Category: Knitting

Knock Knock! Who’s There? Oh, it’s You..Again

Where have I been this past week?  Right here, at home, visiting with Resistance.  Yeah, it hit me again, that lousy Resistance, with a capital R.  Sometimes things go a little off track and lands me smack in the blahs of creativity.  Meaning no creativity.  Meaning resistance mode.

What’s an artist to do?  Well, first I decided to lay off bugging and nagging my inner artist.  I gave in to resistance and took a nap.  Maybe it was well deserved.  Feeling off is not going to help anything, but dropping out of it can.  So I did.  That’s all I could do on Day 1 visit with Resistance.

To back up a bit: I ran out of paper in the travel watercolor pad I was using.  Bad move #1- I didn’t shop for another pad.  I still have paper, but it’s larger.  So, I decided to just use the larger paper for the next work.  I set up a small still life of the usual items and added some interesting agate stones I have for my jewelry making.  Maybe they were too interesting?  Make that Bad move #2.

As I was free from babysitting one day this week, which is another story I will have to tell another day, I sat down to paint this set up.  Remember, bigger paper.  I began to sketch in the objects with paint, no pencil drawing.  I had hoped to do twenty minutes.  Bad move #3-20 minutes on big paper with interesting items that had detail, lots of detail.

How did it come out?  Disaster.  Knock-knock, Resistance at the door!  Hi, how have you been?  Come on in!  It’s been such a long time!

The next day I took that nap.  The day after that I pushed myself outside to take some photos of the Japanese maple tree with it’s bright red leaves.  I wanted to post them, but Resistance wouldn’t let me saying we should have a coffee together.  So I had coffee in my ‘dream corner’ of the living room and looked out the window at the back garden.  Resistance told me to just leave that horrible painting on the dining room table where I started it.  Sure, look at it every time I pass through to the kitchen, why not?

The following day I ran my errands and totally ignored the painting and anything to do with it.

Do you know how hard it is to fight the soothing call of Resistance?  I must say I’ve been lucky these last few months.  Keeping resistance at bay was a breeze.  It was smooth sailing for a while, plugging into creativity, staying in the mode with 20 minutes at a time, happy with the process and feeling good about the outcome of it.  Nice work.  I guess a visit with Resistance was inevitable sooner or later.

What did I do after all that?  I knit.  After I knit, I am going to ditch that painting.

Always Busy Doing Something

When I was a kid I was always busy doing some thing.  I could amuse myself quite well.  Being the first born and alone, until my sister came along by the time I was five, I had drawings to do, daydreams to have, a special imaginary friend, and a grandmother with her own creative and imaginative spirit.

My grandmother lived with us.  She would draw pictures, make her own dolls, sew and knit clothes, and tell me the stories of her life.  We were a lot alike that way.  She taught me how to use a tiny crochet hook to make lace doilies with french crochet threads I can barely see with glasses now.   She told us stories of when she was young in Greece, how they made their own toys.  Her brothers and sisters were older and she had to amuse herself, too.  Later, when she came here to the U.S., in the middle of the Great Depression she had to make do with what she had.  Many times a dress she knit that she no longer favored ended up being reknit into a sweater, and later on, a blanket!  She’d just rip it out, untangle the skeins and knit a new item.  Talk about reuse, repurpose and recycle.

I always have many projects going on at once.  This time I finished a couple of things!  The new baby was welcomed with two handknit blankets.  The teal item I showed you here a little while ago was a pretty, knit lap sized baby blanket with a wavy border all around it.  The second was a crocheted afghan in a fun shell pattern, large enough for when she gets older and has a big bed.  Covering all the bases here!  The fact that I finished two items was an accomplishment.

Above are my projects at the moment.  Three pairs of socks, one of which is just for me.  I think I deserve a pair of handknit socks, too.  The pastel thing is a baby sweater I started when I first picked up knitting after years of not knitting.  I chose a baby sweater because I thought it was a nice small item that I wouldn’t have to really size to a regular body.  I had knit scarves before, and crocheted plenty of blankets and doilies, but not a garment.

What did I learn from knitting a baby sweater?  I learned that the yarn is thinner and so it takes longer to knit!  Great.  And, since I hadn’t finished putting it together, needing to knit another sleeve, I realized my gauge was off anyway and ripped the whole thing out.  I took it apart and reknit the front, the back, the little pocket and the one sleeve.  Now that I have a baby to give it to I would like it to look right.  When gauge is off baby, it’s not going to fit anything, anyone, even a baby!

See those rocks on the side up there?  I took them from the beach when we went on our excursion to Greenport, NY.  My plan is to throw them together with the sea shells from Pt. Lookout beach near my home and paint them.  Next up, quick still life.  Umm, I’m ignoring the hydrangea for now.  Doing alot of that lately.  Yes, I’m busy.

Painting and a Peek

Made some headway on this watercolor painting yesterday. Slowly added in the darks so I don’t go crazy and ruin it.  Taking photographs in between painting sessions helps me see where I’m going with it.  It’s as if I’m stepping away from the work and squinting at it to see where to go next.  I like it!  If I can keep a light hand on it we should be fine.  I’d like to avoid disaster if it’s at all possible.

Oh, by the way, here’s a little peek at the finished thing.  I can’t say any more about it except that it’s knitted and it’s this color that you see.  We’ll discuss at a later date.  There’s too much to say and I have to stop now before I shoot my mouth off.  The time will come and we’ll dish, but not until I say so.

Yeah, I like suspense, too.

Finishing Something Else

Every day I try to work on this newest painting.  I’ve abandoned the basement studio for the time being to work on this outside, or at my kitchen table, where the light is brighter. 

When not working on it I prop up the painting on a mini easel so I can eyeball it as I walk through the house doing my chores.  Here and there I can stop what I’m doing if I have an idea and throw some paint in an area that I see needs something. 

I usually have my work in progress in my general vicinity when not working on it.  It gives me a different perspective and I’m able to live with the work.  Then again, it’s nice to work in the studio and leave when done working, leave it all behind and go on to life.  But right now this is working for me.  It’s keeping me in the game, so to speak, so Mr. Resistance can keep his distance.

Distraction was never my middle name, but it is now.  Keeping me in the loop is a tough job and I could use all the help I can get.  With a few things working at the same time, all different media, I could be drawn away to any of them and never finish one.  “Finish Something” has been my mantra.

Most evenings I like to knit, if I’m not too exhausted.  This week I finished something!  I was determined to finish this one thing and I did it.  I sewed up edges and hid all the dangling yarn ends. The bad thing about finishing this knit is now I’ve got my eye on different yarn and a new project I’m dying to start.  Bad.

The good thing is that the yarn I’m eyeing has not been available in the local shop I visit.  The longer it’s not available the better, otherwise I’ll never finish anything else.

So That’s That With That

While typing away here, thinking about the Greece vacation, trying to decide how to finish that garden painting, and overall impatience and indecision that is my usual trademark, I found out I had a few orders in my Etsy shop.  When did that happen?
A buyer purchased this set of spa cloths I knit.  They’ve been up on the site for quite a while.  Months ago someone bought a set, but the site’s been sort of dry for some time.  I’m not sure how much I like Etsy for art.  The artists there have been complaining that there’s a lot of mix ups in the search feature.  If a shopper is looking for original art, the search will include a lemon reamer among the paintings.  What’s up with that?  How confusing is that to someone looking for an oil painting or a pencil drawing? 
I have a few small watercolors on Etsy, a couple of small handknit items, and the bead jewelry I’ve become fascinated with lately.  The paintings I’ve been doing this past year haven’t made it to the online shop yet.  I’m ambivalent about putting them up and having them sit there.  But maybe that’s the idea?  I don’t know. 
So I prepared the spa cloth order and sent them out.  Yesterday I noticed I had another order for the same set of cloths.  What a thrill!  I put aside the garden watercolor for now and got busy knitting this order.  And then today I saw that a friend of my mom purchased a couple of small watercolors.  Another thrill!  Things are looking up!
Oh, and by the way, we’ve decided to nix the Greece vacation this year.  There’s too much going on here and there to warrant knocking ourselves out to go.  Better off staying put, taking a short trip to the east end of Long Island, knitting, painting, beading, and waiting for my first grandchild to be born. (Thrill!)
So that’s that with that.

More Yarn to the Rescue, or Should I Just Return?

Searching for the right color of turquoise, and to keep myself from losing my connection with creativity by not giving in to resistance, I will be up to my eyeballs in various shades of different yarns if I don’t get results, soon.  That first order was more green than blue.  This second stab is more blue than green.  When will it end?

Could it be this computer monitor that’s throwing me off?  Okay, so I will admit, again, that I don’t want to visit the local yarn shop to browse in person because I hate the clerks there.  They are so nasty I don’t understand how they stay in business.  Why are yarn shop proprietors so nasty?  You would think they’d be happy to have knitters or crocheters come through the door at all, and be smiley and helpful!  No, not here.  They scowl a half-hearted hello as a greeting and look down their nose at you if you ask questions about their uber-expensive yarn.  Not a fun experience by any means, so I avoid them at all costs.

Shopping online is faster, cheaper and you don’t have to deal with yarn snobs.  All the info is right there: gauge, yarn content, needle size, washing instructions, yardage. The only things you cannot do is feel it, smell it, or see it with the naked eye.  Oh yes, smell is a factor with wool, it could stink!  Yes you want the yarn to have a certain tactile quality depending on the item of your project.  And the color could be crucial, or not. Returns are usually easy and may cost the price of shipping and I can deal with that. At the local shop they only offer exchanges for returns, not cash back.  But how much is the price of nastiness? No thanks!

The first yarn order of greener turquoise was not the gauge I needed for the project, but I love it so I’m keeping it for something else.  It’s a superwash wool yarn which means it can go in the washing machine, but it may have to air dry.  That means a longer drying time.  Problem or not?  The second order of bluer turquoise has everything I want in a washable and dry-able yarn, but the color might be off and as I tried making a swatch for gauge it was sticking on my needles.  Is that a problem with pima cotton or just me?  I have questions.  Return or keep?

Should I bite the bullet, cover my eyes, hold my nose, be brave, throw myself in the lion’s den by going to the nearby yarn shop and asking my questions?  I’m shaking just thinking about it.

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Go…

Wrapped up in the latest B.S. going around and my own resistance, what does one do?  Well, I do a couple of things.  I can’t really say which one is the go-to perfect thing for me to do when I’m frustrated.  People would think, “Oh you’re an artist so you’ll go paint or draw something.”  No, I don’t go there when I’m annoyed.  Wish I did, but that’s not it. 

Some people go shopping.  My shopping wouldn’t make a dent anywhere.  Sometimes I go shopping and walk around the store with the things I’ve chosen and by the time I’m ready to check out I’m already done with the items I was holding.  No sale!

Dancing is a feel good thing for me, but I feel stupid dancing alone in my house.  Gardening is another good thing to do, but here in New York there’s no gardening going on right now.  Nope, not with all the half melting snow still around. 

From what I’ve been reading lately on resistance, it’s good to do something mundane, repetitive, or ordinary.  The Artist’s Way said to do your mending!  Who has mending today?  Nobody mends socks anymore.  You pop a toe hole and toss the socks in the trash these days.  Or maybe now with the huge recession people will think twice about throwing clothes away when they pop a hole.  I mended socks until I could no longer mend them.  So there.

Want to know what I did?  I ordered yarn!  Yup.  In the heat of the moment I went online and ordered yarn.  Enough to make a kind of big thing.  I’m not saying what kind of thing in case anyone’s looking over here!  And…I knit!  I took out every half knit thing I had this week and checked them over.  Then I started knitting.  Those half done socks from a couple of weeks ago?  Done.  The other pair of baby socks?  Done.  The new order has not arrived yet, but I can’t wait to get my hands on it!  Yeah, yarn gets my juices going! 

Painting is hard.  Knitting is easy!  Ordering yarn is even easier!  I’m licking my lips just thinking about the mailman coming with my yarn order.  And the color is delicious.  Come to think of it, it’s the colors that really get me.  Yarn colors can be amazing!  Just go visit a yarn shop and see all the colors and textures.  Some yarns are real eye candy.  Heaven can be found in a yarn shop.  OK, most yarn shop proprietors are the meanest, nastiest, snobbiest people on earth.  Oh yes they are and the shop nearest my house is a testament to that.  Yarn is not cheap by any means and they have the nerve to be nasty!  So I snub them and order on line.  It’s great.  The only draw back is that you can’t see it all or touch it.  It’s fine and less expensive, sometimes free shipping, no tax.  Wonderful not to deal with crazy people. I’ve had enough of dopey, crazy people for the moment.

The other thing I like to do to escape is read. What am I reading NOW you ask?   Take a look below and let out a nice laugh, go ahead, I laughed too!

 

Negativity and Non-productivity

All this snow and the cold weather is wearing me down.  Not to mention the dopey things people do, how they act, and that I have a reaction to it all is just annoying.  The jealousy of other people and the hate that comes with it is tiring. What’s wrong with people?  It wears away my motivation to work on anything and there’s alot of stalled works in progress at the moment.  I’m busy thinking what I’m going to say to these people when I see them later this week.  If I could focus on my jown stuff and not on this junk it would be wonderful.  At least the energy it takes to react to negativity could be channeled in a positive way.  But no.  Now I’m stuck.  Again.

Rather than work at doing, I decided to take inventory.  Taking stock was a good distraction.  I took a look at the bead jewelry I’ve already made, lined them up to evaluate what worked and what didn’t.  The newest order of semi-precious stones arrived a couple of days ago and I sorted through them.  Ideas came to me as to what I want to make with the agate stones.  Blue, purple and pink agate free form stones are really stunning all strung together.  I put them away in an organized manner.

After the stones I looked through my knitting patterns and books. There were patterns I know I’m not going to use so they went out.  Yarn for all kinds of projects were sorted through as well as my needle collection.  I separated the heavier yarns from the sock yarns, the double pointed needles from the straights, and the connected kind for large projects. 

While sifting through the patterns I noticed a pattern some knit bloggers were working on.  It’s a dainty knitted doily from the 1940’s I guess, but a blogger knit it in heavy yarn on circular needles as a lap blanket or a throw.  I rummaged through my yarn stash and found enough yarn to try it out along with the right needles.  This pattern is worked from a chart part of the way and I’d never used a chart before.  So I casted on and kept going.  I’ll see how far I go until I get crazy.  So far, so good.

It just goes to show that a little cleaning up can reap some rewards.  I needed the distraction to help me get out of my head for a while. 

Done with the Course, on with the Process

I’ve finally closed the book, so to speak, on The Artist’s Way.  I re-read the last chapter, answered the Week 12 questions and the tasks, and did the check-in.  It’s been a great motivator and there are things I did during the course that I believe I will continue to do for a long time. 

The three pages of free thought journaling every morning will definately stay.  It’s been wonderful to write down the stupid things I think I do, how dopey I think I might be, and be done with it.  And the artist’s date is a must-do, whether it’s an hour or a whole day thing.  Anything I can do to keep the creativity coming. 

Just showing up at my desk with no agenda has allowed all kinds of ideas to flow.  Once I’m there I start thinking about something and suddenly I find myself painting for hours, where I had no intention to do so.

The Artist’s Way has allowed me to be creative in whatever medium I feel like using at the moment.  If I knit I don’t feel guilty that I didn’t paint.  I know I’m  “doing” anyway.  I’m more comfortable knowing it’s the process not the outcome.  Show up and do, rather than think about it and don’t.

So the last few days have been a little hectic and I didn’t get to paint.  Besides, the light in my studio keeps shutting off for some reason and it’s caused me to avoid the space.  I hate sitting at my desk in the middle of something and the light shuts off.  I’ll have to get that fixed, but in the meantime I was knitting.  I finished another pair of socks for the online shop, worked a pair for a gift, and started another.  While I knit I think of colors, shapes, textures, ideas, designs, it’s great.  Knitting was a mini artist’s date with myself and the process of creating.  It’s a must.

Taking a Break to Knit

Sometimes when there are too many things going on at once I find it’s hard to slow down.  My to-do list has a to-do list!
The cherry blossoms watercolor painting is moving along smoothly and I’ve been finding time to get to it almost every day.  I’m afraid I’ll over-work it, as I’m known to do.  If that happens there’s no going back.  Watercolors are not very forgiving and things could get ugly real fast.

What do I turn to?  Knitting!  Yes, that’s right, on with the next project!  Like I don’t have enough things going on. 

Knitting is something you do sitting down.  I’ve knitted standing up, but it’s not that comfortable and sometimes the stitches are uneven.  When I have some free time or after dinner in my cozy spot, I sit and I knit.  I started this particular pair of socks on the plane on my trip to Florida in November. 

Sock knitting is addictive.  Once you learn to knit socks you can’t stop.  I have three pairs going on at once.  If I get bored with one color of socks I move on to another.  Just thinking about knitting on those socks makes me itchy.  It’s a close second to painting, I’ll say that.  Knitters talk about “the second sock syndrome”, but not me.  If I have three sets in the works I don’t get bored enough to give up on knitting up the second sock of the pair. 

Lately I’ve been getting allergy shots and this sock knitting is my companion.  Once a week I let them stab me with needles and I wait twenty minutes to see if I’ll have a reaction.  I mosey on to the waiting room and get cozy with my knitting.  It’s a blissful twenty minutes.  The thing is, I’m forced to occupy myself for that time.  I’m not home to do laundry, run errands, paint, I’ve got to sit there and wait.  People come and go, there I sit knitting.  I’m embarrassed to say I’ve been so involved in my sock that I’ve knitted way past the time I should be there. 

Knitting, along with painting, is always on the to-do list.