Finishing Touches

So that Valentine Palooza book with the heart stitching on the spine that I mentioned might need something more? Well, picking it up after I hadn't looked at it for awhile made clear I was right about adding a closure. I auditioned several buttons from my button jar and ways they might be attached with some kind of ribbon or thread wrap until I settled on this simple button and loop closure. That's another one of those silver metal buttons that I used on one of the Little Library Challenge books.

But before adding the closure, I added a printout of a gifted heart of flowers design by watercolor artist Ann Butera. She knows how this time of year it is easy to let the weather and lack of real greenery get us down so she shared this with her readers to be printed out and displayed wherever we might need cheering up. I was still a bit worried about the stability of the handmade paper cover even when doubled and I thought that heart would be a perfect addition inside to provide strength and continue the heart theme.

Yes, I cut it in half so that there would be a half heart on both the front and back inside covers. I had my final lunch yesterday with the friend who is moving out of town and presented it to her, hoping she will put it to good use and think fondly of me when she opens it. Hoo boy, we were both pretty unsettled as we parted even though we have every intention of keeping in touch through e-mail and maybe even zoom.

After I got home, I definitely needed a distraction and decided it was high time I block that lavender sweater. I'd ordered up a bottle of the Bath Fiber Wash recommended by OliveKnits in her blocking tutorial but was dragging my feet about actually using it. Even though you don't have to rinse it out after your sweater has soaked in it for 30 minutes, it's still a bit of an operation to squeeze out excess water after draining the sink, then get it laid out to dry - the sweater was pretty weighty even before getting wet. But I'd put it off too long with my usual worrying about an unfamiliar process and how it would go, so I got to it. Before draining the water, I pulled back the sweater to see if I could notice any change in the clarity of the water. Yup, it looked a bit murky.

I placed the sweater in a tub to take it upstairs where I would be laying it out to dry. I soon realized there was quite a bit of water still being held in that yarn so did some squeezing. Oh my, OliveKnits did not lie about what might be lurking in yarn you might otherwise think is clean. This looked part dirt/part dye to me and that part of me that questioned not having to do a rinse jumped to the fore. I ignored it and started the process of arranging the sweater on a large pressing pad I've had forever, checking the measurements given in the pattern and scrunching up those arms I think are too long. It's still pretty damp today and I've added a fan to help it dry a bit faster. Then it will be another case of holding my breath as I try it on, crossing fingers it still fits well and looks/feels more relaxed as OliveKnits suggests it will.

In Praise of Play

Austin Kleon is primarily a writer but he also has certain daily rituals that on the surface look like they have nothing to do with writing. He draws, he puts together mix tapes for himself, he collages. The above is his response to a reader who asked, “How do you balance making fun stuff with doing business? Do you allocate time to simpl[y] make ‘pointless’ things?” (See post here.) This caught my eye because you could say the majority of my creative journey has been being serious about what I was working on and resisting play that felt "pointless" or at least a bit of a waste of time. Yet I have had to admit a time or too when play resulted in something better when applied to a "serious" work. It's probably safe to say that very little play is wasted time.

With that in mind, I was compelled to run the above photo through a palette generator. It's been quite awhile since I've used this tool which can be revealing or frustrating. The photo is from a series taken by Jay Stotts who lives in my area and posts on Facebook. I was immediately drawn in by the palette, thinking it would make a wonderful quilt of peachy fabrics mixed with browns and greys featuring pops of red. 

Well, my eyes see differently from the palette generators; I tried half a dozen (eschewing any with AI) with varying results, most giving me a palette of colors I didn't recognize as being in the photo. Most did not pick up any of the yellow unless I upped the number of colors to the max. The two above are from colorkit.co and colordesigner.io

I tried a different photo and ran it through CSSdrive.com, which I'd used a long time ago. Where'd all the peach go? 

Another try with yet another photo and palette generator, coolors.com. This one works a bit differently from the others I tried in that you can move those circles superimposed over my photo to alter what is getting picked up for your palette. Still, I wasn't getting what I thought I was seeing. Might try working with this some more.

This palette provided by colorpalette.imageonline.co using the solo bird photo above finally gave me the peachiness I was craving and the pop of red but still missed the brighter yellow. Still, I like the first six colors as a possible palette for a quilt.

But for all the time I spent on this, I couldn't help thinking I might have spent the time better and more satisfyingly rooting around in my stash with photo in hand.

Valentine Palooza

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you have experienced some love today, whether coming from a friend or loved one or coming from yourself. 💖 I've finished that book I previewed which was the structure offered by the Handmade Book Club I belong to. Twice a year, a workshop is offered to the public for a small fee to give people an idea of what the club has to offer, and us members join in as part of our membership fee. Since this workshop came at the end of January, the theme became Valentine Palooza featuring hearts stitched up the spine. I'm not much for putting hearts on things, but I have a quilting friend who is moving out of state at the end of March, and I thought this would be a perfect going away present for her. So what's going on in that photo up there? It's the start of the cover for my book.

I have a small stash of large pieces of handmade paper which was one of the options for the cover of this book. Directions required applying a sturdier piece over the spine to strengthen it and I wasn't sure what I might use for that. The workshop includes several zoom meetings where people can share their books and ask questions. It was there that I learned about making a four fold cover. It not only doubles up the front and back covers but triples up the spine. And it is so easy to make. The end folds are the same width as the spine, and folding over each side in turn to meet the edge of that fold marks where the spine folds go. One more fold in and you have your cover.

Double stick tape like Scor Tape placed along various edges holds it all together, ready to add signatures. 

Because the handmade paper has a slight purplish tinge to it, I chose lavender thread for sewing in the signatures. Tip your head to the left and see the hearts!

I'm really pleased that I had paper for the signatures that matched the handmade paper so well. It's a 24lb Southworth Granite specialty paper in gray with such a nice texture for writing on. Even doubled up, the handmade paper cover may lack some staying power, so I might use the trick of gluing the first and last pages of the first and last signatures to the inside of the covers. I'm going to go look through my button and bead collection as well for a possible closure. It's done, but may get a few tweaks before I give it away.

I know many of you are struggling to stay calm while so much seems to be blowing up around us, so I will share that one way I have managed to not let it steal my light so to speak, IS by getting in the studio and losing myself in my work. Once I get going, the world falls away and my focus stays steady. So I was pretty delighted to run across this quotation attributed to Picasso because it sure had been working for me; I think it will work for you if you let it:

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life."

New Projects For February

I was hoping to have a book to show you but life intervened a few times. Instead, here's a teaser: it will be a soft cover book with decorative stitch positions on the spine - can you see it? I was having trouble getting the camera and my software to capture the handmade paper I'll be using for the cover - it is fairly grey with flecks of color throughout and leaning a bit lavender overall. I found I had some grey specialty paper for the signatures that were a perfect match. I'll be using dark purple thread to sew in the signatures which are all ready to go. Prep of the cover will be an easy folding method once the paper is cut to size.

In the meantime, I've started a scarf from the unraveled yarn, getting past the tricky start to settle into the easy pattern. Perhaps you can see the knit stitches running up both sides? They are the result of a step in the pattern that forms what is called an I-cord edging that finishes the edges as you knit, no rolling or plain edge if it were not there. Very neat. The pattern increases a stitch every fourth row until the piece is about 12 inches wide, then decreases at the same rate until the end. It should work a bit like a cowl but with tails. You can see the pattern with pictures over on ravelry.com here. The bag it's sitting in is one my maid of honor made for me probably in the 1980's. I remember her taking me to a fabric store and telling me to pick out two fabrics so she could make this for me. Are we surprised that I chose fabrics in the brown range?

A couple of quick updates: Not sure why I think I can keep staring down my studio and expect things I can't find to magically appear, but that's pretty much what I'd been doing trying to figure out where my Posca pens went, so sure was I that they should be out in the open like so much of my painting supplies. But what if, in the last time I felt I had to "tidy up" the space including the adjoining bathroom where I often use paints, I actually put them away somewhere, like in the cabinet below the sink? And that is where I found them even though I don't keep other paints there, just stamp pads and various spray cans of fixatives and basting adhesives. I honestly have no recollection of putting them there, logical or not.

And remember my snapdragons so valiantly hanging on in spite of the cold weather? Not long ago I noticed the yellow bloom was gone from the plant in the separate pot. I assumed a deer had nibble it away. A few days later I took a closer look to see the deer had come back and nibbled the plant down to about an inch above the dirt. Another few days later, I opened the blinds to see that the ones in the long planter were gone - totally gone - eaten down to the ground! I have to admit, the forage along the edge of the lawn has been getting pretty slim, most leaves gone, even the white berries almost all gone. A little salad from my planters could not be resisted! Now we've had a good snow with temps below freezing to keep it there, so the snapdragons probably would have succumbed to that anyway.

Need A Plan

"Do I look anxious?"

Here it is, my beautiful wool sweater. Early last week I came to a point where I was caught up and suddenly had a block of time open, and didn't know what to do with it. It was an instant panic as I did the "on spin cycle" of things I could fill it with; because these things were only in my head rather than ranked on a list, my mind just went from one to another and couldn't land on anything. A trip downstairs where the sweater lay with its last seam ready to be sewn made me realize that this is ridiculous: the sweater would rise to the top, be my focus for the week. That seam up the side and down the sleeve took a surprisingly long time to stitch though, more than one sitting. The compression gloves do seem to help keep my fingers from cramping while doing that kind of hand sewing.

finished measurements provided

Holding my breath, I tried it on. Whew! It fits in all the important places . . . except the sleeves are about an inch too long. Hmmm. I went back and looked at the photo with the instructions, a woman turned a bit sideways and holding up one hand to her chin and look at that. Even with her arm bent, the sweater came well past her wrist, about the same as mine. Since I'd checked my finished sleeve measurement against that in the directions, I now knew this was a feature, not an error. This got me thinking about blocking, if I could ease the sleeves shorter that way. The neckline was a bit wonky as well, so blocking might solve that too. Off I went on a google; in all the knitting of sweaters I'd done in my younger days, I don't ever remember blocking one and only had the briefest of info about it in my head.

Well, I learned a lot, not just how to but why block a sweater from OliveKnits.com. In the post How To Block A Sweater, she explains that not only does blocking allow you to adjust your finished piece to the proper shape, but soaking the stitches "makes an enormous difference in the way a garment feels, drapes and wears." Mine could certainly use that. This worsted weight wool that I used while not scratchy or particularly stiff, is HEAVY, so much heavier than the almost airy in comparison commercial wool sweater of a thinner yarn I was wearing that day. She says that an unblocked sweater looks anxious while blocking helps it to relax. She adds, "This settling process evens-out inconsistencies and encourages the stitches to get comfortable. Not only will it help hide flaws (hooray!), but it it will smooth and help to define the stitch pattern." Sounds a bit like the advantages of washing or at least steaming your finished quilt.

What I hadn't thought about is something I know about quilting yardage but holds true for yarn as well: by the time it gets to you, it has been through many processes where it can pick up dirt. A gentle wash will rinse that away. Ditto with any excess dye. And those fit issues I mentioned? She confirms that "A sweater that doesn’t appear to fit quite right might just need a good soak to reach its full potential." So I guess I have one more step before I can call this sweater done! But at least I can now move forward on the next knitting project, a scarf from the yarn unraveled from a cowl I never could make work though I tried several times to reseam the ends different ways to get the drape shown in the photo. I don't like taking out stitches or undoing major parts of projects but this yarn is too beautiful to let languish in something I'll never wear. The rest of my plan still needs to get written down on a to do list.

End of Year Journal Prompts

I thought I'd share the journal prompts that helped me assess 2024 and settle on my resolution word. They were presented in December by Ali Manning of my Handmade Book Club, partly because so many members are at a loss as to what to use their newly-made blank books for. I was still in a mood when she first posted them and brushed them off as something I didn't want to do, but by the third time they crossed my path, I found myself pouring out answers on a scrap of paper. I know we are well into January, but perhaps you'd be interested in considering them:

• What surprised you this year?
• What habits or routines improved your life?
• What risks did you take and how did they turn out?
• What would you like to leave behind this year?
• What are your top priorities for next year?
  

As you might guess, a lot of my answers were quite negative, but it's good to get that out of your system. And it was pretty clear what I wanted to leave behind and make priorities for 2025.

I usually scan over the year's blog posts before choosing my resolution word and writing that post, but this year I did not. In retrospect, I think I left the impression that the year had been a wash, so easy to concentrate on the negative, but surely that was not true. So now I've made that scan and can say it wasn't all bad, by any means. I made quite a few beautiful books, many for gifts. I got back into knitting more often, completing a pair of socks and nearly finishing a sweater. I worked to improve my art journaling skills with several completed spreads and some small mixed media pieces. I added more Zentangles to my sketchbook, learning some new ones. I pried myself out of the house to do some urban sketching once the weather got nice. And organizing efforts throughout the year did make me feel better about my work spaces and a bit more in control.

Of course, I couldn't help feeling my crowning achievement was making that baby quilt for my goddaughter's baby, then following it up with the pillowcases and trinket bowls. And of course, even more trinket bowls! But I needn't overlook all the rest I accomplished, the year certainly not a wash. I'm disappointed that I couldn't convince myself to get out on a trail hike but I'm hopeful that what kept me home or on my secure daily walking routes will no longer be an issue. And I'm hopeful that my issues with my hands will be less of an issue with the help of compression gloves to wear while doing handwork and these fancier ones with heat and vibrations! In this clip they are charging up, the blinking red lights looking a bit like Christmas, don't you think?

So while I may be focusing on resisting less, I think I am right in thinking I need to resist being sucked in by free classes like that Year of Light one. Even though there are a few lessons I still plan to try, I realized that almost all posts from people doing them were direct copies of the instructor's example. And while copying is one of the best ways to learn, I thought more than once that no, I did not want to just copy, but use my own sketch or idea to practice a particular technique or style. That may be partly out of confidence or partly out of recognition of time marching on and I need to make better use of it. In truth, even in the learning stages of quilting, I was always thinking of little ways I could change things up to make it more my own. I will try to keep that in mind, that making things more my own, as I continue into the new year and keep creating.

2025 Resolution Word(s)

Are you a resolution maker or use the shortened version of choosing a resolution word? I've settled into the latter and often have my next year's word chosen a month or two before it goes into effect. Not this year. It was well into December before I settled on my choice for 2025, actually two sets of two words. They mirror how I felt 2024 had gone and how I didn't want 2025 to go. I'll reveal them in a bit but first, here is the last of the trinket bowls, made hastily on New Year's Day because I'd be seeing the recipient the following day for my regular cut and style. I had plenty of time to make it, but kept putting it off as I so often do with tasks until I was nearly out of time.

My stylist is always interested in my creative ventures, so at my previous appointment, I'd told her about the trinket bowls I'd been making and found it a little difficult to explain what they were and my process. Right then and there I decided I should make her one. She is an avid hunter, her husband hunts too but is also a game taxidermist, and they've even gone on safari in Africa. So I pulled out some leopard and tiger fabric that had come from friend Judi's stash to make this. She immediately said, "This will be perfect for all my rings!" then sent me a photo of it in use. She added that most of them had been gifted to her by another crafty client who makes them. I feel like she herself is quite the hair artist, mine being no trick to keep in check and her personality draws people to her. I'm not surprised that clients often gift her their work as I have.

But I digress. I realized that I'd spent a lot of last year in this same cycle of putting off getting to things or finishing things I'd started, even things that I wanted to do or had gotten excited about. My mental state was one of resisting, and if I could just get past the "I don't want to . . ." quarrel going on in my head, I was fine and getting things done. But I often didn't win.

Sleeves set in but still dragging my feet about sewing up the sides

So why was I resisting so much? To be honest, it may have started with tipping over into my seventh decade, which believe me I wanted to resist. I think I spent much of the year in a funk over it, coupled with a long slog getting my thyroid back in balance which eventually vanquished side effects of anxiety, depression, difficulty sleeping and fatigue. I started having more issues focusing my eyes which is due to dry eye syndrome which started up a few years back, part of my on-going auto-immune syndrome. The pain in my thumb-joints and cramping fingers worsened, making me think twice about picking up knitting needles or needle and thread to sew the pieces of this wool sweater together. I stare at it each evening when I settle in to watch tv, but fear gripping that needle will set off the cramping and the pain keeps me from picking it up. (However, I'm experimenting with compression gloves of two varieties and they may be helping.) Frankly, I grew tired of the constant monitoring of my various ailments and the daily/weekly routines and medication necessary to keep everything in check. Moody and biligerant about these things I could not ignore but wished I could.

That's the other thing I've realized in looking back over my behavior last year. A lot of the resistance was also driven by fear: fear of pain, or not having the stamina to make a longer drive or hike a trail longer than my daily walk, even still lingering pandemic fear of participating in anything involving crowds.  And too much of it driven by the whine of that petulant child in my head. I knew all this fear and resistance was making my world smaller and was having a hard time caring.

But hey! Something reversed after Thanksgiving. I suddenly started feeling physically much better which may be why my attitude uplifted, became brighter. I suddenly did not dread the coming year as another marker of my waning time on this earth but felt I'd have the energy to do more and see more, and really want to. I would take up my resolution word more as a mantra:

RESIST LESS/FEAR LESS

I think this will serve me well, and I pray this looking-forward-to-the-new-year optimism and better health stays with me! This quotation from Rilke is a perfect reminder of what a new year can mean:

“And now let us believe in a long year that is given to us, new, untouched, full of things that have never been, full of work that has never been done, full of tasks, claims, and demands; and let us see that we learn to take it without letting fall too much of what it has to bestow upon those who demand of it necessary, serious, and great things.”

As for last year's word - organize - It didn't help as much as I had hoped in getting me more productive, what with all this resistance in the background. Initially it was good to get the decks cleared and a lot of stuff organized and put away. But organizing is a lot like housework: it is never one and done but something you have to keep doing as new items enter the studio and projects leave messes in their wake. Plus there's always that issue of organizing so well that you suddenly can't find something you know you have somewhere, if you could only retrace your logic to find it. Plus, my muse apparently took off with both boxes of Posca Pens which I realized a few months ago were nowhere in sight, my last memory of one set on the work table and the other on the floor next to some paint I'd been journaling with.. She must be holding them hostage until I get back to my art journaling . . .

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Previous Resolution Word Posts:

• 2008 - Freedom
  2009 - Calm
  2010 - Focus
  2011 - Refocus
  2012 - Balance & Harmony
  2013 - Perseverance
  2014 - Explore
  2015 - Fearless
  2016 - Light
  2017 - Endure 
  2018 - Refresh
  
  2019 - Wing It!  
  2020 - Go! 
  2021 - Finish 
  2022 - More 
  2023 - Continue
  2024 - Organize 
  

 

 

Belated New Year's Greetings

Day 1 and 2

I hope you all had as lovely and peaceful and stress-free of a time between Christmas and New Year's Day as I did. I'd saved videos from Zentangle's latest project Twelve Days Of Christmas that were posted leading up to Christmas day but actually the twelve days of Christmas start on Christmas day. Knowing this and also knowing I didn't have time to fit zentangling into my pre-Christmas schedule, I looked forward to doing a tangle a day during the last days of the year and into the new one.

Day 3 and 4

Rather than work on individual tiles, I worked these in my "and then add red" sketchbook which accounts for the splashes of red in these tangles originally presented in blacks and greys. Some I liked the results of better than others but oh do I love what that red does. Don't forget that you can click on any image for a larger version to view details.

Day  5 and 6

The Zentangle people had settled on a theme for this group of tangles, that being "drawing behind". It's a simple basic zentangle technique that makes your work look much more complicated than it actually is, as does the final step of shading with graphite pencil.

Day 7 and 8

This page has one I wasn't very pleased with and one I rather liked. On the top one, the original curved lines to make the swirl were done with a wet paintbrush loaded with pigment off a watercolor pencil (or in my case, Inktense pencil). Shaky hands and a too small paint brush hindered my swooping of arcs which should have been a tad farther apart to fill up more of the square and make room for inner tangling. The bottom one if full of what we quilters call feathers but in this case, all jumbled up like after a pillow fight. White and red berries nestle here and there.

Day 9 and 10

These two were fairly fun to do. Rick drew the diagonal tangle going over and under itself while Maria added the drops that Rick pointed out looked like Japanese Lanterns, and so they do. As for the bottom one, who does not like a good swirl which in this case comes off looking a bit like clefs. I wasn't crazy about what was added to the space between the outer auras, would definitely do something different if I drew this again.

Day 11 and 12

I was pretty pleased that I stuck to my plan to block out time to do twelve consecutive days of tangling, but I won't lie. By day eleven I was ready to be done, and that top tangle didn't help my attitude any. They did it on a rectangular tile while I had pre-drawn squares on my pages. It would look better if the tassel part was longer but in truth, I didn't like this one much, especially the tassel part. I'd been having trouble drawing lines over this paper which is not very smooth and my unsteady hand coupled with working in the sketchbook didn't help. drawing long curving lines so close together and over and under each other was not the meditative process it could have been. I probably should have found a different tangle to draw, but so close to the end, I just sucked it up and worked it. But the one below was pretty fun. I actually didn't like day one's zentangle at all. It is pretty rare that I'm not willing to even give one a try (see previous description of tangling the top one). Instead, I knew I'd been saving a somewhat Christmas-y tangle for over a year, never adding it to this sketchbook until now, on this last day. Looks a bit like a stocking hat, does it not?

I'm glad I did this as I do enjoy tangling and have been away from it for a long time. What are vacation holidays for anyway? What special thing did you do over the holidays to relax you or kick off the new year?  

Holiday Greetings

 

View From My Back Deck

Well look at that! We'd gotten a dusting of snow the night before but I thought yesterday was supposed to be rainy. 

It snowed lightly all day but with not much accumulating - only a couple of inches. Definitely helped put me in the mood to finish up writing on Christmas cards.

But today it has warmed with gusting winds. All this is melted off the trees, roads and lawns. Beautiful while it lasted.

Can you believe it? My deck plants are hanging in there still! On closer inspections, I can see that the local deer that pass through have nibbled some leaves off the geranium but otherwise it is holding up.

I think it may be because we haven't really had a hard freeze yet. Just chuckle at that lovely yellow snapdragon bloom.

Still dawdling on sewing together my sweater but did get as far as to realize that these quilting clips might be perfect for holding the sections together as I sew. I may have to get another package because these are working great. With most of my holiday preparations taken care of, I think I can convince myself to focus on finishing this up now.

How are your holiday preparations going?

Lay Flat Notebook

I've been working on a new book structure this week, something I've had in mind to give a friend for far too long. Time to get it done so it will arrive by Christmas. It's from the April Handmade Book Club offering and when I first watched the video I wasn't sure about it, but a bit intrigued. It was billed as a way to use up leftover papers for the signatures (you can make it any size) and quickly sew into a book with a cover that is just glued onto the first page of the first signature and the last page of the last signature. I'd pulled the image with the saying "Don't Let Anyone Steal Your Joy Today" off the internet (no attribution), thinking it would make the perfect cover for a "What was the very best moment of your day?" notebook.

I've yet to try a "quick and simple" project that didn't take me longer than anticipated and wasn't full of problems. There was so much I had to think through as I went through the steps. At first, I was delighted to find enough leftover papers from a different project to make 4 signatures measuring 5" x 4-1/4" when folded. I was equally delighted to find a document I'd made to print lines across the 8-1/2" width could be quickly edited for my 5" height. I got the lines printed, folded the signatures and put them under weights while I puzzled my next steps.

I decided to print the cover image plus a different one for the back cover onto matte presentation paper in order to get the best colors. It's not heavy enough though to be a cover on its own but it was suggested that a flimsier paper could be glued to card stock or a file folder to give it added strength. I wasn't sure how the paper would react to glue but remembered I had 6" squares of double-sided Scor Tape. But then I started worrying about how the printout would hold up as a cover as I read through the directions of how to treat the printed page. My ink is not the archival kind the is water resistant. I thought about a tip Laly Mille mentioned if your inkkjet printouts ran or blurred when painting over them: just spray them with workable fixative first. Aha! I do have fixative on hand so after applying the Scor Tape to the images and doing a test run on different images, I sprayed them with fixative. Once dry, I trimmed them to size, stuck them to a file folder and trimmed again.

Now for the sewing. Instructions suggested a "cutting" method rather than punching holes which required clipping all four signatures together and "sawing" with a crat knife across the folds down through all paper layers. I was not the only one who struggled with this, finding first of all that my biggest clips would barely open wide enough to capture all signatures, and second of all the sawing took way more time than if I'd just made a quick template and punched holes in each signature individually. Even on the video instructions, the teacher's cuts did not make it through all pages, and many of us found the same, ending up needling holes the rest of the way. The binding itself was done a bit differently to create link stitches rather than true coptic stitches which are stronger, but this was primarily meant to be more a notebook for making lists with glue added over the spine for strengthening. But first, those covers needed gluing to the first and last page, kind of tricky but I got them on. I let them dry for a bit before wedging the book between other books to keep it upright for the spine gluing. Ohhh, I wasn't at all sure about that step and feared the glue would show white on my buff pages. But after a night of drying, it had gone clear. Whew! It opens nicely, does lay pretty flat and will make a nice gift. Will I make this structure again? Not sure, but at least now I know some of the pitfalls.

Almost Done

I thought I'd be able to post a picture of a finished sweater today but the suggested tubular bind off of stitches around the neckline ribbing took way longer than a traditional bind off would. It is done using a regular needle (which you should be able to see in the picture) to wind around and through stitches before dropping them off and it seemed slightly different from the sewn bind off I did on the grey socks but with the same effect - a slightly stretchy finished edge. I worked on it through three tv shows last night! I found I had to have the instructions right next to me to keep track of where I was in the sequence, couldn't seem to keep track otherwise. By the way, picking up stitches with those markers spaced along the neckline really did make that process easier.

So now I'm ready for the final stage: sewing the sleeve caps to the sweater armholes followed by sewing up the long seaming of the sides and sleeves. I am resisting this part, realizing I'm feeling a lot like I do when I get to the binding on a quilt. Actually setting in sleeves when I made my own clothes found me similarly resistive. Definitely not my favorite part. I did a quick check of sizing after the binding off was done, slipping my head through the neckline opening and holding the sides together with my fingers. It will get a blocking after all the seaming is done but it looks like the fit will be just fine.

Helpful Tip

Finally tackling the dreaded finishing touches to my sweater, getting those shoulder seams whip stitched together so I can knit the collar. I've never liked picking up stitches at the neckline, always feeling that it is a guessing game to get the right number so stitches evenly distributed. It's been a long time since I've done this and thought to check a reference book I have on hand to see if I was doing it right (I wasn't). And that is where I found the helpful tip for distributing the stitches - use stitch markers to break up the neckline evenly! Almost a "duh" moment. I did some math and came up with a breakdown of 7 sections of 15 stitches each. I'd bought a packet of safety pin-like markers back when I was knitting socks, didn't even know they existed until they were used in a PBS knit & crochet show I'd started watching. They worked like a charm. Onward!

I'm having a hard time adapting my routine to the time change that brings darkness so early to the day. I am so used to walking between 4:30 and 5:00 or so when I know my mail will be waiting for me as I pass the mail locker on my way by, but now it is almost dark by 4:00, so an earlier walk it is and a second trip to the mail locker after dark. Any change in routine leaves me floundering for awhile and wanting to resist it but I'm trying to be more positive this time. For instance, I'm meeting different people walking their dogs at this earlier time. Still, I'm getting caught out by the switching around and not getting into the studio as I want. The day just magically disappears even faster it seems. How are you coping with the time change?

And do you have plans for Thanksgiving? If you are traveling, may it be safe and delay free. If you are hosting, may all conversation be light and loving, and all food comfort for the soul.

Oh Look!

I got another trinket bowl made, using up the last of the blue ark fabric and what was left of the pinks. But that raindrop fabric - it will go into many more bowls, it looks like. That strip you see is four double layers  that will take 3 swipes of the rotary cutter across its width. Many more long lengths for wrapping around clothesline. I'm not as happy with this one as the others, not liking my decision to just go as far as I could with the first inner pink which made that second round short, and wishing I'd had some blue, even if a different fabric, as accent around the top to balance the blue in the center.

And we got our first snow over the weekend - only a few inches that quickly melted off even the lawns, but more is due in tonight and tomorrow. Oddly enough, my deck garden doesn't seem to mind. Small excitement on the home front: a new refrigerator got delivered today. The old one was starting to make some disturbing clunks when the condenser shut down. As a renter, appliances are included so getting a new one doesn't cost me a thing. Ditto with new sets of blinds for the upstairs bedrooms. Those bedrooms facing west get the afternoon sun and the plastic clips holding the vertical blinds in place started snapping from deterioration. Now I have working blinds again and really appreciate having a great maintenance man to install them. In the meantime, I've noticed that the new refrigerator sounds slightly different when running, causing me to cock my head to figure out what that sound is. Shouldn't take long to get used to it though.

Woodworking Artist Extraordinaire

South of the Colorado - Basketweave turning by Charliewood Art

Goodness, the last few weeks have been full of distractions and diversions that can kept me from having much to share. I'm guessing hearing that I've gotten to some document shredding and filing, finished updating my various journals, received positive reports from my regular 6 month followups with my rheumatologist and dental hygienist and got my car serviced for winter aren't the sort of thing you come here for. I've also had some computer wars that I finally resolved today so hopefully am ready to get back into regularly scheduled blog reports. In the meantime, I ran across a woodworker whose artistic renditions either fool you into thinking you're looking at a woven basket or that puzzle you over how he did that. It's Rich Charlson, a Montana farmer who turns wood in his spare time. But don't think he's some amateur for he has been honing his craft for about thirty-five years and has many accolades to his name, Go check out his many bowls, crosses and even wall hangings at Charliwoodart.com.