Better Late then Never

So I have a little catch up to do.

I got a couple old projects done in January:

Dame Linden's Bellator Adamas Hood

Tommy's Boba Fett Tunic

In February I learned to backstrap weave!

This month the theme is to make something that is useful. It can be something for around the house, a piece of clothing, a bag, ect.

I'm going to try my hand at VeraVenus bra pattern or try to make a useable pair of pants. Wish me luck!

Crafting Challenge

January's crafting challenge is finishing a project, or starting one you have been putting off.

I have several unfinished projects to tackle and I am going to finish a Boba Fett tunic I have sitting around.

The person it was originally for decided that they wanted something simpler so I'm going to finish it to get it out of "The Stack" and hopefully sell it.

It has just been sitting around requiring applique, side seams, hemming, and a red sash around the middle. I believe I can finish this in about 4 hours, and I'll then post it for sale.

A year with a Crafter

January is a month of making plans. It's the month that many of us make resolutions and try to start off with a clean slate. It's the month I make a yearly budget, and large goals for the year with measurable monthly steps. My goals are not always serious and one of them is to challenge myself creatively and what I really love is a monthly challenge list. 

This is my list for the year and I ask that if you read my blog that you join me in this challenge. Comment with  what you plan on doing for January and if you have a blog, post about it and add a link to the comments. I would love to see what you are up to!

January –  Procrastination – Finish a project you have been putting off finishing (a UFO or PHD) or make something you have been avoiding starting. 

February – New Skill - Try something new. It can be a new technique that you're interested in, or learning a completely new skill.

March – Useful – Make something that is useful. It can be something for around the house, a piece of clothing, a bag, ect.

April – Gender-Bender – Make an item for the opposite gender. Make something for someone else that does not identify as the same gender as you.

May – Consume – Make something that has a short lifespan. It can be food, face scrubby, ect.

June – Fiber - Fiber arts is such a broad term and this is the month to do anything that uses fiber. Paper making, knitting, crotchet, spinning, ect. 

July – Monochrome – Make anything in black, white, or any shade of grey in between.

August – Color – Make something colorful. Aim for 3 or more colors and make it a complete project. If you spin, spin some yarn and make the yarn into something. 

September – History – Make something with a historical link. It can be something from a historic pattern, a recipe for a historic source, or even a retro costume.

October – Heroes – We all have personal heros. It can be someone who inspires us in our creating, or a personal hero from history. Make something that is inspired by them or reminds you of them.

November – Red – Make something in any shade of red. 

December – You - Make something for yourself. This is the month we usually put ourselves last, but it's good to take time out for yourself. 

An Outing of Ladies

My family is full of artists. We have fiber artists, painters, gardeners, sculptors, designers, musicians, and wood workers. For this reason we visit museums a lot. Oddest thing is that we never  go together as a group, until now.

Early yesterday morning, my grandma, my mom, her best friend, and I all piled into a car and headed up to the Legion of Honor, and have lunch there.

We saw Raphael's "Portrait of a Lady with a Unicorn"

But the real gem of the Legion right now is the Bonnard exhibit. It was amazing, breathtaking, and I went through it twice to just stare in wonder at his use of color and peaking into his world. I'm rather a fan of impressionistic work and the works that came out from 1880-1920 are my favorites. I bought several postcards to put around my desk at work.

That yellow wallpaper is a show stopper

I brought my current socks in progress to work on while walking around the museums. It's my own hand dyed yarn and I'm in love. The colors remind me of Bonnard's Southern Landscape with Two Children, 1918. All the yellows and blues remind me of the ocean. I named this colorway Santa Cruz when I dyed it, and it makes me want to hit the beaches.

What hat?

The hat is having issues and therefore is not complete. Actually the hat is in a little time out as I had plan on only using one ball of my Pioneer yarn that costs $26.00 for 50grams. It's pricey because it's grown by sheep here in California, milled in the US, and then dyed in small batches at the wonderful A Verb for Keeping Warm. I've knit an entire short sleeved fair isle sweater from it and adore this yarn for all it stands for (though I would love for it to be 3 ply instead of 2), and am using the leftover yarn to knit a matching hat. It has plowed through the first ball and while in the second ball my increasing and decreasing math left something to be desired.

I have been knitting these instead:

Currently on the heel flap of the
second sock

This is my take on the Dublin Bay Socks knit with Malabrigo, bought at Knitterly, in a colorway I cannot name because I lost the label a while ago when it was destined to become another pair of socks that went the way of frogging. I grabbed this yarn because it reminds me of rain and since it has been raining recently I thought is was appropriate. I'm a simple kind of gal.

This year I have a goal to knit myself 7 pairs of socks so that when Ben and I go to the cabin on the lake I will not freeze like I normally do. Wool socks are a must there as there are no carpets, and it's not heated unless someone is there, which is never during the winter. We love going in the winter as not many people are in town. We spent our anniversary there and went to the country club nearby for a great dinner. It really is the best way to vacation. I'd honestly live there year round if possible.