Home Away From Home

OK so technically, that's studio. But it's also my college campus.  Last Monday night all my friends were busy and I was being lazy, having finished off four chocolate chip cookies! So I decided I needed to go walking, bad.  And walking I did. I wondered around campus for a solid 2 hours and decided I would take photos of some prominent spots to share with all of you! So I would like to take you on a photo journey through Kansas State University!

Started here, with the WWII Memorial: Tags of Honor

2006 Tornado Memorial I didn't even know existed

Sidewalk decorations outside a science building.

Engineering Complex - KSU is big in engineering and has a huge program for it!

Random Engineering based sculpture.

Ahearn Fieldhouse. Old home of Basketball, current home of Volleyball. And no AC!

I just thought this was funny :P

Union!

Time for a break! I always love dipping my toes in this fountain!

Bosco Plaza outside the Union with historic Anderson Hall behind it. 

If it's not engineering, then it's architecture that KSU is known for. This is their building. 

I have yet to figure out what this is and I've been here 4 years. 

SQUIRREL!

Nichols. Home of a cute little theater and my uncle's office. 

Ah McCain! They always have such great shows that I cannot afford to go to. 

Such a nice pathway :)

President's house. 

The way I go home each day. 

No thank you. 

Ok, this is my legit home away from home! STUDIO!

I love Willard Hall!

The spork! And the leadership building that is too nice for it's own good. 

The quad. Where I do my tree drawings.

Good old Hale Library. 

Heading home. 

The Bluemont Bell. 

I hope you enjoyed my visual tour. I have nothing new to report on the front of knitting, because I have been painting like crazy. I'll leave you with a cute picture of my studio partner last night.

~Lisa

Visiting artist Peregrin Honig's dog! Her and my teacher went to dinner and I got left with him since I was at studio anyways! Have a great day guys!

New Year, New Goals

Happy Friday! I didn't have classes today, and my job hasn't started, so I spent my day relaxing and starting in studio.

Since I am bound and determined to have the best school year EVER I have decided to make a list of goals and such that I plan to achieve this year.  And what better place to put them then here, so you all can see exactly what I am up against in the coming months. :)

Activities I am involved in:

KSU Painting Society - President
Relay for Life of KSU - Luminaria chair
Academic Mentoring (job) - 4th year, working at pre-school
Bowling League - Sunday night's at 8. Team: Stop, Drop and Bowl. We got 2nd over the summer (with handicap)
The Knitting Monthly - 2nd Sunday of the month at Wildflower!

Academic goals for the year:

Get an A in my painting class - something I have yet to do.
Improve my skills as a painter, especially with acrylics.
Expand my drawing ideas so that I can have a cohesive body of work for the Spring.
Be confident in my figure drawing skills by the end of the semester.
NOT put off my History of Rock and Roll class - just cuz it's online doesn't mean I can forget about it.

Fun goals for the year:

Go for walks and hike the various trails around Manhattan, maybe even document it for you all here.
Knit in Public - coffee shops, cute spots on campus, etc
Knit hats! - I am on a winter hat spree
Hang out with my friends - We have so many plans for the year!
Hang out with the guy I like - Not saying names yet, don't wanna jinx it.
Skate - Last time we went it was so much fun!
First Friday in KC - Maybe with Painting Society?
Movie Nights - my new 32 inch HDTV is calling!
JOG! - The guy I like has me wanting to pick up jogging again....

That being said, I would like to share my next project with you also. Since the socks are coming to a close (but still have about 2 inches at least) I decided to use the bit of extra money I had to get the yarn for the Milanese Wrap, which I am knitting for my mommy.

She said she'd pay me back for the yarn, but I am going to surprise her! And I found the perfect yarn ON SALE last night! I didn't even know it was on sale, it just happened to meet my gauge requirements. I wanted something with more blue, but I decided on this because of the stripy nature. I really hope she likes it!

I started a painting today, but I am not going to share it yet because I don't really know where it's going. For now, the whole painting on knitting think is out the window....long story short my teacher doesn't get it. Whatever, what I'm doing now is pretty awesome too!

I'm having all my friends over for tacos tomorrow, and I can't wait! But that means I gotta get my butt in gear and clean this place up. Hmph. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

~Lisa

Speaking to the Trees.

Well, I am one class, 2 crits, and 1 final away from being done with the semester. Too bad one of those crits and the final are both NEXT Friday :/

I want to start this post with a disclaimer, that it is very image heavy. Also I am sorry they are so small and tinted weird. I highly recommend clicking on one of them and letting the image fill your screen. You won't regret it, I promise. These drawings are epic.

But what are they exactly? Well I will give you a hint:

Ok, so let me explain this a bit. Our last assignment in my drawing class was to research an artist and have a visual conversation with him/her. The artist I chose from the list of them my teacher gave me was Tim Knowles. Tim Knowles attaches pens to trees. Naturally, my mind started thinking about my spindle drawings and how much this related.

So for awhile I was just hanging sharpies from trees and putting the paper undernigth, while I just sat there and watched. That's basically what Tim Knowles did. Well my teacher wasn't a fan of that, even though the images I yielded were pretty nifty.

I was pretty frustrated that day, but looking back I am so glad she pushed me forward, because the drawings I ended up with are so much better than the above image.  I took a bit of time to brainstorm and such, for I really had no idea how to take these to a different level. Then I was at the book store getting print making paper and I stumbled across Velum, which is a thin, somewhat transparent paper (not to mention on $.65 a sheet!) and I had another of my many art epiphanies. 

I bought a few sheets and decided to experiment. I used them instead of the normal paper I had been using and let the trees blow for a bit. What happened next was pure genius (or I think so). I decided to start drawing on top of what the trees had already done. At first I started by just drawing directly onto the same sheet as the tree had, and then layered 2 of those together, like this one:

                                     

Then I realized, "Wait, the paper is transparent, why not draw my own lines on a different sheet?!?!" and that's where the magic started happening. It began with just geometric lines, like connect the dots.

 As I started experimenting I realized I could do whatever I wanted. I could make nothing but dots, or connect the lines, or make shapes, or leave the lines by them selves. I could put my drawing behind, or put the tree's drawing behind. I could make a few marks in response to the tree, then take it away and make my own from there. I could flip mine over to have the 2 drawings contrast each other. I can use different widths of sharpies, or even brush and ink. Seriously, the possibilities are endless.  And the best part about these drawings?

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THEM

Maybe even more than my spindle drawings...Holy cow did I just say that? It's so weird, but every time I look at them or think about them or work on them I get this amazing sense of pride that I am finally coming into my own as an artist and am doing something original and fun! 

So what do you think? I am just so excited to get to share these with all of you! I have one heck of a semester, I feel like I discovered so much and this project just brings it to an amazing close.

Not to mention my teacher loved them too :p She has some stuff she wants me to think about this summer, but it's safe to say I may be doing these for awhile...

~Lisa

3 Years and Counting.

It's pretty hard to believe, looking back, that I have only been knitting for a little over 3 years. That sounds like a lot, but when you think about how fast those 3 years have gone, it's really not. In the past 3 years I have:

• Gotten together and broken up with my first (and so far only) boyfriend.
• Made the transition from high school to college dorms to living on my own.
• Made some amazing friends.
• Improved my artistic skills amazingly.
• Started this blog :)

That's a lot of things to do in just over 3 years. Now lets consider all the things I've done - fiber wise - in those 3 years.

• Picked up knitting (something I hadn't done since High School)when my ex wanted a scarf.
• Learned how to make socks on DPNS because sock yarn looked too pretty to not want to learn to use.
• Learned how to make mittens and gloves (basically socks with fingers!).
• Learned to knit in the round on circulars.
• Magic loop and using circular needles in place of straights (and I love it!)
• Cables!
• Full fledged garments (My tanktop!)
• Toys.
• How to spin with a spindle, something I really enjoy.
• How to dye yarn and bare roving, another thing I truly enjoy.

That's a lot considering I am a full time college student. Maybe it's a sign I should work on my art and school work more?

So that brings me to the real issue at hand: What do I want to do this year? Well my amazing friend Ivy (Pumpkin Spins) has given me some great ideas and pushed me to try things I never thought I would. This year we are both making lists and plan to encourage each other along the way. With that in mind, my knitting/fiber related resolutions are:

• Try (and hopefully succeed) in at least color work type project, weather it be fair isle, intarsia, etc.
• Finish my first full sweater successfully.
• Conquer something lace with minimal, barely noticeable mistakes. Like socks or a scarf or something smaller.
• Felting. I don't like how it looks, but I want to try it just one, to say I did.
• Thrumming. The new craze going around, where you knit roving into your work so the inside has pieces of roving to keep whatever is inside warm. (ie: thrummed items)
• Toe-Up 2 at a time socks. I just learned toe up this past week and love it! I also know how to 2 at a time, but am not the biggest fan because of having to keep things from tangling, but I'd still love to try the two together.
• Blocking and finishing. Every sweater makers best friend.
• Try different cast on and bind off techniques, because those always come in handy.
• Write more sock patterns!
• CONQUER MY STASH! I have collected so much this year that I'd love to knit it down a bit before investing in much more. (Unless it's for a special occasion project).
• Spin something besides wool. I have some bamboo in my stash that's calling my name.
• *Make a more even yarn when spinning. I am still having a lot of spots with thick and thin I'd like to get rid of
• Dye bare yarn. So far I've only dyed roving, but I'd love to try dying sock yarn or something white like that.
• Attempt different types of plys. I am not sure if you can do much more with a spindle, but even more 3 and 4 ply yarns would be nice.

You will not believe how long it took to come up with this list and I still feel like I am leaving something out. I know that I cannot succeed in everything, as this list is very long. But it's a nice guidebook on where to start when I need ideas.

To all my readers out there I wish you a save and happy New Years and may all your resolutions, wishes, promises, etc. come true.

~Lisa