The Final Yarn ATC

It hasn't been blocked yet, but here it is. I did this last night while waiting for the kids to get ready for bed. I tried several other things before I did this. I tried a yellow sun with rays coming off of it. Didn't work. I just didn't have the right yarn to pull it off. I tried an orange footprint motif that I found on line. Cute, but still not right. I began thinking that the yarn on yarn look was just too much even though I was trying to keep the motifs simple. Then I thought maybe that was the problem...keeping it simple I mean. Maybe I didn't need simple, maybe I needed intricate. But what? As I was sitting there at my art table I suddenly remembered reading an article a year or so ago about "yarn doodling". I couldn't remember how the author did it, so I started playing around and came up with a way of "writing" by slipstitching. I chose the word "snow" because while I was trying to think of something to "write" I was staring vacantly out the patio window at all the snow outside (we got hit pretty good a little less than a week ago and it's still piled in huge drifts outside). I thought snow sounded as good as anything else at the moment..and if I didn't like it I could always rip it out and start over. Goodness knows I have enough practice at that! LOL The sun was setting and the sky was similar to the same blackish blue color of the yarn. I had white thread sitting there. It just seemed right, so I "doodled" the word "snow" and really liked the way it looked. The wool has a flecky, homespun sort of look to it and the stitch pattern was simple, so I thought the obviously handwritten word looked right. I decided to leave it. But it still needed something else, so I whipped out a little thread snowflake (about 2" across") to attach in the top space and voila! It's a little cutesy/country looking for my taste, but that's okay since I'm not keepin' it!

Crochet ATCs

A couple of days ago I created these ATC size (2.5" x 3.5") crocheted pieces for a yarn ATC swap. I used up some of my little scraps for these. The green one is an unknown type of heavy thread or very light weight yarn. (The same one I used for the thread bear as a matter of fact.) It's of "vintage" origin, probably late 70's or early 80's, and is almost an spring green-ish/avocado-ish color IRL. The multi-colored one used up a little of the sock weight yarn scraps from the socks I made earlier and a black mohair that I *love* but don't have enough of to do anything with. There's a third as well - a denim blue sock weight wool piece that still needs a little somethin'. I was originally thinking beads but that didn't work. Neither did the addition of another yarn as an accent, so I ripped that out. Now I'm back to just a plain blue rectangle. (Well, plain as in no embellishments. It has a pattern to it but it is less lacey than these two.) I'm thinking I'll try treating it as the background and adding a motif to it. We'll see how it turns out.

Tiny Teddy

I spent the last couple of days working on this little guy. I'm not happy with the proportions so I'm doing it over again. My son made off with this one anyway, so I *have* to do it over again! My original idea was to cover him with flowers. (Seeing as he is a spring green color I thought flowers were appropriate.) So once I change the proportions of the limbs that's what I plan on doing on the next one.

I have a thing for miniature toys and such. Have ever since I was a little girl. These miniature creations have absolutely captured my heart!

CAL socks are DONE

These socks were done as a crochet along (CAL) project on an e-list for sock crocheters. They were supposed to be *my* socks, but my son made off with them as soon as they came off the hook. Once he grows a little more he won't be able to do that and I'll have to make two pairs of the ones he likes, but *I* will get the first pair! lol I did get to try them on before my son made off with them and they fit great inside my Birkenstocks! I only had two skeins of sock yarn left so I made them ankle length instead of crew length like I wanted. It's okay though. It gives me an excuse to make more socks! One of these days I'll get around to knitting some too. I'd go ahead and start a new pair for myself but I'm totally out of sock yarn and the stores closest to me don't carry any. (Hmmm...I do have lots of mohair in my stash though...) If I used the multi-colored yarn again I think I'll make the heel and toe a solid color though. I love the way the yarn looks when worked in a spiral (like on the main body of the sock) but didn't care for the way it looked on the toe, heel and to a certain extent the ribbing around the top where I had to turn at the end of the rows.

I thought they turned out pretty well. The toe and heel look a little squared off on my son because his feet are slightly smaller, but on me they looked okay. The directions were great (they were written by one of the list members) and they worked up pretty fast as far as socks go. This was my one major crocheting project this week though. I worked a little on working in the ends of the sweaters that I finished last week, but the socks took most of my crocheting time. The only problem with being hit with the crocheting bug is that I'm spending so much time crocheting that I'm not getting to my paintings! Gotta' remedy that. I've got swap deadlines coming up.

A heap o' crochetin' goin' on

The crochet bug has hit with full force this winter! These are just a couple of the things I've made this week. I just sent the two bookmarks (made from patterns in a booklet which I don't have on hand at the moment) off for a swap. The mini bear, which is only about 4 1/2 inches high, was immediately spirited away by my daughter however. She has carried it everywhere and even took it to bed with her when it was nap time, so I don't think it will be getting sent in for its intended swap. (Hopefully I can save one of my bears from her loving clutches before the swap deadline gets here!) I'm doing a lot of little stuff for some reason. Maybe I've just had enough of the bulky yarns that I was working with for a while. In addition to these, I also finished a couple of ponchos and a sweater for my daughter. I started a new pair of socks and a new sweater for myself, a tiny little thread bear that is turning out really cute, and several other things. Some will make it to the finished stage, many will not. I'm a little too picky about my projects and end up ripping out more than I finish. Not so much because they are messed up but simply because I don't like the way they are turning out and don't want to waste my time finishing something that I'm not happy with. *sigh* So many crochet projects, so little time.

4x6 textural yumminess

I have a new scanner!!!
Unfortunately, I don't have any art to scan.
I sent off all the paintings and ATCs that I created recently just before we got the new scanner hooked up. So, these pics are taken with the digital camera. Not the best, but better than nothing.

These are three of the 4x6 paintings that I sent in for a swap on the Experimental Acrylics list. The dragonfly was a gel medium transfer of the image on an ATC i made a while back. I attached it to the support and then layered on more gel and paint while rubbing and scraping to get a more textural look. It's not quite what I envisioned, but its okay. The other two were experiments in texture that I created by pressing various materials into modeling paste and then painted with a combination of liquid and heavy body acrylics. I absolutely LOVE everything about them...the colors, the textures, everything! Rarely am I this pleased with just about every aspect of a painting, so having two that I loved was a treat indeed!