Knitting! (And Some Paper Crafts Too!)

Hey everyone! I'm back with you guys again with another post. Today's card was for an accordion fold challenge on 365 Cards. I decided to keep it simple in this one. As I was working on it, I had other things planned, but as I put the butterfly on, I realized it actually looked best this way. I really like it. It's not common for me to be this simple in my work, so when it does happen, it happens every now and again.

See, here's a slight example of this difference. You have the very simple example of the previous card, and then a page that I was working on today - it's very different. It's actually very dark compared to the card as well, as you can probably see. I used a bunch of different stuff on it, and it was pretty fun to make.

Here's a more close up of the title as well. I really like how the black letters are so different from the 'e'. I'm pretty sure that I just ran out of the black letters, but I think that it sort of makes sense with the whole theme of the page. You know; how my style is so unique. It's just like that.

Something else that I've been working on is how I could actually make my own type of yarn. I just mixed a bunch of colors, textures, and types of yarn. I like how it looks, and I know that it could be used in many different projects. I'm thinking of knitting and crochet first off. I like the knitting aspect of it. That however, is probably because I've been really been into knitting lately. I don't know why, but I just think that it's a bit more calming and relaxing than crochet. Many crochet patterns are a lot more complex than in knitting, and in crochet there are DOZENS of different stitches, while in knitting, there are only two different stitches; knit and purl.

What you do is mix the two stitches. There are about a million different ways to do that, and you can do lots of things; such as cables, squares, triangles, and other things. It's known as a magic ball.

Here's more of a close up of the different textures in the yarn. I'm considering selling this yarn; how much would you suggest putting in a single skein, and how much would you pay for something like this? I'm just wondering... maybe I'll work up a swatch in this so you could see sort of you it works up.

One more thing that I've been working with - knitting with fibers. You know, the fuzzy yarns and such. It's such a pleasure to work with, even though it does get difficult in some places, and slightly bulky in others. You can sort of see where I switched from the stockinette stitch to the garter stitch. I've just been messing around with it. *shrugs*. I dunno. I just think it's sort of fun. Experiment. And play. Try it.

Some ATCs and A Gouache Experiment

Yo. I'm back once more, and I've got some more arty goodness to share with you all. So I guess I'm just going to jump right in there and get it done. There is a sheet of playful/just plain random doodles above. I was really bored and sitting at the dining room table. I grabbed some colored pencils that just happened to be sitting there and just started to doodle out some random stars, circles, etc. onto the paper in different colors.

For the most part, I hated them, and was just doing it cause I was really bored. But as I continued to work on them, I sort of became more attached to them. I started to like their wonky quality, and didn't care that they weren't perfect. Now I really like them. I'm probably going to work with this a bit tomorrow. I was thinking of using it for either a collage paper for an art journal page or an ATC background. Or maybe both. You never really know 'til you try it you know. That's just how I roll. Not knowing what coming next, or what I'm going to get rid of. I'm more of a spontaneous person myself, if you can't tell by now.

And I know that you guys are going to totally scold me for this, but I started another project. I know, I know. It's wrong. I haven't even worked on the knitted cable gloves I pretty much started this blog off for a long time. But I tell you the truth, those are going on my list of things to work on tomorrow. I promise.

So anyways, getting back to the topic. I started a new crochet project. It's a basic single crochet afghan that serves several purposes. One is that when it's done it's going to be really warm. That's pretty much a bonus. Another thing is that it's really easy. I just chained about 150 stitches, then single crocheted up from there. It's a scrap project. I specially started it just to use up those little balls of scraps that you literally can't do anything with. I know I already have two of these types of projects started (I haven't shown you the second one yet...) but I thought it couldn't hurt to have another scrap buster!!

But the final and real reason that I actually decided to start this is that I just needed some simple, mindless crochet. You see, I homeschool. And there's a whole lot of reading involved in that (my Mom reads aloud to us) so I need something to keep my hands busy. I'm not the type to just sit around doing nothing. I either need to be doing something totally active (sports, working out, running, biking, etc) or doing something with my hands. I just can't sit and listen. So that's the beauty of this project. It's so simple I don't even have to think about it. Just listen to what we're learning about.

The picture above is a flatter version of the first picture so you can sort of see how it's working up. It's really a lot longer than this, but I wanted to have a pleasing picture rather than just showing you how long it is. Basically I'm just doing alternating stripes of white and cream with colors (so far I've only used blue and green, but that's because that's what most of my stash is made up of), so it's going to be pretty colorful when it's actually finished. Also, the stripes aren't measured at all, I just do some thick and some thin. It makes it more pleasing to look at.

Here's something else that I've been working on. Some ATCs for a swap I'm participating in. It's called the 'One Good Egg' swap, and basically you just make some easter eggs using any technique you like. Zentangling was what immediately came to mind. Soo... long story short I made six cards, and am going to be sending them to the swap coordinator here soon. I just love how they came out. Especially the wonky one on the bottom in the middle. :D BTW, in case some of you were wondering, it was either a 3/3 or a 6/6 swap. Normally if it gives you a choice like that, I'll go for the larger number, since it means I'll get more in return. :) I know, it's sad. It's an addiction. But I love what I do.

I also did another card for the 365 Card challenge today. The theme/challenge/topic was pure contentment. They wanted to know how you would depict those words on your card. I basically just went through some of my images and found a picture of a girl who looked contented. I then just added a sentiment to finish it off after some stamping. But here's something... I decided to do a cute mini card today!! You can't tell in the picture, (I should have put something in for comparison...) but it's an ATC sized card! I'm not sure why, but I like the small size of an ATC or the large size of an art journal or scrapbook page. There's that card size in the middle that's a bit intimidating. Don't ask me why, though, cause I don't know. :D

Okay, so I've got a couple more pictures for you, and they're both of my new art journal page. I don't know why, but I'm not quite fond of this page in general. It's kind of weird, and the colors don't really go together. Also, I don't know if the phone book paper really matches the theme of the rest of the page. But anyways, I'll probably end up layering a whole buttload of crap on top of this until I'm finally satisfied with it. Or, if that doesn't work, I'll probably just layer white paint on over top of it and start over again. :D

Here's the same page, just further away. The idea for this page just was to experiment using gouache. I had gotten some of this for about 50 cents from a thrift store, just wondering what it was all about. I did a little bit of researching about what I had gotten, and it turns out I got a really good deal. An original tube of this stuff in a smaller size goes retail for about three bucks. It's literally the best of the best. And to think I had no idea what it was when I got it.

If you were wondering what gouache was in general, I think that it's similar to watercolors, only they're more solid. You squirt it out onto a pallet and mix with water. But these things have better cover than the acrylics that I use. Personally, I think that's pretty good! I just have to do some more experimenting to see what else I can do. Hopefully to make them look better. One last thing I'd like to share with you before I go is to try and post a list of what I plan to work on tomorrow. There's no way I can be precise to a 'T', but I'll do my best!!

Art List For 4-7-2011

-Art Journal Page

-ATCs

- Knitted Gloves

-Cross Stitch

- Crocheted Blanket

-365 Card Challenge

And of course, anything else that may pop up!! See you all tomorrow!!