Sorry it has been so long

It is getting harder and harder for me to blog. I'm not sure why, but I think I'm using my energy to actually do Art Journaling and taking classes in it, and I don't tend to have enough energy left to write about what I am doing. Not sure where this is going to go, but I do have an update.

I did make a cover for the Altered Backgrounds journal that I used for the class I was taking at the Art Geek's site. This is the front cover. I never got the beads on the long strings but I still hope to do that.

And here are my 7 favorite ICADs. I finished them on time. I was actually a day or two ahead during the last couple of weeks because I kept making a second card or even a third on some days. Once I got started I could not stop. One of the cards is the second or third I made but most of these were done later in the process as I got a better handle on how to do an ICAD.

And yes, I do miss them. There are two other regular small projects that are out there. One is to use Rolodex cards. And a second is to make a box to hold slightly larger cards and to do those. Neither is a Summer only project and neither expects you to do them every day for a specific period although a few people are doing them daily or almost daily. I have index cards that are way too big for the ICAD project and I am considering using those because I have so many of them.

 The next three layouts are rather odd, because each of them was made using either a loose sheet or in a separate book.

I've never done a loose sheet Art Journal layout before. I probably should have done this one in one of my commercial Art Journals, but it was possible that it was going to be one of several. This was for a challenge on the Jennibellie ning site. The idea was to do something you wanted to attract into your life, and I took something that is already there that I want to keep in my life.

I really am Just plain Happy to be creating every day, and I want that to continue.

I did I Choose to be Happy in my smaller Strathmore Visual Journal which has 140 pound Watercolor paper and is a joy to work in, but for some reason I am more interested in making my own journals right now. Still, from time to time I come back to this one and to the larger one.

I really do CHOOSE to be happy. It was something I learned you can do back when I was taking care of Joe at home. I could have sunk into depression during that last year, but I found several books on how to be happy, anyway, just because you choose to find things in your life to be grateful for or to enjoy. You can allow joy into your life even when things are bad, or you can sink into it. It really is a choice.

 A 4 page booklet arrived as part of my junk mail a week or so ago. It turned out that it wasn't even stapled together, but just held together with glue. I taped it together and I ended up with a little journal. I was experimenting because all of the others I had made so far, either from booklets of some sort, or with sewn signatures like the Altered Backgrounds Journal, had gesso on the pages. I only used paint on this one and then collaged some stuff onto the various pages. I'm going to try and paint flowers on the pages. This is my first attempt at a flower, and I'm reasonably happy with it.

 Most of my time during the last two weeks has involved taking classes over at the Art Geek's site. One of the classes is the August Obsessions class where we are making a journal out of single sheets of cardstock. Other people in the class are using file folders but my paper cutter is a very old one, and it would not cut file folders, so I ended up using card stock instead.

This is what the two sides of my new journal look like front and backs of all the sheets just put into a pile. They already look different since I've added another layer to them, but since I will be adding two more to them this weekend I didn't update the photos.

It is going to be interesting to see how the binding method will go, but I'm not ready to try that out yet. We will see what we will see.

 I am also taking the Eclectic Journal class at the same time. I already had a journal made out of a church magazine. This class is about either using a magazine or a book and altering it in ways that are different from using gesso or paint. I had one spread and the cover from my old magazine journal so I decided to try the new system on that.

I could only use the full system on the back cover since everything else had some gesso on it. The front cover does have a partial new system on it. All I can say is that I've become a believer because this is the easiest thing I've ever done with making my own journal.

 The photo above is the front cover. The one to the side is the back cover. The idea, also from the class is to use your own previous journal pages to produce things you can use in your new journals. The girl on the front cover is a copy of one of my two painted girls. I got to do some additional pen work on the copy, and I think she looks even better than the original did. I cut her out and pasted her on the cover and put a boarder of a painted paper of my own around the page. I added a fussy cut flower spray as well. The background is painted book pages and a painted paper that I had made quite a while ago.

I used one of the techniques from the Altered backgrounds class when I made up the back cover. I also recycled both the bird and the bird stamp from a previous layout. Using elements from my own art was interesting mainly because there isn't all that much of it yet. I've only been doing art journaling for a few months. But no question that I'm going to be making copies and scanning a lot of what I will be doing in the future so I can use parts of it again. Looks like Photoshop is going to get a workout.

And finally here is the last spread in that journal as well. Like every other thing I did in it this is experimental in some way. I used a dyed paper towel at one end, and washi tape. I doodled and I put some collage on the page but did not cover the entire thing. The hearts were from a deli print I had doodled on. I'm pretty happy with it overall.

So that is what I've been up to. Take care all.

Catching Up

I went back to see what I had shown all of you and what I hadn't. Boy do I need to catch up! Some of this stuff goes back several weeks. I'm still doing ICADs, but I won't show any of those this time. The season is almost over and I'll be doing a post about the ones I like the most when it is over.

The Studio isn't quite set up yet. I've got more organizational stuff in, but I'm taking it all one day at a time. If I get to something that is an unholy mess, I deal with it, and then go back to playing. In the long run that will mean I remember where I put things, and it never becomes a miserable job on any one particular day.

For example, I got some new stencils in and it hit the "overwhelm" button, so last night I started using the page protectors I'd bought over a month ago and got the ones that didn't have a home settled into page protectors and the container I'd bought for them. I didn't go into the stencils that do have a home, but those will get moved into page protectors too, and possibly into a 3 ring binder at some point, but not quite right now. I know where everything is, and nothing is so jumbled up that stencils are getting torn.

On to art journaling!

 The first two layouts were ones where I knew I wasn't quite finished. They are both from my experiments journal. In both cases I knew I needed words to finish them.

I think the letters I used in this one were too small. I'm still learning how to use letters I buy and put down, and I've got these tiny ones, and the huge ones below, in black.

I know I need to buy something in between. I think larger letters would have made me happier.

The 2 inch letters were the right choice for this layout. It actually does take courage to create things. This background has collage, as does the other one, and paint and stamping, and who knows what else. It is literally a hot mess, but those bold black letters do seem to have pulled it all together.

It makes me happy.


There is only one spread left in the experiments journal. I think I know what is going into that last spread. And then I will have to work on the cover.

 In addition to the experiments journal, I've been working in this hand made journal (my first) for a class I'm taking at Gulfsprite's site. I've jointed Art Geeks there, but that won't actually start until August. There is a free class with 9 or 10 videos, and I've been taking the class and treating it as a real class with homework.

This was the first page. On this one I used various kinds of dimensional media to create texture on book text and crumpled up scrapbook paper. I'd seen loads of videos on doing this kind of thing but watching and doing are two different things.

Once the dimensional media had dried, I painted over it. Each of the different media took the paint differently, and you can actually see that in this background.

All of the spreads in this journal are now backgrounds, not completed pages.

The second class involved using a photo from a magazine, and scrapbook paper, and other papers that were painted, to fit with the colors in the photo. I also cut the paper, which also altered it from what it was originally. I lucked out because that week's ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY had this great two page photo in it that worked extremely well in this background. Actually, except for journaling and a title, this page is a finished page.

This is the third page in the class. This time we were putting the paper on horizontally. The idea was to cut out petals and use both the petals and the cut out, and to use the papers both painted and unpainted along with some paint and some painted book pages.

Like the first page this is almost an exact replica of the one done in the class, and once again I like how it came out.

 More paint, more cut up scrapbook and other papers. I also got to use two flowers I had painted on a painted paper project I did months ago on this page and I love how all of it came out.

 This class was about using just black and white and multiple scrapbook paper (with a little music paper). I only had one washi tape that was black and white and it is in there too.

 Something simple and elegant. Some doodle flowers from scrapbook paper, a little paint that is just scrubbed on and some lnesdone with a marker.

 In this case I didn't have the materials to do the actual class project, so I used what I had. I cut out a vintage photo, probably of an actress from the 19th or early 20th Century. I stamped on tissue paper with brown ink and painted a gold patterned tissue paper and music paper with brown paint.

I would never have done a background this way before this class, so obviously I have learned a lot.

And finally the unfinished cover of this little handmade journal. There is one more class that I haven't done anything for. There was one class where I decided to do an ICAD instead of a spread, and it is one of my favorite ICADs. I knew I didn't have enough pages to do every class in the journal. But I can make the covers out of the project for the final class, and then, I'm going to put some beads on the strings I left long so I could decorate them.

This isn't just my first home made journal. It is also my first finished journal. The commercial ones have lots of pages to go, and that is fine. I like working in multiple journals. There is also a journal made out of gelli prints that has reached its half way point. I'll talk about that one in another post.

Take care all.

Success? and Failure?

Sometimes we just don't know if something is a success or a failure. And that is where I've been for the last three days.

This is the most recent spread in the Junk Journal. Very much my normal thing. Pretty background. I've gotten to the point where I can get a comfortable blend of colors and then stamp with home made and commercial stamps, until I really like what is there.

Then I added ephemera from the Internet, printed out on my home printer. My Epson printer prints out copies that do not smear. I know that people have some problem with that with other jet printers, but Epson always did have great inks.

I didn't put a smeared border around any of what I added. Or around the page either. That is also my basic style. I am not at all sure I like smeared borders. Or at least not the ones I've done in the past. I need to see if I like distress inks in those areas, but the problem with all of the sprays and inks from Ranger is that none of them are permanent. And I don't really like that they aren't permanent. I've gotten very good at fussy cutting which I did with the roses.

But that was Friday or over the weekend. On Friday I bought a Gelli Printing class that was anything but the normal thing one sees on YouTube. I started doing the actual printing on Monday, and I'm not sure what to say. I learned a lot from Carla Sonheim's class. But I also learned that it is very likely that I can never comfortably do her style of Gelli Printing.

The first two were done on Monday and Tuesday. I was still using my own color pallet, which is mostly bright colors. She suggested that you take card stock and make some masks with it, which I did. Of all of the ones I did with the kinds of masks she suggested this red and yellow piece was the most successful.

The spirals were my idea. She mostly uses circles she has cut, both the positive and the negative. I've gotten very good at cutting spirals.


The tree was my own idea. I used the stencil part of the tree many times, on many different papers. I didn't use the mask part more than once, and none of those were all that successful. Here I used it twice, once in an almost white and once in a darker color, over a very colorful background.

I think it is interesting that the two most successful pages out of the 16 or 17 I did in the three days were done on the first day in a bright color scheme.

 Here is another tree but in the muddy, dark colors I was using on Wednesday. Not anywhere as successful as the Monday/Tuesday ones. I've decided that dark, muddy colors just aren't for me.

Over all, I'm glad I took the class. It was only $25, and it was short. She has a second one for $35, but one advantage to the fact that she broke the two classes up instead of selling them for $60 as one class is that I'm going to have some time to digest what I've learned, and put it into practice before I go on to additional techniques, if I choose to take the second class too.

So what have I learned?

I also cut a tulip stencil out of card stock. Having multiple broken sections on the bottom of the stencil, which this one has, makes it very difficult to take it off the plate and almost as difficult to just put it on properly. So stencils, even card stock stencils cut out with scissors without drawing first, need to have solid bottoms.

I've also learned several Gelli Plate techniques that I've never seen before on YouTube, and can infer several additional ones. I've done a bunch of masking, not just the trees and tulips, circles and spirals, but the wavy lines you can see most clearly in the bottom photo, and I know I'll be doing a lot more of that. There are at least two paint techniques that will become a permanent part of my toolbox. I don't feel I can explain them here because they are a basic part of her course.

Take care all.

Binding Books?

One of the things I never expected to do in my life was to bind a book. And I still haven't, but in the Art Journaling world, people go on about making their own journals. There is a bunch of reasons for doing it, and I found myself having a couple of them. What I made was a simple pamphlet, or rather two of them with a third in the wings. Let me show you.


One reason to make a pamphlet is that you've got all of these papers you have painted, or made on the Gelli Plate, and now what are you supposed to do with them.

 This is a classic answer. You make a journal out of them.

A second reason is that you need a place to experiment where the materials are cheap, not precious. And my two "real" art journals are made out of good paper. So I've got a second classic answer.

The journal with the yellow cover is out of paper I painted very early in my journey and that was always intended for a hand made journal. There are a total of 4 sheets, or 8 pages, or 16 surfaces in that one. Some are painted, some have just gesso on them, and some are actually bare paper.

The red and blue one is just binder clipped together right now. I have not sewn it yet.

I've done two pages in the Gelli Printed journal. I wanted to see what would happen if you used a stencil and just painted in either white or in black on backgrounds that were just a Hot Mess. That is also an Art Journaling term, but it is self evident. The papers were pretty, but almost unusable. I think the white worked better, but it is possible that with a different stencil the black would have worked well too.

This is also an experiment. Two totally different kinds of backgrounds. I tied them together with some light blue paint and then just went with it. I'm happy with the result.

I also tried my new Inktense pencils. They are the dark black lines. And pulled out my GelSticks and got a wash out of them with water after I colored. So I've successfully used two new media that I have bought and not used much yet. Havi9ng a place to experiment works.


I'm not sure what will go into the Yellow Journal, but I'll figure it out.

Take care all.

In The Studio

I've begun to talk about the Computer Room as the Studio. I've bought a table and some storage stuff to hold the constantly increasing amount of art supplies, some of which I've made myself.

I've been asked if I could show the stamps I've been making out of children's fun foam, and here are some photos both of the stamps and, in the case of the doodle one, of some paper that I stamped. I've used it in more things and if you come back you will see more of it.

The photo in the middle shows the detail. It is amazing what one can do with a toothpick or with a stylus. It is OK if they don't stamp clearly. Frankly most of the time clear stamping is not what is wanted in Art Journaling.

I've been watching a lot of YouTube. I bought a Roku box about 6 weeks ago thinking that I'd be watching a lot of Amazon Prime since I already had Prime just for the shipping. Turns out that I've gotten to borrow some books instead of buying them and there is Amazon Prime TV as well. I'm already paying for it, so why not watch it. But what I'm doing on the Roku box most of the time is watching YouTube tutorial videos for drawing and painting and Art Journaling. I've learned a lot just by watching what other people are doing since the people doing the videos are rarely professional teachers.

One of the things I learned was how to make these stamps out of fun foam and glue. I made the three big ones to help me with putting layers onto the pages with paint. But the incised ones are the surprise. They are extremely useful.

You notice I am not cleaning them. Basically you can't so what you do is stamp them on scrap paper and use those papers for collage papers on another project. You just keep stamping until the paint is all gone.

And here is a project where I used the stamps. The houses were stamps that I made. You can see them in the last photo. The Balloons were scratch paper that I put the extra paint on from previous projects, and to some extent  just to play with the stamps to see what they would do.

This counts as my 3rd layout. This time in the bigger journal. I'm very pleased with it, and frankly with myself.

I've also been taking online classes. One of them is on drawing the face. Drawing, especially faces, is one of the things I've been avoiding for 50 years. I always hated what I did. The photo below is only the second face that I've done. She doesn't have hair because the part of the class that I've already done didn't include the hair. It does come in a later video.

I drew along with the teacher. And I'm very pleased with how it came out. It is actually better than the photo.

Another class is a lettering class. Don't have anything to show yet, but I have been doing the class homework and it is doing what the teacher, this time a professional one, intended. I'm loosening up. The words and letter in the layout above were from things I typed into the computer and printed out.

Take care all.

Busy Week

This week has been busy with medical stuff. I saw my family doctor on Monday for a follow up visit on my asthma and my fibromyalgia. I saw her again on Friday because my ears had so much wax they needed to be cleaned. Wednesday was my massage therapist. Thursday was my dentist.

The real drama was on Tuesday around 11:30pm. At that point I'd been in pain for about half an hour. A little later I called my friend and when she arrived she took one look at me and said, "We are calling 911." So off to the hospital I went. I got there about 1am. On the way, the pain in my back disappeared. A little later the pain in my stomach disappeared as well. Didn't matter. I needed to know if I was OK or not.

They could not find anything that could have caused the pain, so I don't know why it happened, but I do know what didn't cause it, and none of the things that would have resulted in my staying in the hospital had happened. It has now been 4 days and the pain has not returned. I got home at 4:30 am Wednesday morning.

On Wednesday I mostly just sat. I had about 3 hours of sleep and once my normal time to get up had arrived, I just didn't want to sleep in although I probably should have.

I also did a lot of reorganizing in what is now my Computer Room/Studio. So I didn't do a lot of art journaling this week. But I did make some baby steps.

This is my very first journal page. It is rather scrapbook like, but I like how it turned out. I painted the background but all of the rest of the elements were from my days as a digital scrapbooker. I didn't make any of them, but they were all things I liked.

The photo below is from the first layer of a background that is going to turn into a small 8 page journal. The booklet will be very small, but there is no way I could have  handled the size paper that would have resulted in a larger individual page. Anyway this is a first try on this kind of thing and I think it would be a good idea to start small.

I've already put two more layers of paint and paper on this page since the photo was taken. It looks very different now. And will look even more different once I'm ready to actually journal in it.

I'm playing and I am having fun doing it.

Take care all.

Quilting Update

I finished both of the free motion practice projects I've been working on. They were supposed to be part of a tote bag using directions from one of Leah Day's Craftsy classes. They almost certainly will never be a finished project. I don't need a tote bag.

In the end I used lots of quilting motifs, not all of them hers. You can literally see the quilting improve as I worked from the center out. I worked on both of them at the same time.

The feathers on the lower photo were from Angela Walters' class on feathers. I had never done the type of feather she calls a "custom feather". I'm pretty sure it is the same as Leah Day's "bump, bump feather" but I didn't go and check so that might not be right.

Turns out that once I got the hang of the new type of feather that I liked it a lot. The shape I get with this method is a lot fatter, and it is easier to get the angle correct. I found turning the corner very easy using her method. I am curious what the feather would look like if I had more room.

I got my new design wall up this weekend. It took both my daughter and her husband to get it up. It truly was a two man job.

I got a deal on the Fons & Porter design wall from JoAnn's online. 50% off. I had never known how they expected you to hang it. Turns out it comes with 7 grommets. I used clear 3-M hooks to hang it. But getting them up straight and perpendicular was not easy.

The blocks stick very well with no pins. In fact since this is basically a vinyl tablecloth, you can't pin into it. The people who gave this bad reviews had a point, but it does do the job, and with the coupon, the price was right.

The blocks are from a Civil War Blocks Craftsy class. I actually had already made 5 blocks. I realized as soon as they were up that they didn't "go" together well enough for me. They are also not quite all the same size.

I am not a precision piecer! I have decided that if I decide to make more classic blocks, I'm going to paper piece and start over so the colors go together.

So I pulled out the coin quilt, got it sandwiched and now I'm auditioning thread. I think the one in the upper photo is the one I will be going for.

I sort of used Sharon Schambers' method of putting the sandwich together. I don't have the wooden bars she uses (yet!) but I made do with a quilting ruler and a cardboard tube. I pin basted instead of hand basting.

This is a narrow quilt, so what I used worked. and I did have to take some of the pins out and resmooth the other end, but it did work. If I used her bars it would have worked even better. So I am almost certainly going to get some.

Take care all.

Free Motion Quilting and the Feeling of Success When Something is Finished

I haven't been blogging much. There hasn't been much to blog about except medical issues and those are as boring to write about as they must be to read about. On the medical side I decided to go a more aggressive route with my back, leg and knee issues. I'm seeing my chiropractor 3 times this week and next week, and it is already showing signs of making me a lot stronger. I got the asthma under control and am no longer using the rescue inhaler on a schedule. The nebulizer got packed away several weeks ago. So I'm not as tired all the time as I was.

The result is progress in some of my projects. Two of them are now up on the walls where I can enjoy them on a daily basis.

The Class Quilt from the Free Motion Craftsy class taught by Ann Petersen is now in my bedroom where  I can see it when I first wake up in the morning. It probably won't be the only quilt that hangs there, but it was the project that taught me that I could free motion quilt. The only thing I wish is that I'd had the guts to use thread that showed.

But I probably have gotten there. I've bought both of Leah Day's new classes at Craftsy, and I'm going to be doing the second one first. I ordered the fabric for the tote bag panels this morning from JoAnn's online store because I'm not physically strong enough to go shopping for it. It probably isn't as dark fabric as the ones Leah is using in her class, but dark enough that the white thread is going to show.

Meanwhile I've watched the first class and I might watch the second one soon, but this will be a class where I follow along. The only thing I'm not sure about is if I watch the entire thing first and then go back. That is what I did with Ann Petersen's class once I decided to make the project, and I know that does work for me.

I put my braid quilt up in the Computer Room. Right over the desk. This is an extremely strange colorway for me to have done. The fabrics really are that pale. But when I had gotten part of the braids together I realized just how much I liked the look so I didn't use any of the darker fabrics I had and just kept going. It was so unusual for me that I had to buy the border and backing fabric after the braids were done.

It is also the first quilt I ever did completely with a machine. I had pieced by machine before, but never did any quilting by machine. This wasn't free motion. It was actually all walking foot quilting, again mainly from an Ann Petersen class. Not sure which one to credit for this.

Leah Day said in her blog today how she is taking two sewing classes from two different Craftsy teachers and how what they teach is so different, but how they are illuminating things for her because she is taking both of them. I feel that way as well. I've taken quilting classes from several Craftsy teachers, and they have all been very good classes from excellent teachers.

Take care all.

Finished

The second sock went extremely fast. Partly because knitting was all I wanted to do. Partly because I was locked into the TV set for the last two weeks because of the Boston Bombings. I lived in Boston. I remember Patriots Day, and I lived in Watertown for 3 of the years I lived in the Boston area. All too close to home. So I wanted my hands busy, and knitting worked.

 So, what have I learned from all of this?

I've learned that even if I take two photos on the same day in the same room, the light won't be the same in those two photos, and for this yarn, that mattered.

The rug my feet are on is a medium blue. The socks aren't actually the same color as either of the photos, but they are closer to the big one, which I took on the white blanket on my bed, than they are in the photo where I'm wearing the socks.

I've learned that there are times when gauge has to be EXACT. Socks are one of those times. I learned about negative ease. Now that I'm actually wearing the socks, I'm aware that I might have liked even more negative ease, but that might be a personal preference.

I've learned that even sock yarn socks, done on double zero needles, at 8 stitches an inch, are rather heavy compared to what I normally wear. I am very unlikely to try to put these feet, in these socks into a shoe. But they might be very comfortable to wear around the house.

I also learned that by today's standards I'm an Intermediate knitter. Possibly on the edge of Adventurous Intermediate, but not any further than that. And when I'm buying books or looking for classes in knitting I'd better make sure I've filled in all the gaps in my knowledge before I get started. And I just might need to pay attention to the new bits I am learning.

Will I make more socks? I don't think so. Several reasons. My daughter said it well. She said, "They're just socks!" I put in a lot of effort on a pair of socks, and if that was all I'd gotten from it, it would not be enough. It was worth the effort because I got quite a bit out of it in addition to the physical socks.

And, one of the reasons for making something is that you love the result. I'm not at all sure I love the result. I have sensitive feet, and I'm not sure I love the feel of these particular socks on my feet.

I am doing the basic filling in the blanks of my knowledge on the lace making project, which will be where I take knitting next. I learned enough with the socks to be a lot more careful with the books I've been buying, for one thing. There is also a Craftsy class that was more advanced than I was ready for, but I think in this case, it will be where I go after I've taken a few more steps, so it is OK.

Socks - Almost a Pair

I turned the heel on the second sock last night.

 I almost can't believe how fast this sock has gone considering how long the first one took me. But I kept second guessing the first sock. I must have tried it on every day I worked on it, and there were times I stopped knitting until I could try it on.

I've got physical limitations. There are only so many places where I can try on a sock, AND take its picture. And there were times when it was time to try it on again, and it was night and there wasn't any good place to take a picture where the colors would be anywhere near close to the yarn itself. So that meant that I waited until morning for the photo, and waited until the following evening to start knitting again.

I started the second sock with the second ball of yarn. I probably did not need to do that because the yardage probably was enough for two socks. The second ball started in a different place on the stripping than the first ball did, so the two socks will be very fashionable. They will not match.

The left over yarn will become some kind of scarf, I think. There should be enough for a small project.

Someone asked what the yarn is. It is Opal Bicoroz. Not sure about that final letter. The yarn label is in German. It has something in it that is probably polyester or nylon and it is a sock yarn. The recommended gauge is 30 stitches to the standard 10 centimeters. So that is 7-1/2 stitches to an inch. I did manage to get the 8 stitches using a double zero needle.

So I am on the final portion of the race. Next stop is to finish the leg, bind off and run in the ends on both socks and actually try on the pair and see how I like wearing hand made socks.

The next knitting project is to learn lace knitting. I've done some of it in the past. All very simple patterns. But just as with the socks I realize that there are problems with being totally self taught. There are holes in my knowledge.

Take care all.

Two Socks

I've finished the first sock. It fits. I've started the toe of the second sock.

I've learned a lot making socks, most of them disasters, none of them finished, over the last few months. For one thing, I learned that there was no use knitting a sock unless I could get 8 stitches to an inch. That required a tiny needle because like most people who knit Continental style, I knit a lot looser than people who knit English style. I normally need to go down 2 or 3 needle sizes to get gauge, and finding a double zero, 40 inch long needle, even mail order wasn't exactly easy. I bought a triple zero needle at the same time. It was even harder to find.

I've knit in the round before. 30-40 years ago I made mittens. But I've never knit a sock before. Turning the heels, using more than one method wasn't a problem. I always used double pointed needles for small projects. I've also used circular needles for large flat projects. Magic loop was a totally new thing. But because I've got large feet, I kept loosing stitches on the double pointed needles. I needed to master magic loop to actually be successful making a sock.

Doing toe up socks meant I needed to learn at least one new cast on method. I ended up doing a figure eight cast on for these. That provides a seamless toe. Quite comfortable to wear. I decided to try short rows for the first time with these as well. Lots of new stuff.

The second sock is going quite quickly. And it will be fashionably not matching the first one. I gather the not matching is an in thing. 

Take care all.

It's a Sock!

No question. It isn't just a tube of knitting. It is a sock.

I took this picture this morning. It is quite a bit longer in the leg area tonight.

I did a short row heel. These are the first short rows I've ever done. There is a small hole on each side of the sock which I gather is pretty typical of short row heels. It all went pretty well. It took about an hour to do the heel from start to finish yesterday afternoon.

This is what it looked like just before I started the heel. The second picture is what it looked like after I knit two rounds.

Not too bad.

It has been an interesting journey making this sock. I'll make the second one so I can find out if I like wearing hand knit socks. But I don't know if I will ever make another pair. I have yarn for 3 more pairs. Sock yarn is such interesting stuff these days. I totally understand why people get addicted to buying sock yarn. It has been a lot of fun seeing the yarn self stripe. I wondered if it would look weird in the heel area, but it actually looks pretty good.

I learned a lot. Lots of firsts. I learned Magic Loop. I learned a new cast on -- Figure 8. I did my first short rows. I figured out a way to actually get a really difficult gauge. I learned about negative ease and when you might want such a thing.

But whether or not this becomes something I do again will depend on whether or not I like wearing hand knit socks. And I won't know that until I've got a pair of socks to wear.

I have been knitting, obviously. But I have not been quilting. The Class Project quilt has been sitting on the sewing machine waiting for its binding. I've got all of the prep work done and just need to sit at the machine. But I have not been energetic enough to do that. The papers should be taken out of the hexagrams as well. I need to cut the fabric for that project, but again, I need a bit more recovery time for that. I'll get there.

Take care all.