Saturday, February 25, 2012

Where Will My Life Take Me?

So that past few weeks have been a mix of productiveness and laziness. I wish I could say that I've been nothing but productive, both in my school work and in my fiber work (s), but sadly that isn't always the case.  Everyone needs a break sometimes, and mine have (sadly) been in the form of Facebook games.

But enough about that, what I really want to talk about today is my art and future. I am currently an art major, getting a double BFA in Painting and Drawing.  If I can get it to work out, I will graduate from Drawing in Spring of 2013 and Painting in Fall of 2013.  It's going to be A LOT of work, especially next semester (3 advanced studios in one semester....) but if art is truly my passion I know I can pull it off.

I know I have almost another 2 years of undergrad, but I'm already thinking about what's next, and frankly I am VERY scared.  I seriously cannot see myself doing anything.  Grad school would be very nice, as being in the art world it's hard to get anywhere without a Masters.  But that's not what's eating me right now.  What's really getting me down is feeling like I'm just throwing away money at undergrad right now.

Let me explain.  When I applied to KSU, I wanted to do Graphic Design.  That quickly changed within my first semester, when I decided I'd rather just paint, because I like traditional art better.  And then after my first year I went into this "I want to work for DISNEY!" mindset, that is before I found out everything they do is on computers now.  What I was really interested in was concept art and background painting, which is apparently primarily Photoshop now.  So that idea is out the window (for now). I'm not shunning Photoshop, in fact at one time I wanted to learn how to digitally paint, but I just don't like it enough to want to make a career out of it. More recently I have decided that what I really want to do is Illustration, and with that comes my most recent dilemma.  I feel like to really get into the Illustration world I need to have a degree in it, maybe I'm wrong, but having the words "degree in Illustration" on my resume would definitely help.  Sadly, KSU does not have an Illustration program.  See my dilemma now?

So I would like to go to grad school for Illustration, but programs for that are few and far between and many of them want previous knowledge of the subject.  This is why I am feeling like I am throwing away money right now, because there are TONS of undergrad degrees in Illustration all over the country and for the most part, that's all I'd need to get a job in it. However, I am 3 years into my degree right now and given the amount of money we've already shelved out, transferring and starting over isn't really an option.

So for now I guess I will continue to work towards my Painting and Drawing degree, both of which I really do enjoy.  I'm sorry for rambling, but this has been on my mind a lot recently and sometimes sharing it with the world and putting my thoughts into written words helps me think things over.

Anyone out there know anything about how I've been feeling lately?

I promise my next post will be more optimistic and art/knitting related! For now I will leave you with some pictures of my most recent drawings.


 ~Lisa

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Little Purple Fuzzies

I never thought something as smooth and shiny as bamboo would leave little purple fuzzies all over my floor, but I guess I was wrong!

I haven't picked up my spindle in quite a while, mostly because I didn't have much fiber in my stash and money in my wallet.  However, last week I found myself picking up my spindle again.  My fiber of choice? A ball of purple bamboo I purchased at Wicked Stitch back in July.

Bamboo is one of those fibers that seemed really scary, for I am used to animal fibers and the one time I tried this fiber before it ended in miserable failure. But after reading a few posts by Sara (A Year at the Wheel), I knew I wanted to give it a second try.  Making sure I had minimal distractions I set to work.

As I spun I noticed a few things that are probably unique to bamboo fiber.  One, you have to have much more control over our spindle, because if you don't the fibers will pull apart much easier, or they will become overspun and kinky.  Two, the fibers pull apart easily anyways.  This is the kinda of fiber that comes off in strands instead of chunks, which means that if you draft too much you will end up with very thin strands that may even pull apart later.  Finally, when spinning bamboo, you have to spin your spindle a lot faster or once again, the fibers will come apart.

So far I have spun about half of my ball. I plan on going back to Wicked Stitch in the next couple of weeks and buying more, maybe in a second color, so that I may ply the 2 together to maximize my yardage. I am a little nervous (as usual) about how to ply and set the twist, but I know I will overcome it and by summer time I will have a beautiful handspun bamboo scarf!

~Lisa

Friday, February 10, 2012

Slowly But Surely Effortless

I just realized that it has been over a week since I updated, but I honestly have had nothing to say about my knitting/spinning/artsy life.  I've been increasingly busy with school, especially my drawing class (you can see an image of my first drawing of the semester on the "my art" page). My teacher is expecting a lot and in return it has given me next to no time to actually knit.

I did manage to get some progress on my Effortless Cardigan. In fact, even without knit nights due to Relay meetings, I managed to finish the body of it and bind it off today.  I 'tried it on' to see how it was looking and that in turn made me very excited for finishing this thing!

If I could, I'd take a picture of me wearing it, but that's difficult and it isn't done yet anyways. My only concern at the moment is that it is a bit big, especially around the sleeves. Going down a size would have led to it being too small though, so I didn't have much choice. At least I know it will fit over other things when I wear it!

I started sleeve 1, and I think I'm going to finish those fast, working in the round with stockinette always makes things go by fast. I am a bit scared to pick up the side stitches and make the ribbed bands, as I have never picked up stitches like that before.  Any pointers?

I'm sorry if this was a bland post, but I've been so busy lately that I felt like I had to post SOMETHING even if it wasn't much.  Well, time to get back to the drawing board, literally!

~Lisa