A night at the museum

The Fort Wayne Museum of Art has a monthly event on the second Thursday, when they are open in the evening (and free admission!) There is usually a "curator's talk". This past Thursday, we lucked out and heard three of the artists whose work was in the exhibit.

The exhibit was titled "Paper Made II" and represented about half of the entries to said show curated by the magazine Fiber Art Now. One of the artists present not only exhibited a dress made from National Geographic maps, but wore a paper dress and carried a bag woven from paper. Another artist had a wire and copper mesh piece that had been dipped in flax mush; over time, the copper oxidized and "ate" some of the flax and the artwork continues to evolve. The work of the third artist present was this huge series of nested rings of paper that were suspended from the ceiling; one could walk under and around the piece for different perspectives.

I apologize for not getting names or taking more photos, but the gallery was a bit crowded and a second group was scheduled to come through. I did find some inspriration from this piece, although I would not use paper but yarn (of course), probably felted. The grommets and chains show how a similar piece could come together.

One of the other spectators was wearing what I will described as a "stash sweater". I wanted to chase her down for a photo, but she escaped before I had a chance. The front was blocks similar to a log cabin quilt but larger; the back knit from many colors. More inspiration.

Knitting: Progress on the zebra socks is slow, but I keep plugging along. One of the dishcloths is finished; I think there is enough yarn left over for a slightly smaller second one.
Needle felting: One of the local art spaces is having a fundraiser and is asking for holiday ornaments to sell, so I started one (after the program as the recent spinning guild meeting featured needle felting).
Spinning: All the Romney is spun! And almost all three-plied! There is just a bit leftover that I will chain ply.

My SO and I continue our accountability group. He is a photographer who greatly edits pix in Photoshop and has been grinding out one each day. I don't complete much, but I'm motivated to do *something* each day. That was the goal.

Perseverance

I subscribe to the New York Times online, which gives me access to their puzzles. One of my favorites is Spelling Bee, where the player identifies as many words as they can from the provided seven letters (one of the letters is designated as a "must have" in each word and there is at least one "pangram" that uses all the letters). One's level is determined by the percentage of words one finds. I usually make it to "Amazing" on my first go-round of the day, eventually achieving "Genius" by lunchtime. Once in a great while I find them all and am crowned "Queen Bee".

I have various strategies for figuring out the words - looking for prefixes, suffixes (especially -ed and -ing), compound words, etc. - but mostly my high level of achievement is from pure persistance.

Persistance is also needed in fiber arts. I've learned it (more or less) for knitting and crocheting and spinning, but not so much weaving. Until this tote bag project. Once the loom is warped, the actual weaving (at least, if it is plain weave) is a piece of cake... as long as one sticks with it. And it doesn't take that long. The body of the tote bag involved an hour a day for three days; the strap I finished in one day (with a break or two). And then that part was done.

Now comes the hard part, for me: finishing. The number of WIPs in my project list on Ravelry is testament to my lack of perseverance there.

Knitting: Turned the heels on the zebra socks. For some reason, I started knitting a dishcloth, from yarn I dyed with dyes left over from the tie-dye program at the spinning guild.

Spinning: I've taken to spinning a bit, then plying a bit, to work through the last of the Romney.
Weaving: The tote strap wove up nicely on the inkle loom; both it and the fabric went through the wash today.

For an audio book, I listened to John LeCarre read his novel, The Constant Gardener. Then I checked out the hardcopy version of the book from the local library and was surprised at how long it was. Well, it turned out the audio version was abridged. Boo!

Hello, darkness, my old friend

Daylight savings time ends tomorrow. THANK GOD! I am not one of those people who likes to be out and about until 10pm during the summer, prefer the morning light. So I am looking forward to what will now be early dog walks and early evenings when I can just sit and knit (or whatever) in the dark.

Knitting: Speaking of knitting, I am making progress on the zebra socks, about ready to turn the heels; and I was right - they are turning out weird, which I decided to embrace.

Spinning: More Romney has been plied; I feel like I am in the homestretch.

Weaving: With much swearing (and Annie MacHale's help), I managed to warp the inkle loom for the tote bag strap.

Last night was Trick or Treat here. Instead of locking the pets away while I jumped up to answer the doorbell periodically, I sat in a rocker on the front porch and knit. Before my time, this neighborhood had lots of kids. Now - not so much. A total of 16, including a few that were a bit old to be begging for candy. I think that is an all time low.

Road trip

On our way to northwest Indiana yesterday, my SO and I stopped at Zinck's Fabric Outlet in Ligonier. Several of my fiber friends rave about this place, so I wanted to take a looksee. WOW. That is a lot of fabric! Makes me wish I were more of a sewist. I purchased a few notions, but may return once I have a plan in place that requires fabric.

Knitting: I gave up on the original DK socks for my son, just did not like how they were turning out. So I purchased *more* DK yarn, in black for toes, heels, cuffs, and in a zebra-like colorway for feet and legs, which I think will turn out kind of weird. I made some headway on the headband.

Spinning: A spin-in at a fiber friend's house afforded me the opportunity to sit and spin for a while; working on some merino/alpaca blend that is turning out really thin (which leaves me second guessing the wheel ratio I am using for it).
Weaving: The body of the tote bag is off the loom; time to warp the inkle for the strap.

My son married his longtime girl friend this past summer. I knit them each a pair of socks for xmas, thought it would be nice to give a pair to my new step-granddaughter(?). Making the deadline might have been tight, but while perusing my sock drawer, I realized I have a pair I knit for myself that I have not yet worn. So those can be gifted, easing one holiday stress.

Accountability

I am reading Art Work, by Sally Mann. Right off the bat, she discusses the literal work involved in making art. Some of it is creative work, some of it is drudgery, and sometimes it looks like the artist is not doing anything at all, but it all goes into the finished product in one way or another.

One would think that when one is retired, there would be plenty of time for making things. Somehow, it does not work out that way. Other activities, even mundane chores like laundry or vacuuming, feel more pressing. I tend to do the things I don't like to do (i.e. housework) early in the day ("Eat the toad first"), but then I run out of energy for the "fun" things.

My SO has a similar problem. So now we are holding each other accountable by texting daily photos of what we are working on. It doesn't have to be a finished object, just a representation that we are each doing *something* besides the usual. For example, today he is experimenting with cyanotype, while I am weaving.

And by looking at the daily photos, I have a record that I can use when posting to this blog. Win-win.

Knitting: For some reason, the second toe of the socks for my son took three tries, but I am (hopefully) on my way. The headband is slowly growing.

Sewing: I'm not actually sewing yet, but I purchased two "fat quarters" that I want to turn into a zippered pillow cover, as practice for turning two of the tie-dyed muslin pieces into a giant zippered pillow cover. And I watched some YT videos on how to install zippers.
Weaving: The tote is about one-third woven.

If you look closely at the sock photo, you will see that I am listening to the Artist/Mother Podcast while I knit. Having finished Mark Twain, I needed a new audio companion, and while my children are middle-aged, I can still relate to most of what is discussed in these interviews. Kaylan Buteyn is local, co-owns Kinhouse Art, and has become a new friend.

Xmas socks for my SO

Nothing says I LOVE YOU like a pair of handknit socks... unless the intended recepiant does not want handknit socks. My daughter and granddaughter are not interested, but my SO is happy to get them.

Pattern: Short-row Toe and Heel Basic Socks, by Wendy D. Johnson
Yarn: Some kind of sock yarn from the estate sale that visited the spinning guild, feels like merino and nylon (ball band lost); Simply Socks Yarn for toes, heels, and cuffs, in 'Natural'
Needles:US1
Modifications: None to speak of

Why do I knit socks toe-up? Why do I knit the toes, heels, and cuffs in constrasting yarn? Because after years of knitting top-down socks and skating perilously close to running out of yarn, I figured that it would be better to run out of yarn on the leg. The contrasting yarn is extra insurance, as who wants short socks?

This colorway is "interesting" - wide bands of blues interspersed with narrow bits of white. I'm glad I was able to line up the stripes. The contrasting toes, heels, and cuffs also allows me some room to make the socks match.

Another event over for the year

This weekend's event was the Harvest Festival at Salomon Farm. The deal the spinning guild has with parks 'n rec is we help them promote the park in exchange for meeting at the learning center for free. Fortunately, I was not the organizer and just provided support: brought balloons from the previous weekend (it's our 50th anniversary) and the banner and helped set up and tear down.

The guild had two tables, one for demonstrating carding and spindling (geared toward kids) and spinning and one for sale items. Two of our members have been very busy knitting and crocheting little stuffed animals, which were a big hit. Their success is timely, as the program for this week's meeting is "earning money from fiber".

Knitting: Another pair of socks is complete; separate post to follow. A guild member who sells handmade, homemade, and homegrown products at farmers markets showed us some headbands she knits, so I had to start one when I got home, from sock yarn.

Spinning: Romney, Romney, Romney; the singles are fine and that takes a long time.

My SO and I have been regular visitors at Kinhouse Art, a small gallery here in town. The two artists who use part of the gallery for their studio mostly work in textiles, which gives me ideas of what to do with all that tie-dyed muslin I have, which has me circling back to fabric printing. As if I don't have enough to work on.