinker, which wasn\’t the surprising part.  Because of that, I found that too much organization killed the fun of having the stash.  I no longer could wander into my mess and find something at random on which to work.  Now it felt like a duty:  finish this project, and then this one, and that one.

    What to do?

    I went to Big Lots and bought myself a three-drawer storage cart on wheels.  This now lives next to my spot on the couch and I can hide all my in-process mess in there if I need to.  The rule is strict:  no organization whatsoever in the drawers.  They\’re clear plastic, so I can see what\’s in them, but the drawers keep them dust and fur-free.  It\’s the best of both worlds – I can have my mess, and hide it, too.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    How do you organize your hobbies?

  • Y Is For… Yarn! – Of course!

    Y Is For… Yarn! – Of course!

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    I love yarn, (which is probably obvious, since I wrote about the joys of a yarn stash on my main blog today, too).  But I do love the stuff – I adore digging my hands into it, squeezing it, feeling it reflect the heat of my hands back to me.  I relax when I feel yarn – it\’s a very tactile sense of calm.  Sometimes, when I\’m working on a new design project and don\’t yet see the pattern in my mind, I will walk around the house holding a ball or skein of the yarn.  Doing that lets me meditate with it, commune with it, and let it speak to me.

    I know that probably sounds a little wooly-bully (or, let\’s face it, a little nuts), but it\’s true.  Designing for me is a very tactile process.  I think it has to do with the fact that I don\’t translate 2D to 3D in my head, so my design process is physical and not conceptual.  By holding the yarn, I literally \”get a feel for it\” and am able to see what kind of textile I want to create with it.  Is it light and airy?  Do I want to make something lacy?  Is it heavy and chunky, with a strong body?  Cables might be more the ticket.  This particular yarn in the picture is a Merino wool and alpaca blend with a little bit of silk I think, if memory serves.  It doesn\’t have a whole lot of bounce to it, so it\’s not very springy; but it\’s very soft.  The shine that it has, which isn\’t all that visible in this picture due to the lighting, says \”sparkle\” to me – and I plan to use beads in the lace.

    What about you, Dear Reader?
    Do you think in words, images, sensations, or something else?