Tuesday, October 30, 2012

You are in my thoughts....

Happy Tuesday guys. I wanted to take a few minutes to just recognize all my blogging friends who are being effected by Hurricane Sandy.

I don't know too much about it but I know it's a big one and many people are hiding out and trying to stay safe. I want you all to know that you are in my thoughts and I hope you are all safe and sound, knitting away. I don't know what I'd read without so many of you! I love all your blogs and the comments you always leave me.

So this post is to all the East Coast Bloggers out there! Stay Safe guys!

~Lisa


Saturday, October 27, 2012

Saturday Evening Book Review: I LOVE HATS!

Hi fellow bloggers. I feel like I am a bit inconsistent with my book reviews, but school and life and well everything is just a bit much right now. But rest assured I will keep doing these reviews as long as there are books to choose from at my library. Yes I've reviewed A LOT but there still seems to be a fair selection which may even be growing.

Take, for example, the first book I am about to review. It has a 'new' sticker on it! That alone was calling my name. And let me just say, it's probably one of the few books I've looked at where I literally want to knit EVERY PATTERN! What is it you say? Well...

Weekend Hats by Cecily Glowik MacDonald and Melissa Labarre

Likes:
-The premise. As mentioned in the intro, they asked designers to make hats they'd love to wear or give as gifts. Also, they talk about how hats are a great 'break' project that can only take a weekend.
-The photos are just lovely!
-Instead of only listing a certain yarn brand/type, they say the weight required, so you can switch out.
-The tips and techniques listed with patterns are great ways to learn new skills for new hats!

Dislikes:
-Honestly, the only dislike is that it's an expensive book which means my wallet will not be happy when I break down and buy it!

Favorite Patterns:
-I can't list them all, that'd be too long! So check out here: Linky. I really cannot just choose a few.

Overall, LOVE this book! I am on a hat spree and this will just feed that addiction if I cave and buy it :)

Exquisite Little Knits by Iris Schreier and Laurie J. Kimmelstiel
Likes:
-The idea of patterns for luxury yarns.
-The way the book is divided by yarn type. Especially since it's sometimes hard to nail down patterns specifically for certain yarn types (like ribbon, lattice etc)
-The intro to each section explains the yarn type.
-The patterns have zoomed in pictures of what the yarn you need looks like. 

Dislikes:
-Here we go again, but it's mostly scarves and accessories. Don't you guys get the feeling that a lot of my 'dislikes' are the same from book to book????
-Many of the patterns seem a bit ugly, but maybe that's just the colors in the photo?

Favorite Patterns:

Overall, this is just another one of those novelty books filled with small stuff. There are so many out there that they all seem the same now! 

So today was probably the most unproductive I've been all year. I slept in until 11 and then my parents came up for the football game and that literally killed the whole day. But...KSU WON! We are not 8-0 for our season. Heck yes baby!

Oh AND my parents brought gifts. Pumpkin bread and money to order myself one of these bad boys! I cannot wait to get it, I've been needing a swift forever and these look super duper nice!

I hope everyone is having a graet weekend. I don't think I'll get anything done tomorrow either, I am just not feeling it? Do you ever feel that way? Like you have SO MUCH to do but you'd rather wait and be busy all week then do it on the weekends? That's me this weekend for sure. I am however knitting up a new still life for painting. But that barely counts as homework if it involves watching Netflix during it.

~Lisa


Thursday, October 25, 2012

Handspun and Art! (Opinions needed!!)

It's Thursday! Tomorrow starts the weekend, which for me is jam packed with way too much stuff. Between studio, a football game with my parents and lots of things to plan, it's gonna be busy!

I recently finished up some handspun yarn I wanted to share with you all. It's not perfect by any means, but since I was making drawings from it and also planned on using it for my Headbands that I want to sell, I figured it didn't have to be.

(Sorry in advance for the cruddy photos, lately my camera has had some focus issues)


Handdyed superwash merino in a really pretty rainbow colorway, plyed with undyed superwas merino. Probably one of the prettiest yarns I've ever dyed and spun. Now if I could only remember the colors I used to make it so pretty!


Handdyed lime green and yellow super wash merino, plyed back on itself. For my first attempt at plying on itself, it went well. Much more subdued and pretty in real life.


And the drawings I produced in the process! I have plans to mat these and sell that at a craft show for Relay in November. I was also hoping to get some opinions on potentially selling these elsewhere.  

After reading all the amazing posts about Reinbeck (sp?) I got to thinking that maybe I could sell drawings like these at fiber festivals in my area. I mean, they are super easy to make, and totally one of a kind. Plus they're unique and involve fiber in the process of making. What do you guys think? Would fiber festivals be interested in this type of product? I'd love some input before I waste more time making these!

Happy Fall everyone! It got down to 50 here today, and it was 80 yesterday! Go figure !!!

~Lisa 

Sunday, October 21, 2012

No Longer 21

Wow guys, WOW. I'm 22. Just a year ago I turned 21. It was such a big deal then! And now, here I am. Another year older and no longer looking forward to being a certain age. I am still enjoying celebrating them thought!


I tried sushi for the first real time last night! What I ordered wasn't raw, but still AMAZING! I did try the raw stuff, compliments of my buddy sitting next to me :)


Going to Hibatchi places is always so much fun with your friends :)


So at 11:30 PM, after watching Aladdin, my friend Lynnsey decided that it was stupid to just leave with 30 minutes left until my actual birthday (today!) so we went to Walmart and bought balloons, and bubbles, and glow straws! 


Seriously, they are drinking straws with glow sticks in them!


Oh what a fun evening we had!

~Lisa

Friday, October 19, 2012

Mandatory Friday Update

It's been a pretty intense week for me. I had a crit in my drawing class, a self portrait for Figure, as well as Relay and Painting Society stuff to get done. And next week promises to be the same type of mess. The only thing that really go me through this week was the promise of my birthday and seeing all my friends on Saturday :)

I feel like I haven't posted in a while and maybe that's just because I have nothing to post about. So I am going to share with you a picture of my finished self portrait:


Naturally, I loved it, and then the teacher pointed out some issues (like the eyes are a bit high) and then that's all I notice. Either way, she loved it too, especially my color and space. So I still got an A. Maybe I'll fix the eyes anyways though?


As an extra bonus, I'll share with you my drawing project right now. All of the above drawings were made in my backpack box! I love the results I get and how different they are between walking (the top one) and actually jogging (the bottom 2). I am trying to do 1 a day no matter what the exercise because I want to arrange them into a grid based on days when all is said and done. 

I hope you all have a great weekend. Mine will be super busy between painting studio (which I kinda BS-ed this week due to drawing stuff) and my birthday (yay 22!) and well everything!

~Lisa


Sunday, October 14, 2012

Fiber + Art Update

Man guys, I wish I could update more, but as busy as I am with school and life it's hard to find time to work on projects, let alone post about them. However, I do have some things that have made progress that I'd like to do a brief blog about today. 


Mom's Milanese Wrap is finally coming along and going smoothly. Just call me the stitch marker queen, because I could not do this without them. I tend to get that way with lacey projects, always having to put markers after every section. It sure does help though. Hopefully this will be done in time for Christmas. My mom asked me about making it last week again, but I just told her 'maybe...we'll see, I'm really busy'. She doesn't even know this is coming!


My finally fall shawl for Eveyln's KAL is coming along slowly but surely. I was keeping it strictly at studio, and I will probably take it back tomorrow. I have taken up to working on it during breaks in our figure class. I got quite a bit done last night actually, thanks to Ivy and our skype knit night! I hope that happens again, because it was so fun :)



Me and my Relay for Life team are doing a craft show around Thanksgiving, and I plan on selling handspun headbands as well as drawings. So far I have about 20 drawings! I have been really working on these a lot during the weekends. I'm really excited for this yarn too! The rainbow is stunning! I really wish I could remember what colors I used to make it that pretty :( . I plan to ply the rainbow with some pure undyed white, so it doesn't get so confusing, and so that I can maximize the rainbows!


Finally, we have to do full body self portraits in my figure class and we are only allowed to use a mirror. I knew I wanted to do myself knitting, but wasn't sure if I could pull that off with a mirror. But guess what! I think I did. My right hand needs a bit of work, but other than that, I think given the circumstances, this is pretty good and actually looks a bit like me. I am going to ink wash over this sometime soon.

I hope the weekend is treating you all great, I know it is me :)

~Lisa


Wednesday, October 10, 2012

WIP Wednesday...AND COOKIES!

Today's WIP Weds is short, sweet and too the point. Oh and mostly photos!

When you are an artist, your whole apartment is your studio. 
(Fig 2 and Drawing 3 Homework)

Literally, whole apartment. (Spindle drawings in progress)

And of course, you have to have a knitting corner!

My current studio room, occupied by my drawing homework. 

The single most amazing cookies EVER.

It's not a WIP but I really needed to share these with all of you. Lately I have been addicted to Pinterest, especially for the recipes. Well I have a whole board (Ways to Make Me Fat) and as Painting Society president it is my duty to provide sweets and experiment with recipes on them. So why not attempt something from said board? So last night I took a crack at Orange Dreamsicle Cookies and man are they amazing. 

A few tips:

Make sure you DO NOT press down the cookie dough. Also do not over bake, these are so much better soft.
I added a couple spoonfuls of Orange Juice to them also.
Understand that it's going to be a mess washing your grater after you zest your oranges. 

Anyways, these turned out so amazing! I had 3 in one sitting :/ 

Have a great week guys!

~Lisa

Don't forget to check out Tami's Amis!
Oh and if you want to follow me on Pinterest, click HERE!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Book Review at Last.

Well, it's been a good 3 weeks since I even did a book review. And now it's late, go figure. Sorry guys, life has been hectic and I haven't really felt like doing them. That and the book selection at the library is starting to run low on books. I know right? That's not supposed to happen!!

Knitted Comfort for the Sole by Lena Maikon and Leisure Arts

Likes:
-The creative take on some of the sock patterns. Many of them are very unique and something I would never think of.
-They have foot tracing sizes in the back for the slipper patterns.
-There are visuals/photos for pretty much every technique you may not know how to do.
-There is something for everyone.

Dislikes:
-Although very creative, (in my opinion) most of the patterns are rather ugly. Maybe it's the yarn they used?
-All the patterns do not list a specific yarn brand, just the type needed. While this may seem good, I think it could also be an issue because some people may not know how to match the type to an actual yarn.

Favorite Patterns:
Wavy Sea Socks
Summer Net Socks -- Really creative idea

Overall, I was a bit disappointed in this book. Yes the ideas are creative and a lot of people probably love them, but for me it's just a little too wild and weird.

One Skein by Leigh Radford
Likes:
-Unlike the 'one skein wonders' books, the photos are WITH the projects.
-Patterns for every age, gender etc.
-A very lovely intro on where the author got her inspiration.
-Divided by type of project you are making
-Like a lot of books, she explains where her inspiration for the projects came from

Dislikes:
-Well, hmmm? 
-The only thing I can really think of is that a lot of one skein books tend to repeat similar ideas. This is not different. I have seen many similar patterns elsewhere

Favorite Patterns:
Labyrinth Circle Rug -- Great for scraps!
Unisex Gloves

Overall, I really like this book and the patterns it presents. They are all simple, cute and fun! I really want to make one of those rugs :)

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. I have had a pretty productive one so far, not really school productive, but productive none the less.

~Lisa


Wednesday, October 3, 2012

WIP (and 1 FO) Wednesday.

Wow, it's Wednesday already? Where did the week go? It always seems like once Wednesday hits the rest just flies by!

I'm excited to share my latest FO with you all today. I've only worn them once but they are already keeping my wrists nice and toasty! Beribboned Wrists by my good blogger friend Alicia Landi. I fell in love with this pattern the instant I saw her publish it and when I died some dk yarn this summer with berries I knew it was the perfect match. To finish them off I had some pretty blue ribbon left over from a needle case my friend Ivy had made me!



After completing these this weekend and still having a whole skein plus a little more of the berry yarn, I thought "Why not make a matching headband" and so (after asking for permission) I started my improv Beribboned Headband! It's coming along pretty nicely, but a little tedious with all the stockinette stitch.



Finally on my list of WIP's for the week I have the shawl I started last week as part of Evelyn's Project: Stash KAL. I worked on this the whole way to and from my Grandma's birthday get together last weekend and made significant progress. The plan is to just go until I run out of yarn; hopefully this will be enough to make it a decent size.


My mom's wrap is currently going nowhere fast. I worked on it at Knit Night last week and ended up frogging out all I had completed. That lace, as easy as it is, is messing me up. So I'm putting in a life line and hopefully I'll get to it this weekend again!

I've spent quite a bit of time at studio this week so far and it's really paying off. I am very proud of where my painting is going that's for sure :) I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their weeks and is as productive as I am!

~Lisa

For more WIP's check out Tami's Amis!