Tag: creativity

Activity?

PiaChit Chat

So I promised this would be knit-week and then I haven’t had any more show and tell here. Such is life. I did knit, but not as much as I hoped. To prove that I have indeed been doing something, I’ll share my tada! list with you:

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  1. Got the plant dyed yarns out and started on the first planned project – using the oldest ones since the new ones really should sit until next year so I can see how much they fade in storage.
  2. Finished priming one of my homemade sketchbooks, working away on the others, one 2/3 done, one just started.
  3. Started doodling in the sketchbook.
  4. Did some painting 2 days in a row even.
  5. Read some books, some nonfiction as well as “The Sunne in Splendour” by Sharon Perman
  6. Walked the dog in the forest quite a lot, as per request. AND tested the pocket camera I was given.
  7. Started spinning some fiber I dyed last summer, just recreational spinning, no project in mind. Another one lined up for a challenge.
  8. Made a few stencils out of laser transparencies which I was given a whole package of (100). The circular cutter came in handy among other things!
  9. Baked swedish buns “rÃ¥gsiktskakor”. Yum.
  10. Woven almost half of the ends on my sweater dress and wore it.
  11. Decluttered my desk.
  12. Found a foam block and the fiber that I wanted for some needlefelting.

skov2 skov1

skov3 skov4

Aktiviteter

Jeg havde jo lovet at holde strikkeuge, men det er ikke meget jeg har fået rapporteret her. Jeg har strikket en smule, men ikke så meget som planlagt. Så nu vil jeg i stedet kede jer med ugens tada! liste, ikke at jeg holder op i weekenderne, men jeg trænger til at lige huske hvad jeg egentlig har nået.

  1. Rodet lidt i mit plantefarvede garn, taget et par nøgler frem til mit første planlagte projekt og strikket nogen prøver.
  2. Færdig med at grunde den ene af mine hjemmekogte notesbøger, 2 mere på vej.
  3. Skriblet en smule i bogen.
  4. Malet en smule, endda 2 dage i træk.
  5. Læst et par fagbøger færdig og et par romaner, “The Sunne in Splendour” af Sharon Perman og “Taxo Luma” af Lars Muhl (meh).
  6. Taget på hundeture i skoven og testede det brugte lommekamera jeg har fået.
  7. Begyndt at spinde noget BFL jeg farvede i sommer, ikke med noget særligt formål, bare afslapning. Og fundet mere uld frem til en udfordring på Ravelry.
  8. Kreeret skabeloner af overhead folie som jeg fik forærende, cirkelkniven kom lige til god anvendelse igen.
  9. Bagt svenske “rÃ¥gsiktskakor”.
  10. Syet nogen af enderne pÃ¥ min sweater, damn det er kedeligt….
  11. Ryddet op på mit skrivebord.
  12. Fandt en skumblok og de fibre jeg vil bruge til mit første nålefilteprojekt.

Hexagon non-progress

PiaAcid Dyeing

I’ve decided to make my hexagon blanket in superwash only and preferably the same brand, a super soft merino. I have a whole bunch of solids as well as white and grey yarn to dye up in smaller skeins over time. I’m aiming at only a few duplicates of each, so some of my initial big batch dyeing projects have been put in the shop in case someone likes this yarn too, and that will enable me to get more yarn and keep playing. 😉 I want to dye as many different skeins as I can possibly cook up.

I’m also not making the hexagons double like a puff, making a very lightweight blacket. That may be a mistake, since they are stretchier and not as sturdy, I’ll have to come up with a non-stretchy edge/assembly method. I may want a contrasting border between each cell anyway. And yes, it’s going to take forever…. I’ve only made 15 so far + one that is too small because I forgot how many stitches I used for the others.

I’d like some opinions, do you think I’ll regret not making them double? I was thinking of perhaps backing them with fabric, but maybe I should go double knit like a puff, to help it keep its shape better? They ARE very thin, I have to admit that. I can always lay my singles double and mount them with the knitted doubles, so no work is wasted. I don’t want them stuffed.

I’ve also considered knitting them larger, making a solid border round each hexagon, then assembling those. Won’t make the blanket any thicker, but quicker to put together. It could become my meditation blanket, both making it and using it only for that, as I easily get cold when I sit still – that way it gets put away when not in use, and won’t be ruined by the dog making nests in the sofa, as well as not giving me an excuse to get up before time. I’m not one for such ritual paraphernalia, really, but some say it’s a good thing, so maybe it is.

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Just a bumpy testknit on a too small hexagon, not so sure I like this idea. Needs to be darker and perhaps the same for all if I do this.

Hexi-tæppe

Ud over at have besluttet mig til at kun bruge superwash strømpegarn til mit tæppe, er jeg stadig i tvivl om jeg skal strikke dem enkelt eller dobbelt. Jeg vil gerne have et meget let tæppe, men det skal dog kunne holde faconen og ikke blive trukket fra hinanden. Man kunne quilte noget stof pÃ¥ bagsiden, hvis man ellers vidste hvordan, eller jeg kan begynde at strikke dobbelt puffer alligevel og bare montere de enkelte lapper dobbelt. Men jeg ved jeg ikke synes om at kun binde hjørnerne sammen som de gør pÃ¥ beeskeeper’s quilt. Og der skal i hvert fald ikke fyld i.

Har også overvejet at påstrikke en ensfarvet kant på hver og derved få større lapper og minimere samlearbejdet. Men det bliver stadig et meget tyndt tæppe som måske strækker sig lidt for meget. Har overvejet at bruge det som meditationstæppe, både at lave det og bruge det kun til det, da jeg let bliver kold og derfor distraheret, på den måde bliver det heller ikke ødelagt når hunden bygger rede i sofaen, hvis jeg lægger det væk og kun bruger det til det ene formål. Normalt er jeg ikke til den slags ritualer, men der er nogen der siger det er en god ide.

Jeg vil stadig have så mange forskellige puffer som muligt, så i fremtiden bliver der farvet meget mindre portioner end jeg begyndte med, for nu har jeg en masse dubletter i overskud af små 6 g fed. Muligvis lidt for ambitiøst, men nu ser vi. Indtil videre har jeg ligesom kun lavet 15 + ovenstående som blev for lille fordi jeg begyndte med 10 masker istedet for 12.

RÃ¥d, ideer og vejledning modtages med kyshÃ¥nd! Man skal kun udfylde sit navn i kommentarfeltet….

Cheap storage bobbins

PiaPÃ¥ dansk

I’ve finally gotten round to improving some cheap storage bobbins I got for about 10% of the price of spinning bobbins. A bit of vetwrap which I had anyway and two cardboard discs, they work fine for transferring singles onto if you don’t feel like plying straight away.

bobbin1I use my wheel to move yarn between bobbins, and since the weaving bobbins don’t have a groove for the driveband, I needed some traction. The wrap wasn’t enough however so I tried various  rubber gromets. I also needed to come up with a solution to the fact that they don’t fit on the flyer shaft, so I found the one remaining welding rod from the hackle project, some more gromets and and Bob’s your uncle!

You need to use a single driveband for this size groove, or it jumps out. And tape the radial cuts in the discs to prevent the yarn getting stuck.

The circular cutter worked like a charm too, I saw it at a hobby shop and just had to get it – didn’t cost much either.

bobbin2

Trådspoler

Legede lidt med nogen billige vævespoler og diverse gummiringe for at kunne flytte garn over pÃ¥ dem vha spinderokken. Jeg havde lige en enkelt svejsepind tilbage som passede i diameteren, og selvom det er en gang Storm P. sÃ¥ endte det med at virke ret godt. Cirkelskæreren til papskiverne kostede omkring 30 kr. i Panduro, sÃ¥ det var jo heller ikke en herregÃ¥rd. Jeg ved godt man kan fÃ¥ et spoleapparat til vævespolerne, men sÃ¥ er der jo ikke meget sparet. 😉

bobbin3Jeg fandt ud af, at det var bedst med en enkeltsnor, ellers hopper den ud af rillen, og revnerne i papskiven skal tapes til, ellers sætter garnet sig fast eller ryger ud på ydersiden.

Daily doodle

PiaChit Chat

It’s all the rage on creative blogs – a post a day, a collage a day, a journal page a day, a photo a day, a heart a day, 365 days challenges.

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A Dpoodle a today.

And it makes sense, if you want to keep the flow, get in the groove. You need to show up every day and do your thing. For a long long time I didn’t, I let life run me over, I was exhausted and kept saving my ideas for tomorrow. “It’ll soon get better, and then…” turned into years… But I’ve learned recently, if I want to get it done, I need to get started. No matter what life looks like today.

Being me, I do know however that a fixed project commitment every day doesn’t work for me. Making it a duty, heck, that’s why I became self-employed so I wouldn’t have to show up on time for somebody else’s gig, you know, the sun is shining, perfect time to go riding at 11 am! (or paint – don’t get many hours in winter).

Besides, once I begin thinking about it, I can suddenly imagine doing a doodle a day, a written something a day, a painting excercise a day, a yarn a day, a photo a day, a knit-one-row-a-day project, a cartoon character a day, an index card sketch a day, a horse a day….. (see, I’m making lists again!)

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I also have a list of things I’d like to study, artsy as well as “bookish”. Schedule a day where that’s what I’m doing for xx hours a week. But I need to take it slow because I know what happens if I don’t. Multitasking is poison to the soul!

So I’m not going to commit to any one particular thing a day, because suddenly life happens and I’m off in another direction for a while. But, starting with my converted book I’ll try to show up every day and do “something”, not just gab or think about it (which I’m really good at as you’ve gathered). I have plenty of little things I want to do that are not art in themselves but preparations to make art, such as stencils for use on book pages and elsewhere. Font research. Great for days when art scares you, but you still want to feel some accomplishment.

In fact I think I may have so much fun with it that I started on its partner. I even looked for the part 5+6 that I knew I’d seen, but I’ve thrown out quite a few books over the last years, both my own, to make more room on my shelves, since I’ve reached the limit for more shelves, as well as my MIL stash that lived in the loft for a while. The stash, not the MIL. So they were gone, and recently too as I recall, when deciding I couldn’t be bothered reading them. A whole stack, same size, different designs, would have been cool though! Maybe.

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The covers are a work in progress. The pages I either slather with gesso, making the old paper more sturdy as well as preventing markers from bleeding through to the other side. It contains chalk, so it dries quickly and also makes a porous surface suitable for inks and watercolors. Or I sometimes use leftover paint from something else to make a little background that I can later use for collage or paint something else on top. If you add a lot of medium you allow the text to be seen through the colour, you can even use matt acrylic medium to get the same effect as gesso but keep the text. I pull out every 4-5 pages so it doesn’t get monster thick when I add all those things, the spine being the width it is.

The thing about this project is no pressure. I don’t need to get an idea to work on it, I just mindlessly add a bit of paint and maybe something likeable comes out of it. I haven’t wasted expensive paper if it doesn’t, but maybe it’ll keep me in or get me into that flow. It feels like it’s now or else – having wasted all that precious time already. So this is my way of reminding myself over and over that a new software is being installed. I’m going to drag my resistant twin kicking and screaming into the century of the fruitbat.

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Maybe eventually I’ll come up with something that I’d actually like to document and collect every day, for now I’m publishing my intentions so feel free to check up on me and keep me to it. 😉

In return I promise not to actually pester you with my antics daily. Maybe just a special doodle once in a blue moon?

But just to make it harder on myself, I’d like to hear your ideas for “something a day”. Do you think it’s a good idea/routine/challenge and why?

To do list or not to list

PiaChit Chat

I don’t really do resolutions at specific times or other calendar assisted activities if I can help it, but 2012 was a bitch right up to and with the last day, and I don’t want a repeat. Won’t bore you with the details, but one of the things I’ve spent some time pondering is chores, schedules, plans and to-do lists. So now is as good a time as ever to create new routines.

I love making lists, it seems to declutter my head (a bit) and oh, the joy of crossing something out! But. I also learned that those lists in fact add considerably to my stress levels. Must do! Look how busy I am! I make short term day lists and long term big chores lists. Tape them to the kitchen cupboard.

Then I tried something new, I put them away. And realised that A, I can learn to not repeat them in my head all day in case I forget and B, I actually get just as many things done anyway. Perhaps even more, actually, because less time is spent fretting over the amount of items. I’m learning that not all things are equally important nor urgent, who’d have thought!?

So my hope for 2013 apart from a smoother ride, is to keep reprogramming my whole mindset about these things and just really go with the flow. Leave room for lots of breaks and marvel if I don’t need them! Rather than feeling guilty for sneaking them in. I still have goals, but every step I make towards each one is fine, no deadlines.

So how do you all juggle the stuff that “needs” to get done, stuff you want to do and all the rest? Do you deliberately limit yourself to a manageable number of hobbies/activities so you don’t spread yourself thin, do you schedule heavily, delegate chores (I knew there was at least one reason I should have had kids!), happily swim in a sea of options, picking as you go along?

(some of) The List

  • Scan my old negatives (3 heavy binders full)
  • Play with sampling/mixed media
  • Start painting again
  • Try garden printing
  • Organize my image files
  • Finish my garden chores (separate list!)
  • Clean ALL the things!
  • Exercise regularly
  • Meditate daily
  • Drink more water
  • Create a work schedule and stick to it
  • Design sweaters
  • Don’t worry
  • Ride more
  • Clutterfree desk
  • Be happy
  • Spin the karakul and other odd wools for weaving (and to clear storage space)
  • Make a loom and start weaving
  • Get books on weaving from the library (probably in that order)
  • Don’t worry
  • Spin ALL the wool, then buy more.  Dye it.
  • Write every day, not just the silly blog
  • Clean up the courtyard between buildings
  • Carry all the firewood inside before winter done
  • Restore order to the barn
  • Wash horse blankets done
  • “Quilt” collages from cutout water colours
  • Process box of fiber from “Goliath” the camel
  • Tonnes of dull sewing and repairs…
  • Finish knitting projects
  • Learn about felting. Get books from library. Etc.
  • Work on the other artsy project ideas (separate list)
  • See people
  • Go new places
  • Order new firewood and stack it
  • Declutter garage (Oh my)
  • Empty wash room, tear down wall, build a new one
  • File backups
  • Find a/some nice yarnbase/s to order in bulk for dyeing
  • …
It's a scary, exciting world! Arthur's first trip outside the house.
It’s a scary, exciting world! Arthur’s first trip outside the house.