WIPs and the Need for a Date

In the past couple weeks I have made steady progress on these two knit projects. I had taken photos of them last week but never had the time to write up a post. In fact, these photos were taken a couple days ago and just now am I able to post.


I'm halfway finished with my Sharktooth. The initial goal was to finish by the end of the month, which is looking pretty slim. The rows are getting longer and longer and I have other plans for this weekend. I would like to finish it this fall though as the colors just scream autumn to me.


This next project I have actually finished since taking this. The pattern is called Adobe and was a mystery knit-a-long. It's blocked and I'm hoping to take photographs of it this weekend. I will talk more about it once I get them taken.


I feel like I sound like a skipping record some times. Thanks for hanging in here with me. My search for a different job continues and has been taking up a lot of my free time. An anxiety attack that I had at work was pretty much the nail in the coffin on me leaving there. Coupled with the severe desire on my way to work to call in sick and spend the day sketching outside.

Sigh... Instead, I am beefing up my efforts to find alternate employment and spending Saturday taking myself on an artist's date. My plans are to spend a couple hours at one of the local art museums and then drawing outside. It's supposed to be a nice day and not too cold. There are some places around town that I have been meaning to take down.

The rest of my day is going to be spent finishing up an art quilt. I haven't touched my sewing machine in months and want this to be my addition to the Blogger's Quilt Festival. That is, if it turns out as I see it in my head. For now, I'm going to bid you all adieu as I feel I may ramble on senselessly.

Until next time.

New Series on Photography

I know what you are thinking. Every blogger out there does a series on photography tips for bloggers. But I think this is going to be different for you. My perspective on photography is not the same as others because I have different goals in mind when I take a photograph. When I read some tips and tutorials, I can't believe anyone would follow them. I'm not here to knock any one specifically, so don't worry about that, it's just that we all have our own way of approaching something.

Capturing a moving object can be tricky. With practice you can achieve a clear photograph that is as dynamic as real life.   Animals have personalities that are waiting to come to life in an image. My series is going to focus on the basic elements of a good photograph. This can apply to fine art as well as presentation of a project. My background in photography comes from experimenting as a child (well, and adult) as well as studying it as an art form in college. I also intend to share some bad photographs along the way. To get the ones I share here (and keep in general), I sometimes take dozens of options.

Shooting from a different angle can bring about a surprising result. (This photo was shot from high above the wolf.)   Darkness and indoor, direct lighting can be tricky when shooting.
The main topics will be in composition, lighting, capturing movement, self portraits, photographing animals to show their personality, perspective, abstraction, telling a story, and more.

Forcing a viewer to see the world in a certain way can be eye opening.
I have pulled a number of photographs I have taken with a simple point and shoot digital camera to share in this post. In future posts, I will be using photos from my past as well as taking new ones to illustrate the topic. I have not edited these in any manner except to had a watermark.

Another forced perspective that is unexpected.
My hope is that there will be something you can take from this and apply to your own photographs. I will not be teaching how to use your camera (at least not yet). The majority of my background is in film and there are different considerations when shooting in that manner.

A sense of humor is a welcome addition to a photograph.   Changing the viewpoint (in this case kneeling down instead of shooting from above) results in a superior image.
In the future, I will be investing in a DSLR. For those of you who have read my blog (and remember my views on digital), this may come as a surprise. I am still very pro-film over digital but I also know I miss taking photographs like I used to. Having a digital camera that can shoot like my SLR will spark that again. Once I learn this new camera (model yet to be determined) I may start to walk through how to take advantage of your cameras features.

Overcoming distance and moving objects are a challenge at times.   Even faster moving objects here. Also the challenge of bright sunlight.
I hope you join me as I share my approach to capturing life with a camera. Photography is a passion of mine and while my favorite form of it is dying, I want to ignite the passion in others. This series is not going to have a set schedule but I am aiming to post at least twice a month.

Not the best photograph of myself but this captures Jameson so well.
See you next time with some progress on my WIPs!

Knitting WIPs

I meant to share this last week. I took the photos quickly one day and then basically spent the remainder of the week either working or sleeping. Sigh... Things are going to be changing around here as I finally came to the conclusion that while this job is meeting, nay exceeding, my financial needs, it is not allowing me in any manner to meet my other needs (like my personal relationships and my creative needs).

I spent some time reorganizing my creative space. I'm not really sure what to call it now. It used to be my sewing room but now it is so much more. My yarn stash has taken over one shelf and my scraps are out of control. I found some WIPs I had forgotten about, one of which I want to try to finish before the next Blogger's Quilt Festival.


Also getting organized are my art supplies. For school, I had containers that could hold a wide variety of items and so I decided to seperate and group by type so I know what I have. I can't wait to dig in and start playing around with them again. I signed up for some online workshops to learn techniques I haven't tried before.


Since last time, I have made progress on my Sharktooth (two more teeth have appeared!) and started a mystery knit-a-long called Adobe. Both should be finished by the end of the month.

This post is kind of random and disconnected so I will stop there. What have you been up to lately?

FAL 3rd Quarter Wrap Up

I missed the link up for the 3rd quarter of the Finish-a-long but I am still going to recap my projects. My goals were not that big but considering I am living at my job these days, it's no surprise I have made little progress.

1. Garter stitch scarf - I have finished this but it wasn't before the end of the quarter. FO photos will be coming soon (and the weight of this long-standing WIP is finally off my shoulders).

2. Sewing machine cover - this hasn't been touched all quarter and the project bag it is in is collecting dust.

3. Very late wedding gift - this also hasn't been touched recently. The couple celebrated their 1st anniversary in September so now I am thinking I could finish these by January, which is the month of my friend's 30th birthday.

4. Drunkard's Path quilt - this is still in block form. Maybe 2013 will be the year I finally finish some quilts...

5. Line Break shawl - this is "finished" in the sense that it is bound off and blocked. I hate the bind off though and have decided to frog it and start over. This will also let me add the third ball of yarn to it.

6. Piper's Journey shawl - my only real finish of the quarter from this list. More details can be found here.


Because of the 100 Day Hustle I am not going to be making a list of the 4th quarter. The FAL was fun but not as helpful as I had hoped. I do have two finishes from my hustle list that I need to take photographs of and share here. See you soon!

Brazilian Natives Series

I'm tying up some loose ends and part of that is posting about things I have been meaning to for some time. This is the first of a few posts on my work from the drawing class I took in the summer.

Because of the level of the class, I had pretty much free reign to create what I wanted. One thing that was important to me was creating work using photographs I have taken over the years. When I travel I tend to live through my camera lense and the emotions from those trips say with the images long after.


One of my favorite trips was the two weeks I spent in Brazil. I feel hard for the country and even seven years later, I can remember the sights, smells, sounds, and even what I was feeling as I took each photograph that I have. The trip was eye opening as it was the first time I have truely seen poverty. Poor people in the United States live richly compared to Brazil and it is something I will never forgot. Brazil was also the first place I had to mostly navigate without knowing the language. I learned a little Portuguese and know very little Spanish even (French is the second language I speak and it is completely useless there).


I could go on and on about my experiences there but that's not what this post is really about. It's really about the art.


Part of stretching myself is drawing things that I tend to shy away from. People are at the top of that list and the only way I am going to improve is to jump in.


This series of mixed media drawings started with a basic ink outline. I didn't work in graphite at all because I didn't want to overthink anything. This was about embracing mistakes and letting go. Are they perfect? Nope, but I am very pleased with how they turned out.


I will be sharing more of the work I created during this class over the next few weeks. Then I can move on to sharing more of my current projects.

A Little Change of Weather

Would you believe me if I said 48 hours ago it was 80 degrees outside? Maybe if I wasn't sharing this view from this morning...

We got our first taste of winter already and it is only to the delight of Angus (at least in my household). I am ready to hibernate as is Jameson, who wouldn't even slow down long enough to be captured here.

I'm working a different shift this week, covering for another supervisor, so everything is off kilter. I haven't touched any project all week but did manage to snap a couple photos of what I have been making progress on.

I started knitting up the hand part of one of my gloves. This really could be a quick knit if I sat down with it.

Instead, I have been working on my garter stitch scarf. I only have a little ball left compared to what there was so this project will be coming off the needles by the end of this weekend.

There are a few posts I have up my sleeve that I'm going to try to get to in the next week. One of which is my recap for the 3rd quarter of the Finish-a-long. I also bought some new art supplies and have been craving some time to draw.

I am off to bed (dang overnights) and will see you this weekend!