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I'm a great believer in subconscious messages, even in receiving messages from the universe. So I believe this was meant for me: a little scrap, left behind on my studio table, which suddenly caught me eye. It's my message for the new year, a message of promise and of hope and of happiness. It read, "always remember what is your own..."
It has become this, my new year's gift and wish for all of you.
Happy New Year!
My Mom has left to go home to California, so my plan for the day is to console myself by sitting on the couch with Ollie, watching Lord of The Rings (he knows it all by heart) and starting on Habu's Kushu Kushu scarf kit.
The kit has intrigued me ever since I first saw it, because it is knit from two yarns -- superfine merino and a metal yarn that is used for industrial purposes like making internal organs for cars. They are both whisper fine yarns, and it's going to be an interesting knit because it's knit on different sizes of needles throught, all much larger than I would expect for these yarns, and then lightly felted at the end.
Here it is.
It's a rainy day outside, so I'm photographing on the dining room table, which means you can't really tell that one of the yarns is a very dark charcoal and the other an equally dark shade of aubergine.
The Japanese pattern writing style is very different from ours and I was a little bit worried about it, but having looked it over, it seems very intuitive and logical. You get a big sketch of the finished item, with directions starting at the bottom which say things like:
5-1-3
(+5)
which means knit five rows, increasing 1 stitch at the end of the fifth row, and repeat 3 times.
It seems quite easy as I look at it. I hope that holds out!
Today was a day set aside for relaxation and art -- my favorite kind of day. With background music provided by the Judge and Ellie, who played her new autoharp, I put together a basket of supplies in my trashed beyond belief all belief soon to be reorganized studio and brought them upstairs so I could hang out with everyone while I played.
This week's theme at Wednesday Stamper is an open theme, so I decided to work on a little folded book I've been prepping for the last few weeks. It's made from a serious of small canvases that have been hinged together, and I had used tones of white and beige to give each "page" a uniform look.
This is the cover page, which is titled "You Cannot Always See Their Wings."
The only other page I finished today -- I worked on lots of bits and pieces here and there -- is this page.
You can click on the pictures below to see just the tag, the tag back, and the background page with the tag removed.
All of this art made Ollie want to paint, so I pulled out my watercolors for him, and we sat down on the floor, he painting and me rubber stamping on a painted canvas. At some point, we became inspired to paint on the stamps and stamp with them, and got really beautiful, watercolor images. This made me wonder why I had never tried it before, as the images were really wonderful.
I realized why I hadn't done it before, when Ollie pulled out a new stamp and I watercolored on it, only to have the paint bead up and refuse to make an image. It was stamping and then painting on the stamp without cleaning it off that made the watercolor paint take to the stamp.
So there you have it, my serendipitous discovery of a new technique as a holiday present to all of you! The stamp pad I was using happened to be a Brilliance pad in platinum -- I'm not sure if the type of pad makes a difference. Here is an example to give you the idea.
I also got a cool sort of resist image, by watercoloring on a page, and then taking a dry stamp and sort of twisting it on the page.
I love how the page says "paper doll friends at last" at the top and am sure I'll be cutting this one up to use in a collage. I could also see using both of these techniques in the book for altered books -- if you play with it just a little bit you'll find that it is very easy, and gives consistent, predictable results.
If you end up playing with this technique, please show it on your blog or picture trail, and link to it in the comments so I can check it out!
70. It doesn't seem as old as it used to seem. This is my Mom, on her 70th birthday, earlier this week.
Dancing in the rain, around and around in circles with her grandchildren. It was like watching fairies dance in a ring.
Everyone should celebrate 70 (and everything before it) with as much gusto as my Mom does. She enjoyed everything from the Pompeii Exhibit to Butterscotch Martinis after dinner (she liked the oysters too).
We all really enjoyed her birthday, especially as part of the lead in to Christmas. It's been wonderful baking batch after batch of cookies and visiting with friends who are here from out of town, although I got a little bit off schedule with one of those yucky migraines that refused to be banished for a few days. Christmas morning has been nothing but wonderful, despite that feeling that it descended upon me before I was prepared.
I've got to go back to playing with my Ellie's new Blythe doll and the "Blythe Mansion" -- I'm sure you'll be seeing it this week after we have a chance to deck it out properly. But I did want to share a few little things I wasn't able to blog about this week while I was down for the count.
Knitting For My Niece
After starts and fits I finally decided on this hat out of Tilli Thomas's beautiful Flurries yarn -- a concoction of merino wool and tiny glass beads. It is incredibly soft and I hope it will keep her sweet little princess head happy.
Harry's Yarn Stash
Harry decided this week that he needed more yarn. Instead of snaking his paw under the top of one of my storage tables and claiming a ball, his usual practice, he batted all of my Be Sweet around on a table, before settling down in the middle of it.
I'm not sure what pattern he has in mind, be he is definitely as in love with the Be Sweet as I am.
I'm going to give him a run for his money on this one, as all of the luscious orange and yellow toned yarns are meant to go together into a spring sweater for me. I will probably have to knit him a few catnip toys to buy him off, though. He seems to have a particular affinity for Mohair, unlike my big black cat, Squirt, who can pick out a yarn with any significant Alpaca content at it from twenty paces.
Gifts From Wonderful Friends
Two incredibly special packages arrived in the mail this week, ahead of Christmas, from two of my friends.
The first came from Kathy. She made me these wonderful ornaments, which went straight on the tree, and are sure to become a treasured part of our Christmas tradition. They are so beautiful. I can't decide which one I like the best, so here they all are.
The second package came from Katie. If you don't read Katie's blog you should. She is one of the coolest and most talented people I know. She can do anything. Her wool felt is amazing. If you want to just feel good about life and be happy, read Katies's blog. It always makes me feel like the world is just a little bit lighter and prettier that it was before I took a look.
The package Katie sent was so me. We've known each other online forever, but I was amazed by how totally she nailed me.
The yarn is really beautiful. Pure single ply merino. I'm not sure if we have ever discussed it, but I love this yarn. As much as I like beautiful colors, I also love the purity of simple, undyed yarns, and singles are always my favorite texture. The handspun yarn is amazing too -- soft little bundles of texture and color that I'm going to pet until just the right project comes along. This little bag is a go bag for knitting and I'm not sure the photo really does justice to the fabric, but it is so sweet, so perfect. I love it! And finally, the book. I'm almost positive Katie and I have never discussed it. It was one of my childhood favorites, A Friend is Someone Who Likes You, by Joan Walsh Anglund. My Mom read it to me over and over and over. And I read it to my own children, over and over and over. Ollie is a little bit rougher on books than the other children, and my copy is worn and tattered. I've been bemoaning that fact for some time now, so you can imagine how surprised and how happy I was to open her package and see a perfect copy of the book in the package.
Thank you Kathy and Katie! I hope both of you are having a wonderful Christmas with your families!
Knitting For Blythe
Blythe continues to be irresistible. Ellie and I are having more fun playing with her! But, I've discovered that there aren't very many patterns for knitting for her, so knitting for Blythe means pattern writing, which is turning out to be lots of fun.
This is the set I knit up for her after blocking and finishing it. I've started work on another outfit, with the leftover Tilli Thomas yarn. Knitting for Blythe is lots of fun, because it's a quick knit and she really likes everything I make for her. She always has this very grateful look on her cute face.
I'm off to enjoy the rest of the day. Whatever you are doing today, I hope you will have a happy fulfilling day, surrounded by friends and family.
I've spent lots of my week backstage. That is, when I haven't been curling hip length hair into pristine 17th century pin curls. It's been a whirlwhind and I'm only just now gearing up for this morning's preparation for the matinee and evening show.
But, a minute to blog first.
This is a bit of the backstage milieu.
There is lots and lots of waiting, perhaps too much as you can see from the slightly put out look on Miss Ellie's face. But the final result is always worth it.
It has been a joyful event for her to have the opportunity to dance with a professional company in such a lovely little role.
Meantime, we have not been ignoring Blythe. Oh no. We managed to pull out the pink fluffy sweater my cousin Ann knitted for my Barbies when I was about Ellie's age, and it is now the centerpiece of Blythe's (renamed Elizabeth) wardrobe. It's close to 40 years old.
I'm really looking forward to spending some time with Blythe and having her become a part of the art scene in our house. We haven't had much time yet, but she is very engaging and I think it will be lots of fun.
There has also been some knitting for Blythe and although it doesn't look like much here, while blocking, this little shawl and skirt set looked pretty cute while I was knitting (this was a made up the pattern as I went along sort of deal) it and I have high hopes for it. It's fun knitting in this scale and the design possibilities are endless, which is a good thing since there doesn't seem to be much in the way of patterns for her.
Blythe is not the only one for whom knitting is in progress right now, obviously. I'll share two quick things, both a product of my love affair with Be Sweet yarns. I love the little wobblies that show up in the Magic Balls, and realized that by disassembling and recombining balls, I could have even more wobblies in one item, which is the method I used for knitting this hat.
It is sooo cute. I don't usually identify things that I really like as "cute" but I'm making an exception here. I adore this hat and am happy it turned out so well as it is for a very special friend. It's so pretty I have to show y'all the close up version too.
I'm also knitting another tea cozy from Be Sweet, this one in a very sedate mix of browns and blues with a bit of my own brown mohair thrown in to even things out. This yarn has tiny beads in addition to the bobbles and it's altogether fascinating to knit with. It is going to be stunning over the Judge's tea pot, although I'm a bit nervous it isn't quite large enough.
I'm off to roll endless quantities of long hair on teeny-tiny rollers before we leave for the theater, but I'm well-stocked for the day. Blythe is coming along, so I've put together a little satchel of yarns to play with for her, including some of my favorite leftovers and a small skein of my own "Treasure" yarn that I though might work up into a nice coat for her.
Are you done? I confess, I'm not. I make most of my gifts and buy handmade for the majority of the rest, which can be slow, but rewarding going. I've been putting the finishing touches on my Midday Faire swap buddy's gift tonight (no pictures until she gets it!) and am taking a few minutes to put some items in my store and give you a little bit of a roadmap if, like me, you are looking for some last minute handmade gifts to purchase.
On Thursday at noon, I'm having a small stocking here. You can see previews now and purchase items anytime after Thursday at noon.
There is a special set -- four skeins of yarn that I dyed, envisioning a Clapotis or small shawl. It is pictured both reskeined and as dyed so you can get a good idea of how the colors blend. The yarn is a lovely silk/wool blend in the Evangeline colorway. Enough said.
I've also listed playsilks -- they come gift wrapped and with the addition of a handmade tag I will write your message on. If you aren't familiar with playsilks, they are one of those toys that encourages children to play with their imaginations. Big, billowing squares of habotai silk, hand-dyed in beautiful colors. Children love them. Adults secretly covet them. They make fabulous and reasonably priced gifts, and best of all, I'll do all the work for you and put them in the mail. Phew. Relief.
You can find more great gifts on my main site, www.elliebelly.com, where I have art, journals, and handpainted clothing along with yarn and playsilks. There is a bit more yarn in my Etsy shoppe.
If you are looking for practical art, stop in at Collage Congo -- where a number of artists have combined forces to stock their handmade goods. Seriously, I'm only telling you about this because my own shopping is done, but Collage has everything from handmade stockings to altered art ornaments. Collage is beyond cool -- if you are a fan of Karen Owen's art, her quilted bags are incredible, especially the knitting bags (hint, hint honey, if you're reading this) and Jennifer Roth Burnette's batiks are delicate and ethereal. If you've taken the handmade pledge or if you're thinking about it, Collage is a great place to carry out your intentions!
A while back my daughter discovered a doll called Blythe. Blythe became her obsessions. "I wanna Blythe doll." She would tell us periodically and with increasing frequency over the last few months.
Problem is, Blythe was only produced for one year. 1972. So original dolls aren't exactly available in your neighborhood target. In fact, they're quite expensive on ebay because a woman name Gina Garan wrote a book about Blythe and she has had quite a resurgence in popularity.
Blythe is simultaneously creepy and cute. She has a huge head with big eyes that change color on a Barbie, actually a Skipper, sized body. In the early days of looking at pictures of Blythe on the computer, my four year old would stand behind us intoning "Creepy, Creepy" as we looked at pictures of all the different dolls. Because, you see, there is a veritable horde of Blythe's available these days because two companies, one in America and one in Japan, are making reproductions and new dolls. And they are entrancing. Ellie had no trouble getting me hooked.
Ellie's first of many doll was a Chanukkah present last night. She's very lovely. There is quite an art to Blythe photography, which we haven't mastered yet, but I did snap a quick picture of Blythe, modeling a knit-dress-in-progress -- I started it before she arrived so the measurement are off on top and I need to redo the bodice.
This is Blythe.
She is an Enchanted Petal doll, from Japan. Ellie and I are off to play with her before school. If you want to know more about Blythe, this is a good link for getting started.
It a far from usual weekend in my house. I've spent most of the week in the theater with my daughter, in the final dress rehearsals before the Nutcracker ballet. She is having a wonderful time dancing in the party scene and I'm spending a lot of time curling hair, applying make up, and finding lost ballet shoes. On the plus side, all that time sitting in the theater is giving me lots of time to knit. I've been working on a felted bowl, which looked like this when it was done.
I threw it in the wash tonight and felted it. I'm sorry I lost the pretty colors that were so distinct in the knit fabric, but it's very pretty and the shape is wonderful. I've got it stuffed with some of the big air bubbles that come in packages from amazon.com, hoping to dry it in shape if that cats will stop trying to get in it.
Here is a close up view of the felted fabric. It will need a good shaving, but the Manos del Uruguay yarn felted up very nicely.
In other wool news, I got a lovely package from my partner, Jan Knit, in the hand-dyed sock yarn swap. She sent me all of this cool stuff.
The roving is a silk merino and it is so soft! I sat on the floor and petted in after opening the package and could have sat there for the rest of the day with it. Everything is lovely, and I can't wait to sit and sip tea while knitting with my lovely new yarn!
The other wool news in my house is this:
These incredible wool slippers were felted by Wool Creations and they are simply incredible. The three dimensional designs in the wet felted slippers are beautiful roses for Ellie and Legolas (from Lord of the Rings), complete with his bow and arrow, for Ollie. There were a huge hit as a Chanukkah present. I wasn't sure the kids would like them as much as I do, but they are a huge hit.
It's now two in the morning and I've got to go to sleep before another busy day of getting pin curls into Ellie's stick straight here. Tomorrow's knitting will be a tea cozy and more work on Ollie's vest. Wish me luck!
