to pull it all together, the seams have to be right.
lace can be challenging, but once i figured out the best techniques,
it all fell into place in a great big ‘ta da!’ moment
(with a sigh of relief and a thankful smile).
‘fell’ taken from 13:3-9 of matthew.
(this post is part of an ongoing series chronicling
my current collaboration with classic elite yarns on an upcoming
indie collection. all posts tagged with ‘artistic differences‘ and titled ‘cey & i‘.)
this afternoon i am fact checking,
getting ready to tell you the story
behind billy gibbons and his nudu hat(s).
in the meantime, i have found just the right yarn to knit one up in:
the combo of the alpaca and rayon here
is so soft and drapy. i think it will give the little faux dreads
a slew of rock-n-roll personality.
on stage billy wears nudu caps in a few different natural shades.
i picked ‘mount desert’
because it has such a b&w vibe to it.
oh how i love this look.
‘story’ taken from 11:14 of acts.
bottom photo from billy f. gibbons facebook page.
my two youngest laugh themselves silly
every time they make little piggy noises.
the ‘oink, oink’ tickles deep inside their noses.
today my girl drew me this pig:
and it struck me
how very little it takes
to distinguish one thing from the next.
i mean this piggy has ears like a bear,
an odd artistic smile that is almost human
and a round head like you see in almost every 6 yr old’s drawings,
so it must be the nose alone that makes us see it as a pig,
but clearly it is a pig.
a circle with two pencil tip dots inside
and its whole species is defined.
this afternoon i read about designers who pare down
so they can pare down some more etc until
what’s necessary to make their point
is all that is left of the design.
isn’t that the place we all start out at as kids?
focused on only the basics that allow us to say
what we want to say.
perhaps adulthood, true maturity,
is really about getting back to some of the simplicity of that clarity.
that and allowing ourselves to laugh deeply
over how funny it feels to say ‘oink’.
…’bout a sharp dressed man”. ha.
blast from the past for me last night with zz top on repeat
inside my head.
why? good question.
all because of these cute as cute can be hedgehog mittens.
there’s a great tutorial of how they created the texture
with mostly knitting, and a little slight of hand with a crochet hook.
and while the mitts are adorable,
i saw them and almost immediately began to consider
how such a clever stitch might be just the trick needed
to pull a hat strongly reminiscent of billy gibbon’s
trademark cap out of my sleeve.
now where’d i put those crochet hooks.
it’s time to dust ’em off…
top two photos from ‘all day chic’.
sometimes,
you literally have to grab the bull by the horns
(just to get to the masking tape)
…and so begins school vacation week.
‘nearly’ taken from 13:12 of romans.
(this post is part of an ongoing series chronicling
my current collaboration with classic elite yarns on an upcoming
indie collection. all posts tagged with ‘artistic differences‘ and titled ‘cey & i‘.)
i like fringe on things. i like it a lot.
not on everything mind you. fringe has its place,
but i’m definitely a fan.
the thing is,
i’m also quite anal about it being straight and clean.
at least until it’s worn a bit and goes all boho on its own.
so, i’ve played around with ways to line it up
and found this way the best:
lay the piece to be fringed
flat on a table
or similar surface.
i like to use
the kitchen island
because
the light is good there.
tape a piece of
masking tape
under
the edge to be fringed.
this will be your
guideline
your goal is to
keep the edge of
the knitting lined up
with the tape line.
next use a ruler/yardstick/etc
to measure out
however many inches long
you want the fringe to be.
stick a length of tape,
parallel to the first piece,
to mark this length
you’ll cut the fringe.
now, if you keep
the end of the knit piece
on the first tape line
and cut on the second,
your fringe will be even.
slick, no?
and the only clean-up to do
is ripping two pieces of tape off of the counter and whisking away a few bits of yarn.
a job well done.
‘fringe’ taken from 26:14 of job.
i seem to have recently developed
a pretty acute and intense case of
‘knitting adhd’ (aka: multi-project tasking with the emphasis on ‘multi’).
i knit a little on what’s in project bag ‘a’,
then, feeling antsy, i move on to the contents of project bag ‘b’.
soon enough, project bag ‘c’ becomes like the ‘grass that’s always greener’
and i’m off and running.
along those lines,
it’s time to hunker down and make a decision.
these three colors are what i’m sure of:
the orange i have is a tad darker, the gold a bit lighter,
but you get the idea.
so then the question becomes
what’s the main color (mc)? and what % of the other two works best?
it started out as rectangles.
the idea was one rectangle of color inside the next
like children’s stacking blocks.
then my mind drifted to asymmetrical placement.
this leads to more questions: duplicate stitch or intarsia or embriodery?
what do i most want to do?
being a process knitter, what will be the most fun?
then there’s creating a meaningful motif vs a detour into whimsical?
should there be alternatives?
will something more blank slate-ish give
other knitters more room to play themselves?
it’s a bit of a rabbit hole, and i’ve been just enjoying the trip
but now it’s time to man up and decide…
to go any farther means firming up the direction.
soon. hmmm.
there is always something new to try.
part of what i get to do for ‘artistic differences’
is being involved in styling and choosing the outfits for the photo shoot.
that gives me an excuse (ha! thrift stores never fail to inspire me!)
to jog on over to the local 2nd hand shops
every couple weeks
armed with my loose leaf ring full
of little knotted bundles of all the yarns involved.
there are people who would see something and know
(just know) if the colors worked,
but i am not even close to being one of them.
instead, i carry the little snap ring around in my pocket
to be sure that things will go well when they’re matched up,
but not too well. it’s not
classically clean or preppy or too overly pulled together that i’m aiming for…
now, i’m not ready to reveal the theme just yet.
(a girl’s got to hold back and have a little mystery when she can.)
i will say this though: i’m having such a good time sussing out
how the personality of the clothes
will breathe extra life and skads of character into the knitwear.
i haven’t done anything like this
since i was ‘costume director’ for a play my junior yr of high school.
it was fun then. still, i’m pretty sure it feels like even more fun now.
you gotta love that.
i’m really not ready to tell,
but to not leave you hanging completely, here’s a quick peek
at my favorite finds from this morning’s jaunt.
good stuff, no? oh yeah.
