Let the Rain Come Down...

I currently have a Hilary Duff song stuck in my head. "Let the rain come down, I'm coming clean..."

Down here in Texas it has been pouring since yesterday morning, with no sign of letting up for another day or so. Hurricane aftermath and the change of seasons can really make things wet. 

I turned 25 on Wednesday. It feels like it should be some sort of milestone, but I don't feel much different.  To celebrate me and a friend went and saw the touring production of "Beauty and the Beast" at Texas A&M.  Another friend baked me a cake :) 

I have been feeling really down lately and I finally found a somewhat-solution.  I haven't painted in over two months, but decided on Monday that I needed to. So my spare bedroom is at last a studio.  The above is my current painting.  Small and simple, but ever so exciting!

Speaking of art, my former boss has asked me to paint a picture of her granddaughter.  She exploded my phone with photos and I finally figured out what I want to do.  With the magic of Photoshop I was able to put a different head onto the body pose from another phone.  Crazy right? 

But you gotta admit, this girl is a cute, cute doll. 

Rain has made me lazy.  Lazy enough to pop in movies and just knit. I finally finished the colored shawl I was working on. It's my own design, so I really was just messing around most of the time and experimenting with shape.  I thought it'd be cool if the sides could wrap around a bit and make almost a "Shrug".  I think it's going to work BUT I ran out of yarn so they aren't as long as I'd have liked. 

Instant gratification project in the form of a scarf for my poetry friend who is moving to Missouri this week.  It's colder there than here, so you can always use more scarves right??

Getting back into blogging, I'm going to try for Weekly Inspirations again:

Food: The restaurant I work at is a constant inspiration.  Take a look. Doesn't it all sound amazing? And we make almost everything from scratch!
Art: There are three new artists in Navasota. I've met two of them.  They're a cool group.  Want to learn more? Here's the blog :)
Knitting: I am surrounded by color, being an artist and all, and am constantly finding myself adding more to my Ravelry bundle "For the love of color".

Life:  What can I say. I'm trying.  I think the greatest inspiration in my life right now is Poetry.  I went to another open mic last week and the feature wrote this in the book I bought:

Which came at the perfect time. I'm applying for graduate schools, very slowly, and trying to get my life back in order.

Until next week!

~Lisa

Back on the Blog

Well friends, it has been almost two months since I touched my blog.  I have had so many things happening that it's just been hard to really want to sit down and share.  But this blog has been on my mind more and more lately, and I have decided to give it another go.  

Taking after my friend and fellow blogger, MySistersKnitter, I am going to try to do a once a week (hopefully Sunday) update, starting today.

Now I can't share EVERYTHING with you all, as that would be boring and take forever! So I'm going to share the highlights of the last couple of months with you instead. 

Best friend Rachel from Kansas visiting in early September. We were able to go to Galveston island as well as a Kelly Clarkson Concert :) 

The end of September brought an art fair that I was given a chance to vend at. It was a pretty successful weekend.

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One epic FO. I was finally able to make my tree ideas come true thanks to Stephanie at WC Mercantile.  For the month of October my giant trees are inhabiting her window.  These trees are made of layered cardboard wrapped in fabric with knitted balls on the branches. Not the most sturdy, but I am happy with the result. 

The Hill Country Yarn Crawl happened last weekend. I went with my knit group and we hit 6 of the 14 shops in one day. From top left clockwise my purchases:

The Knitted Wit in Velvet Elvis
Manos del Uruguay Lace (to go with the free shop pattern)

A cute wooden loom with the yarn shop's logo on it and some new cables for my interchangables
Shibui Silk cloud (gray) and Shibui Staccato (Black) for the shop's free pattern
Lovely merino that will be spun into something amazing.

Not pictured - 2 skeins of Malabrigo Sock from my own LYS. 

(Each shop offered a free knit and a free crochet pattern with the yarn for it being on sale!)

Starting another easy top. Lucente by Kennita Tully (a friend/designer/my former Manhattan, KS LYS owner) Super easy pattern and love these colors. 

Fall has at last arrived in TX and I am enjoying my back patio!

Want to see more of what I've been up to, including some finished knit projects? Check out my Instagram, Facebook and Ravelry.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.  My Birthday is on Wednesday (the big 2-5!!!!) and I plan to celebrate all week :P

~Lisa

Beginnings and Endings

I'm not going to lie - I am only updating right now because it's pouring out and I don't want to pack my car in the rain. However, I know that I am overdue for an update and have so many things to share!

My Navasota Residency comes to an end this Tuesday, although it's pretty much over now as most of my things are at the new place and I have been working a new job as of last week. It's been such a crazy year and so many things have happened within my art, knitting and personal life during the time. I'm definitely going to miss the studio time ! I did one final residency blog post over on Wordpress you can check out for more info. 

"Sleeping Moon Ice"

I did manage to finish the painting I referenced in my last post. And I had an extra week so I knocked out another! 

"Desperate Evening Sun"

On the knitting front, my sister loved her shawl! Doesn't it drape on her shoulders just perfect?

My other shawl - "woven colors" is very slow going right now. Both the lack of motivation and the sluggish speed that is flat colorwork are causing it to take some time. 

However, I did get some spinning done on the wheel - which is definitely my new obsession.  The second skein of the merino is complete (and already being knit!)

Things are pretty slow around here with all the moving. Once September hits I believe that things will settle down and more consistency will begin once again with my art and knitting time. 

Finally, I purchased some new art for my apartment last week. The one on the left is an assemblage of alcohol ink pieces by local artist - Barbara German - and the right is a painted tile by an Austin based artist (forgetful of name again) from a sale that another artist of mine was having. 

That being said, it's lunch time :) Have a great weekend my friends! 

~Lisa 

PS - New apartment photos are coming very soon ! 

Race to the Finish.

Guys.  I have 4.5 weeks left of my Residency in Navasota. Can you believe it? It's been almost a YEAR since I relocated to Texas! For the record, I am moving to Bryan (about 20miles down the road from where I am right now) BUT I won't have a real studio for awhile.

Given that my time is quickly racing by, I am working on getting 2 knit projects and a large painting done before I have to say goodbye to my time here. It's definitely going to be a stressful last few weeks.

I mentioned in my last post I was going home for a week or so to set up a show at my local library. I got it all set up and it looks great! The reception went well also - lots of old friends made it out :) 

The night before I left I decided to finish up my first skein on the wheel. I couldn't just leave it there for a week! It looks pretty good for a first attempt, but I am excited to get better!

On with the spinning, I decided to start a new batch the other night. This is some merino dyed by the owner of my LYS. I'm trying to go fingering weight and consistent. So far I'm doing ok, but having a few issues with underspinning. 

Before I left I also finished my "Alpha B Blue" shawl.  My first real lace shawl (but not lace-weight!) and only a couple of not-so-noticeable mistakes. Total win!

On the list of finished projects, I have this cute little wine cozy I made for my roommate this is also done. She's been such a sweetheart the last few weeks that I wanted to give her a gift. 

 While I was back in Kansas I could not resist the urge to go into the yarn shop there. Luckily my sister was with me and decided she wanted me to make her a shawl. This is the result. It's got about 15 rows left and I'm trying to finish it by mid August when they visit.
(yarn Louisa Harding Amitola, pattern Revontuli/Northern Lights)

And something for myself is on the needles as well. A self designed colorwork shawl. If I can figure out how to word it, I want to publish this pattern. 

(Yarn - Ella Rae Lace Merino Worsted)

And finally the large painting I mentioned. I have two weeks to finish this one before I have to hit clean up mode. I think I can do it. (right now it's about half done - it's gonna get darker!)

Isn't it crazy how time can just fly by and you can get so much done without noticing? Just re-reading this post has made me realize the last three weeks have been. I hope I can keep this mojo up for a bit longer!

~Lisa

I'm leaving you all with a photo of my family's new kitten - Gizmo - who is one heck of a stinker. He was jumping up my legs, eating plants and chasing his tail all week. 

Becoming a Monthly Thing

Yup. Blogging is pretty much a once a month, maybe more if I feel like it, thing. It's not that I don't have things to share, but I have so many other places I am sharing things on - Ravelry, Instagram, Facebook - that sharing on here keeps taking a back seat.

Starting off with some new oil paintings. Smaller works on wood. Not my best, but not awful either. I really just needed to knock out a couple more before my show in Salina next week. 

Second "Bad Oyster" shawl and already planning a third. This one was a shop sample for W.C. Mercantile. Playfully titled "Poseidon's Oyster".

My blue shawl is about 8 rows away from being complete, but that is slow going given the current size. I am hoping to have it done for my art show next week. :) Knitted in Alpha B Yarn (which by the way is a very yummy yarn!), this has been a very fun project!

Since I have left overs from my two Bad Oyster Shawls I decided to make socks. I wanted them to be opposites, but alas I did not have enough green to do so. So I just kept going and let them be playful.

And then there are road trips that result in new yarn. This is from Twisted Yarn in Spring, TX. Ella Rae Lace Worsted (oxymoron?). I got it in the clearance rack and now I am dreaming of two color shawls. But I can't decide on a pattern (Just too many!) so I am thinking of designing my own...

And a second yarn shop on my trip, ipurl in The Woodlands, TX provided me with this yummy "Raspberry Lime Sorbet" yarn. I can't decide what this will be, as it isn't recommended for machine wash, so socks may be out.... 

I hope everyone had a wonderful June! I am heading back to Kansas on Sunday for a week or so. I have a show opening there and also family that will be around. I'm pretty excited to get away from here for a bit.

~Lisa 

Moving Forward

Wow. Once again it has been longer than I would have liked between my last blog post and now. How does that always seem to happen?

We had our Art Open House at my residency this past weekend, so maybe that was it. All the stress of preparing for that.  But because it has finally come and gone, I am excited to share all of my completed art with you all! And some new knit adventures as well.

"Dust" Gouache on Paper, 18x24

Frozen Summer Harvest, Oil on Canvas, 40x50

 

My giant paper mache tree. I think he's about 4.5 feet. I am so happy that he's finally done :)

 

 

Knit wise I finished that tank I was working on. I had to re-start it once and ended up having to do some crochet doctoring. Right now this is my best photo, which was taken at open house by the lady who BOUGHT this painting! (and is also an amazing fellow knitter)

 

So I started a lacy shawl, from the same pattern collection as the tank. It's with Alpha B sock yarn that Ivy gave me for my birthday last year.

Poseidon's Oyster, playfully called as such because it was started while watching "The Poseidon Adventure" on TV. It's a shop sample Bad Oyster shawl for my LYS.

I LOVE THIS PATTERN.

First bobbin of colored spinning on my wheel. It's taking some getting used to but it's going well. The tension is constantly giving me grief.

 

 

And because I haven't done this in a while:
Weekly inspirations:

 

Knitting:
Probably about half of my knitting group is working on this project right now, but I have yet to jump on the bandwagon. What do you think?
Art:
The city of College Station, where the Arts Council is at, does a summer student residency program. Their new artist for this year has some pretty intense work!
Food:
I made Beer Butt chicken last week, thanks to Rachael Ray. I may have made too much though, as I am still eating on it this week. I hope it's still good....
Life:

Well, I am going to be a busy beaver for awhile. I get to spend all this week working in an antique shop, all next week teaching summer camp and then the end of June traveling home. Will there be time for art making? I sure hope so!



~Lisa

Friday Five + A New Crafting Addition.

Keeping with what I started last week, I am going to update with mostly photos. Please read the whole thing for a surprise at the end! 

Another gouache painting done, in three days (about 5-6 hours work)

Ever growing pile of white balls that are so boring to knit but will be so epic once they are on top of my tree.

Another new large oil. I have 2 weeks to finish and I'm hoping it doesn't turn too pink.

Gorgeous riverside TX flowers on my walk tonight.

Finished cardigan !

And now for the big news. 

Let's start with a quick preface. Last night at Knit Guild we had a spinning demonstration. I brought my spindle since the lady running it - Debbie - knew I was a spindler. Many of the spinners also attend knit days on Sunday at our local LYS and I have been found saying a couple times how cool it is to watch them spin on wheels.

At the end of the presentation Debbie walked over to the corner and brought this older looking wheel over to where I was sitting. She set it down and said "Lisa, this is your new wheel". And all I could say was "Wait, what?".

She proceeded to tell me that it was a handmade wheel that had been passed on from several different people - started in California - and that it was time for her to pass it on. When my time is right I will pass it on also.

Now the real question is... how do I actually spin on it? I guess time will tell. Until then I will just be staring at it was a smile on my face.

~Lisa