Just a peek

Baggie swap
Originally uploaded by cobweb1st

Two posts in one day, I doubt that will happen very often.
This is just a peek at the baggie swap project. On Artistic Divas we were matched up with a partner. We sent each other a baggie of goodies and each person was supposed to use any amount of the baggie goodies as well as some of their own stash to create something for their partner. I added the beads, slide mounts and a few pictures. It really is a little treasure and I hope Eileen likes it as much as I do.
As usual, more pictures on my flickr acct. http://www.flickr.com/photos/16932110@N04/

Viki

Catching up

The Soul Journal "class" with Sarah W. continues on, and I am behind. I thought I'd go ahead and post a few pictures of pages I've completed. On two pages we wrote and then used tape to cover up the writing. Then we painted over the tape. I thought it looked very dull so I pulled out a page of 12x12 lace cardstock that I bought to experiment with and used it as a stencil with Raspberry spraypaint. Much better. I've used gel pens and some bronze Lumiere paint on it too although I believe these pictures were taken before I added the bronze.

The Hands pages were lots of fun and they are very bright. Hopefully I can play catch up with this journal and other projects this weekend. The Olympics do draw me away from the table though and I either knit or spin while I watch them.

I also want to thank everyone who has stopped by and commented on my progress! Makes me feel good!

As always these pictures are also on my flickr acct. and they look very nice if you view them as a slide show. http://www.flickr.com/photos/16932110@N04/

Viki

Soul Journal stencil pages

Here are 2 stencil pages in my Soul Journal. I think the next time I do this technique I'll use darker colors and a smaller tip pen. I used magenta paint and to darken the pages I used some distress ink. Last I used a frost white which smeared a bit when I sealed the pages with gel medium. I'm not completely pleased with these pages. The techniques I used to tone down the stencil images made the pages look a little dull to me.

Viki

6 days down and cotton

My DH is way out of town for more than a bit. I received a call from him yesterday, it was so good to hear his voice. He is in Qatar at a military hospital. Qatar is on the Persian Gulf. He said it got to 127 degrees there with humidity to go with that....and I thought I had it bad in the Ohio River Valley. He sounded tired, I don't think his body has caught up with the time change yet and he is working nights.

I think I need to pull out a canvas and paint my motto to hang in the house.
Keep Calm and Carry On! It is from England during WWII, and I am trying to live this motto.

On the home front, DD2 and I have been incredibly lazy. I have been spinning a bit and knitting on a pair of socks for someone for Christmas.(shhhhh) I've also been working on the Soul Journal and some art projects.

My friend, Yarnspinners Tales http://www.yarnspinners.blogspot.com/ has a podcast which is awesome. Her podcast 15 is about spinning cotton you can check it out here:
http://yarnspinnerstales.com/. She also filmed some of us spinning cotton. I am shown spinning on a charkha and on her daughters spinning wheel. It is up on utube. To check that short film out click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2n0TDiSF18
The background music is nice too.

If anyone can tell me how to upload this video to my blog I'd appreciate it.

Viki

Soul Journal pages

My friend Sarah http://www.sarahwhitmire.blogspot.com/

has started a group art journal project. We are playing follow the leader. She does a page or 2 and then the rest of us follow her. It has been lots of fun.

Here are a few of my pages.

Keep Calm and Carry On! Has been my motto for the last few weeks.

Viki

KnittyOtter's Get to know you list.

My friend Anita turned me on to KnittyOtter's blog
http://knittyotter.typepad.com/otterknits/
Where she is having a 200'th post get to know you contest/list.
Anyway it was fun to answer and so I answered on her blog comments and decided to answer here on my blog as well.

1.) How long have you been knitting?
I learned how when I was 3. Didn't start serious knitting until I was 23 and stuck in Alaska

2.) How long have you been knitting socks?
About 16 years. My first pair were out of handspun.

3.) What do you do with a problem like Maria?
Poor Maria. I think teletubbies would drug her right up.

4.) What is your all time favorite sock yarn?
Now that is a hard one.My own handspun is wonderful, but I do really like Trekking and Opal.

5.) Toe Up or Cuff Down?
Depends, I do both. I like an afterthought heel but can't do one for the girls.

6.) What's your favorite color (this week or for all time)? Do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? Any colors you just can't stand?

I love purple. I used to hate red, but realized it was the orangy red that I didn't like. So now I love a true blue based red. I like blues and greens too.

7.) Do you have a pet(s)?
Yes I have a Goldendoodle, he is the most laidback dog I've ever had. He is huge though.

8.) Babies: Oven Roasted or Barbecued?

Baby lamb?, roasted with lots of garlic

9.) Besides socks what is your favorite type of thing to knit?
Lace, but socks really are my favorite.

10.) What's your favorite scent?
I can't do commercial perfumes...migraines, but I like essential oils: Lavendar and sandlewood and pepperment.

11.) What music are you really loving right now? Like a song or a band?
Old stuff...60's thru the 80's Rock.

12.) How many pairs of socks have you hand knit?
Your supposed to COUNT?!Okay, I'll have to guesstimate...over 30 pair.

13.) What's your favorite treat? Salty or Sweet?
Chocolate, dark chocolate. Not salty after that anything lemon.

14.) What was the most interesting thing you smelled yesterday. Not good or bad necessarily, just the thing that stuck out most so that you actually took notice of it.
Skunk.

15.) Needles - DPN's: Wooden, metal or plastic?
Wooden or bamboo..unless I'm going size 00 or less then it is metal. I have some antique ones with a really great point.

16.) What is your favorite sock pattern that you've knit? What do you recommend?
Monkey socks are fun, Buffalo girls were quick but I prefer my own generic fit my foot pattern.

17.) The last Question: If you were stuck on a deserted island who would you want with you, what knitting would you want with you and would you ever want to leave

DH (gotta have sex), a few of my knitting and artsy friends...a spinning wheel, lace and sock wt yarn and my needles and a lace pattern book, my art journal and the internet. If food would be no problem..I'd be set for life.

Thanks for letting me play.
Viki

Alice the back

back of Alice
Originally uploaded by cobweb1st

As you can see the back of Alice is Vivid. It POPS!

It of course started as a mistake.
I painted over it and I like the hair.

I did something similar with the back of my Cirque page for Denise.
I do have the rest of the pages photographed, I just have to wait to be able to upload them to flickr or the blog.

Viki

Alice the front

Front of Alice
Originally uploaded by cobweb1st

On one of my mixed media groups we have been doing that Maya Road 6x6 book. This is the front of my Alice page for Sarah W. and while I like it I like the back better.

Unfortunately I am posting from my flickr account because my computer that I use for pictures has decided expire and I haven't figured out a ritual to revive it yet.

Viki

Dye Day

On Sunday our Odd Tuesday group met at Andrea's for a Dye Day. We are all participating in a dyed cotton swap on the Garden Fiber Group on Ravelry. We each chose to do things a little bit differently, as usual. LOL.

My daughter Mariah took pictures. Cindy took notes and audio taped/ interviewed for a future Yarnspinner's pod cast as well as dyed fiber.(http://yarnspinnerstales.com/) I think Andrea and I just played. I know I wasn't very scientific.

Anita, now she dyed scientifically. Check out her blog http://thefiberartist.blogspot.com/ She will be posting more pictures soon.

Here is what I did.

I soaked the fiber overnight in plain water. I dyed both cotton lint and cotton sliver (thanks stashy!) I added the the soda ash to the dye before I applied the dye. I used the old formula Cushings Dye. The newer Cushings will NOT dye cotton.

I coiled the sliver into the pan lids. Then I mixed up the dye with the soda ash in squeeze bottles and smooshed it into the fiber. Then I heated the fiber for half an hour in Anita's warming device. Although as hot as it was on that deck, we probably didn't need the warmer. After 24 hours I rinsed the fiber and then wrapped the sliver around a window screen so I could prop it in front of the air vent to dry.

Don't laugh, it worked and it looked pretty.

Viki