Stasia's Place Of Grace

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

 

Color, Color Everywhere

I made a little rug! This is the Harrisville Rug Hooking Kit from Halcyon Yarn.

After reading about hooked sheep ornaments in the latest Spin-Off, I had to give this a try. I completed this kit in a few hours, and now will start on my own project, using my own handspun (I think it'll be a great way to use up all those little, leftover bits of handmade yarn!) Did you know you can also make clothing with this technique?

This is not to be confused with latch hooking, or primitive rug hooking with fabric strips - this is Nantucket rug hooking, which uses yarn. A good resource to help you learn about this craft is "Hooking With Yarn."

I also ordered an ergonomic, Cocobolo, Valkyrie rug hook from Halcyon, and it is beautiful.

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This is the Colinette Absolutely Fabulous throw in the Cornucopia colorway. I took this photo a while ago, and have actually completed another whole repeat of what you see here. The colors look very strange in the photo - when it's finished, I'll take a pic of it outside. I would've preferred a purple and green one, but Jeff liked this selection, so... maybe I'll do a purple and green one next! (Just kidding!)

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The completed modular-knit lace scarf (with crocheted edging) made of handspun silk from The Silkworker, in the Parking Ticket colorway (on the right, and gifted back to Kary, from whom the silk came!) and an Anny Blatt ribbon and angora scarf in the Pourpre (454) colorway (on the left)... expensive yarn, but it feels so good I'm tempted to frog it and knit it again!

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And what is my intention for these? Stay tuned...

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The beautiful Harvest Moon of the 10th, photo by Jeff. It truly was that color! It looks kind of like it has a pumpkin face, doesn't it? They say the harvest moon was the full moon during the harvest month - farmers would stay out late, bringing in all the crops by its light.

What do they call the first full moon after a frost - a Hunter's Moon? I forget...

Everything is orange this month - the moon, my Heilo yarn project, my new fleece jacket from L. L. Bean (I made the Anny Blatt scarf to match it.) My pal Katrina said it is because of the planet Mars' influence - have you noticed it, bright and orange in the sky these past few weeks? Watch for it tonight!

I can't wait to go to the pumpkin farm to get my jack-o-lantern squash!

Claudia is in an orangey mood, too...

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No matter how awful my sketches are, I'm grateful for the time I take to do them. Nothing calms me down, erases the day's troubles, and focuses me like drawing. I am learning to see things in a completely different way - to really see them, and not just look at them.

I am no artist, but by keeping these sketches, I can remember with vivid clarity what I actually saw when I made them, and it is neat to keep a journal of the changing seasons and the birds, animals, plants, and insects I see.

Get yourself a little notebook of drawing paper (you can even get them at Office Max or Target) and a felt-tipped pen, and keep them in your car for times you may be stuck waiting. Record your impressions of the world around you. You will feel as relaxed afterwards as if you had walked a mile!

A great book for artistic help and journaling guidance is "Keeping A Nature Journal." With text and illustration from the artist's own journal, it's as much fun to read as it is to use for reference on how to draw the ever-intimidating tree with leaves!

The other notebook on my desk is the one in which I glue cut-out photos to inspire my knitting - whether they are of other people's designs, or colors and patterns found on china, or a photo showing an interesting leaf texture. Keeping this scrapbook is helping me develop my personal sense of style and color, and I hope will help me to be a better knitting designer some day.

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In The Garden...

My cottontots have made flowers! One is even turning into a boll! Hurry, cottontots, blow up into cotton, before the first freeze comes!

September is always the prettiest time in our garden.

A monarch visiting one of our Purple Coneflowers for nectar.

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I hope you will take a moment to really see the color around you today and the details in your craft or in Nature. Spend 10 minutes just looking at something - it really will change your outlook for the rest of the day!

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