Rust if you must....................

Reminds me of that wonderful poem...

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture, or write a letter,
Bake a cake, or plant a seed;
Ponder the difference between want and need?

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
With rivers to swim, and mountains to climb;
Music to hear, and books to read;
Friends to cherish, and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, and the wind in your hair;
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain,
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go (and go you must)
You, yourself, will make more dust.

Holidays

Just been on my holidays with some lovely people to a lovely place called Urchfont Manor where much art and craft was made. The group across the courtyard were making Windsor chairs with which I was vastly impressed.

Sideways Aran Wrap

Work beings on the sideways Aran wrap. When I say work I mean much frogging, highlighting, stitch marking, row tally clicking and swearing. Think I finally have the pattern in my head now. It was certainly in my dreams.

Knitting

This has been on the pins for a while but has now been safely delivered to my brother who models it here.

North Ayrshire Open Art

Here are some pieces of work I have in a local art exhibition at the moment. One of then casts a lovely shadow given half a chance.

Big Read

I've been reading a few books (not like me) in preparation for Big Draw and this is a cracker. If you have young people to inspire - and that includes your inner child - go get it.

What a nit

This is what has been exercising my tiny mind for some time know. It's from the Vogue Knitting Mag...only it's now allowed to be called the Vogue Knitting Mag in the UK anymore. What is THAT all about? They change the front cover and call it Designer Knitting, but it has the same content. Obviously one of these mad things that makes Jif change it's name to Cif.....................or is that because Jif is a swearword in some other country? Well Jif that for game of soldiers!

Anyway, having enjoyed the pain and frustration of this cardi so much, I'm moving swiftly along to another swear maker. This could take some time. Jif, jif, jif, jif, jif.......

This is an idea I was revisiting whilst thinking about Big Draw. These are facial features collaged onto sheets of acetate. As you lay the sheets on top of each other, the face begins to built. The idea was to introduce primary school children to location of the various facial features. If you have different features ready made you can change expressions and deliberately misplace them. Kind of like these books with the split pages where you mix one person's body with someone else's legs.

Cut and shunt

Whenever I made anything it tends to hang about for a LONG time before it has it's public debut. Sometimes it never does. I'm a big fan of outsider art and they do say the definition of a true outsider is for their art to be discovered posthumously. Trying to ensure I don't qualify.

Anyway, these were four bits, two drawn and two stitched that I decided to combine. The top one is called The Blues and the bottom one is called Electric Woman.

Mood swings? What mood swings?

Drawing without line

These are two printing techniques. The figure is printed with the side of a square of cardboard and black ink. The idea is to draw without drawing a line if you see what I mean. Okay, I did cheat a bit but I didn't drag it to make the lines, I did print them. The nose is a kind of pointillist technique of hundreds of little monochrome daubs. Think it's my favourite.

Big Draw 2009

I'm going to be providing in-service training for primary school teachers in order that Big Draw can be rolled out across schools in my area come October. For inspiration I've been looking back at some experimental drawing methods I've tried in the past. This drawing was done with glue initially and then I dumpted some leaf mold on top of it. The close up is of the hair. I did this years ago and don't treat it with any reverence. I must say I'm very impressed with the way the leaf mold has survived the 'under the bed' experience.

Hurrah and huzzah!!!!!!

Blogger has locked me out for months but I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yoooooooooooooooo! off to take some photos so I can tell you what I'm up to.

Closure

I crochet things sometimes. Usually things without button holes. And then I decided I would like to button them. I've invented (?) a solution for this problem. It's a little piece of chain, maybe 2" long with a nice big lobster clasp at either end. Now you need is two buttons with a shank into which you can fasten the lobster clasp. The buttons can be as big as you like because it's only the clasp that passes through some convenience space in your crochet - then you attach the buttons. It also means the buttons are interchangeable.

I've made other fastenings in this style by attaching the shank of the button to the chain with a jump ring. This makes a kind of giant cuff link. The downside of this is you need a hole large enough for the button to pass through and the buttons are attached for keeps, not interchangeable.

A difficult thing to describe in words but a very useful invention - or unvention as Elizabeth Zimmerman would say!

An awfully big adventure

We had a lovely adventure in the Scottish heritage village Luss today where the Scottish soap opera 'Take the High Road' was filmed. Here's my take on Luss.

Cast off

The finished product. I enjoyed it so much, I have another pair on the pins already.

The finishing touches

I've finished my latest pair of fingerless gloves. The recipient of these likes a bit of pzazz so I decided to fancy them up with a crocheted flower on the back of the wrist. The flower shown without a button is the more realistic but it stands quite proud and I would be afraid that it might catch in sleeves and be a pest.



The flower with the button is simpler and can be unbuttoned and taken off if the need arises. I'll go with that one.



Ohhhh goody! A new project looms!

Dressed for the occassion

Thought I'd share with you some more of my vintage crochet patterns. I think it's amazing how contemporary the handbag models look and how I have survived so long without one of these aprons I will never know.

Edgy

A neighbour kindly shared with me her crochet inheritance when her Aunt recently passed over. Fabulous crochet pattern from the States circa 1947. The first one I'm desperate to play with is all about edgings. It cost 10 cents way back then and suggests we make crochet edging for our handkerchiefs, towels, linen and lingerie, not to mention the shelves on which they sit. Some of these guys reproduced in wire would make awesome jewellery. Can't wait to get started.

Two right hands

Spotted the 'deliberate' mistake yet? Apart from this slight thumb misplacement blip this, my first foray into magic loop knitting has been a big success. I always thought a magic loop was a piece of equipment. Did wonder why I never say them for sale anywhere. But no, its a technique for knitting small diameter circular items on b-i-i-i-g (as in distance apart) circular needles.

I had asked for a set of interchangeable circs for my Christmas and they are so beautiful I was desperate to use them. I found this lovely lady on Utube and the mysteries of magic loop were revealed. I'm definitely a convert. I do suffer from needle dropsy and am forever rummaging under car seats and down the sides of couches. I often come up with some interesting and stick finds - but no more! My undroppable circular needle has made a new woman of me and with a little bit of frogging, I'll soon be magic looping again. Great free pattern by the way.

hook up

I was doing a bit of nocturnal reading last night and all that was to hand was The Happy Hooker by Debbie Stoller. It's a how to crochet book. I always look for the minimum time possible at the photos of hooks and hands and then jump straight to the patterns. Reading it last night was very interesting and suddenly crochet makes a lot more sense to me. Would recommend it to any crocheters who like me still have their L plates on.

When talking about the history of crochet she says that sometimes the employers of these poorly paid crocheters would require them the supplement their income in the age old fashion. Hence the name hookers, she suggests.

Spoke too soon!

My good buddy Gill recently suggested I download Picasa 3 when I asked for her advice about photo editing software. Little did I dream what exciting possibilities it would offer! Thanks Gill.

Why is playing with your webcam so fascinating? It'll be video next. Oh no, too scary. Anyway, here are my crochet chart reading attempts so far. I finished my current jewellery making schools project yesterday. A possible puppet making venture looms. Will let you know if it comes to fruition.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water....

I've been fighting my way through my shark infested computer with the help of my very dear online chums and it looks like we're back in business. Caption a bit small and only semi-legible but I'll get there.

The photo is a guy who joined us on Christmas and New Year's Day as we tried to escape the festivities by taking the boat out. It was a privilege of play with him/her.

Lost in space

Is buying a new PC such a great idea? I'm a bit of a technophobe on the quiet and am still struggling to get all my bits to talk to one another. In the meantime I've been trying to figure out how to read a crochet chart. Now, I am a woman. Women, map reading, you know what they say. I've been up several creeks without a paddle proving them right.



Crochet maps. Are they more accessible to the directionally challenged? I'm working on it. Why don't you work on it with me?

Xmas cards

Decided to make cards this year from the scraps that the school kids had rejected. One man's meat.....and all that. I always go through the bins after workshops. Great stuff to be found.

When I was a little girl this was called being a midgie raker and for some people it was a full time career. Today it's called recycling. Hurray, permission to scavenge!

Next step, the sewing machine

Irresitable

We played with disperse dye in higher art school today. Don't those paper doilies make great resists? Sometimes the doilies looked so good once painted that we deliberately bonded them to our fabrics too. Makes a change from errrr 'bonding' them because the iron is too hot!
Because our fabrics were synthetic they melted very obligingly with the soldering iron allowing us to melt them together in a kind of non-stitch applique. For some people it was their first time out on a sewing machine. It's just like driving I told one girl. Fast with the feet and slow with the hands. She looked at me with a terrified expression. I don't drive.

She does now!