Row Counters, Stich Markers, and Pace Counters

I am really getting into this knitting. I am a little disappointed I put it off for literally decades thinking that crochet was way harder because of the sheer number of stitches to remember. I am thinking now that knitting may be harder because you can make the same patterns but you have to do it in a way that ONLY incorporates two stitches.

I have had my son since last night. He stayed home from school today due to upper GI problems. Beings I am new at knitting and don't think I can yet stop in the middle of a complicated row and be able to pick up where I left off, I spent today making stuff for knitting.

I wanted some stitch markers. I've seen my Mom's and Sister's and, well... they are girly. I wanted something MANLY! My solution was chain mail. (Making chain mail is another one of my hobbies. I used to tease my mom saying she could only knit fibers where I knit steel lol) I have some chrome links from one of my projects, so they are now stitch markers. how much more manly can you get than chromed steel?

I also wanted an easier way of keeping track of my rows. I am terrible with remembering numbers. I remembered the pace counters we used in the army and made me one of those. I added a hundreds grouping onto mine so I can now keep count up to 599 rows. There are instructions all over the web to make it. The first one that pops up on Google is: http://www.instructables.com/id/Army-Ranger-Beads/. I made mine from memory, but glancing at the above listed site, they know what it is, how it is used, and how to make one.

This is what I did today.

Wash's Sweater

One of the groups I belong to at http://www.ravelry.com/ is the Over 40 group. They are a GREAT bunch of people. As I stated in yesterday's blog they have convinced me to give up my beloved crochet (for a time being) and try knitting. Not just any knitting mind you but Aran knitting. That's the stuff with cables all over it. The pattern I have decided on is Wash's Sweater by Don Yarnman. (The pattern can be found here: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/washs-sweater) Not only did they have me trade in my small hook for two long sticks but also a thing called a cable holder that looks suspiciously like something I saw once in a lock picking course I had in the army. Here I am trying to juggle all three of the #$% things and trying to remember which piece of yarn goes where. That is when I learned something and decided to keep a chronicle of things learned here.

• I just learned my first "Life Lesson Learned" from knitting. Count your cast on stitches twice, because the first time you count them you could be wrong and not realize it until four PAINFUL rows later, then your dog laughs at you as you cry.
  
  
  
  

Knit Ramble 1

Okay, okay, okay. I give up all ready! lol. My hat is off to all of you who knit. I always thought crochet was harder because there are so many different stitches to remember where you knitters (he says in his snob voice) just have two. Knit and purl. Really? Is that all you guys are bringing to the party? I grabbed some needles, and decided to make a five inch square. HOLY CRAP?!?! How in the !#$% do you people actually make stuff with these things?!?! I know the stitches. Mom watched me the day before yesterday and agreed that I know them. Got news for you Singingfran, I don’t know jack LOL! I’m not sure what I was doing, but after I was .0009% satisfied with my 10 rows of knit I tried to purl. No clue as to what I was doing wrong, but after three rows it looked the same as my knit. As far as I am concerned all of you stick people are geniuses lol. Okay. rant is done. Going to get me another cup of my forbidden coffee and tackle round two.

Yarn it to heck

I have given over my drawing based art for sculpture. Yarn sculpting that is. I have known how to knit and crochet since I was very little. Now that I have crocheted my watch-cap, scarf, and mittens, my online friends at http://www.ravelry.com/ have challenged me to knit something with my Mother (ravelry name: Singingfran) leading the charge with a battle-cry of SWEATER! I can crochet a LOT better than knit, but I like puzzles/challenges so I accepted their challenge.

Here are my finished crocheted items:

Life got away

Life has gotten away from me again. I swore I was going to update this daily. I have been busy working on my hat and scarf. I do have a contribution from my nephew. He made this high contrast self portrait with acrylics. Excellent job, E.C.. Proud of ya.

Done

I scrapped the original idea of blocking out a rectangle and instead heavily modified another pattern I found online for a watch-cap. My hat came out great and most importantly, it covers my ears. The whole reason I made this was because I couldn't find one that would do that.

My Son

The watch-cap is coming along. I scrapped my original idea and am now doing it in the round. Playing with yearn and using a simpilistic stich gives you a lot of time to think. My son is only seven, but here are some truths I would like to teach him before I die.

1. While on a road trip, get the wide mouth Gatorade. You can piss in this and keep on going.


2. On that same token, get a pistol and a cell phone. You will see some crazies on the the road

3. Do not, EVER attempt to rationalize with her. That’s a losing battle

Just apologize, you may never have any idea what she’s pissed about. Don’t worry, you’ll never get it

4. There is NO such thing as “just the tip”

5. It is extremely important you watch your mother while she is cooking. This will ensure you eat right while your friends are eating ramen.

6. Buy the book “100 ways to cook ramen”

7. Jean’s can last weeeeeeks without being washed. But when something says “dry clean only” they’re friggin serious

8. Your car is your best friend. Take care of it

9. Never pass out first. Its okay to get blitzed, we’ve all been there. We’ve all danced to ”I’m every woman” half nekkid on a table top,.

10. Read a friggin book. Women dig it

11. Learn how to decorate your home. A couch and a tv is not decorating. women DEFINITELY do NOT dig it.

12. Listen to her. I mean reeeeeally listen. It may sound mundane, and silly. But the answer to “WTF is her problem?” is in there somewhere. This will save you from it being, “your fault”

13. The perfect spiral is found in the fingertips, look around, move in the pocket. If you see a large man running towards you, move out of large mans path.

14. TP. This is something your you won’t realize till you’re older. This is one of those things that in compromise will bite you in the butt. Literally. Spend the extra cash, it’s worth it.

15. Women notice if you’ve never used your stove.

16. Fill your friggin fridge with real food.

Hat

It is cold here as I mentioned in an earlier post. My mom has knit me a few sock hats over the last few years including one that would fit under my motorcycle helmet. Unfortunately they are all lost, stolen, or kidnapped awaiting a ransom of pop-tarts and chocolate milk. (Yes, that was the ransom my son demanded Sunday as he nabbed it to take home with him.) Instead of asking for another i have decided to make my own. That's right, I can knit, crochet, sew, cook, clean, launder, and do all the other so called "women's work." One of the benefits of being raised by my mom and having three sisters. I am pretty much self-sufficient. (The sewing earned me a lot of extra $$$ in the army when I was living in the barracks. We soldiers are hard on our clothes lol) I decided to crochet my hat. I am more comfortable with crochet than knitting and by making it myself, i can ensure it will be big enough and be long enough to fold over in the watch-cap style. Here is my beginning. I've chained 50, did one SC for the turn and am now SC in each stitch. My idea is to make a rectangle and then do a permanent type of basting stitch to seam it. I found out earlier that the sailor's watch-caps of old were made in this way except they were knit. Very few were made in the round due to the fact that it left a hole in the top and I guess the magic loop hadn't been invented yet.

Not Mine

This is not my work. In fact I do not even know the person. My sister sent me a link to a person on Facebook The link below will take you to her clay sculpture of a baby. This one looks so real, that if I wasn't told it was made out of sculpy I would have thought it was real.

The artist's Facebook page to view this wonderous doll is here:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=424016426004&set=a.218600481004.173620.217269001004

Art comes in many forms and to me, this is art. It is enough to make me feel humbled in my own meager attempts.

Copying

My daughter had a friend text her a fairy holding a skull sitting in front of a tree with a large moon behind it. It is a great pic but the problem is/was she wants me to draw it for her. I do not like copying other peoples art for obvious reasons. However Edgar Degas told one of his students that, "The masters must be copied over and over again and it is only after proving yourself a good copyist that you can reasonably be permitted to draw a radish from nature." Now this drawing of the fairy is certainly not by one of the Masters, but it does raise a good debate question. When is it okay to copy some other artist's work? Here are my beliefs on it.

• Never copy another's work, no matter how trivial or unknown, if your point of doing so is for profit or fame.
• It is fine to copy another's work as long as you are doing it to either further your own art or your understanding of the original artist
• It is okay to copy another artist if you are wish to work in their style
• It is okay to copy another's work if it is for your own pleasure

That being said, I guess I will make a hard copy of her text message picture beings it falls into the criteria. I am not doing it for profit, I will not claim it as my own, and it is going to be hung on my daughter's wall for her pleasure. Guess I need to get started on it.

Trees, cats, coffee, and books.

Have had my two youngins since Wednesday so not much art has been getting done. I know this is an art blog, and as much as I love creating, I love my kids more. Yesterday we put up the tree and a few other decorations such as an inflatable bear and mechanical lighted reindeer outside. I am against the commercialization of Christmas but my wife likes it and I haven't found a kid yet that doesn't, so I joined in.

It is Wildflecken and Bindlach type of cold outside! Coffee and a book is the best thing to do today. (Wildflicken and Bindlach are two cities in northern Germany for the un-geographically educated) So as I sit here with my daily ration of coffee I am getting ready to start re-reading Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time" series. Long live Rand al'Thor, the Dragon reborn!

For the longest time after my cardiac condition was diagnosed I didn't drink coffee at all. I used to drink a pot and a a half daily. To much stress on my heart now because of the caffeine. Since the doc told me to abandon hope about getting better I have allowed myself one, just one cup each morning. If I am not getting better, then what does it matter? I won't drink enough to give a chance to a chemically induced tachycardia which was the initial concern. At least this way I get some of my 'beany-goodness.'

I woke up this morning around 0600 as I normally do, and thought I would play in my corner studio before the kids got up at 0800 for church. As I settle myself down at my desk I notice my cat, Panterra, is on the desk also. Knowing I am going to use my watercolors (I wanted to practice mixing greys and blacks; I really do need to make some color swaths) I ask her politely if I may have my paper towels. She told me no. It was a soft pillow and she was safe from Gracie, my poodle mix, up there. I told her I really needed them. Below is her reply:

This is what I did today.

Not Much

Not much was done art wise yesterday. I went over perspective and shadows with my daughter. She pointed out that she didn't like my nose or my wife's sunglasses in the drawing she gave me. I explained how a nose has very few hard lines and how it is mostly made up of shadow. Next I showed her how to use various body parts as a reference for adding other parts or items to a drawing.


I wanted a calligraphy pen but money is tight around here and probably will be for quite a while. I used to fish a lot before I got sick but never used a bamboo/cane pole, so that was out. I did have a fiberglass pole that was broke, so I sawed off a piece and whittled it down. It work good. Despite the reservoir hole, it doesn't hold ink very long, but it works. Proud of myself for that accomplishment.

Excuses

I have a fairly decent excuse for not posting the last couple of days. I was in the hospital for my cardiac problem. After an extremely elevated BP (for me anyway) and after a lot of browbeating from my friends (who are also all medics to the last) I went to the local ED. My sick Sinus Syndrome was causing an elevated BP, CP, palpitations, dizziness with syncopal episodes, diaphoreses, and sob. (That translates for you non-medical as chest pain, dizzy and passing out, high blood pressure, profuse sweating, and shortness of breath. All of your classic cardiac/heart attack signs and symptoms. The 12-Lead EKG showed no ST depression and only minimal ST elevation; less than 1mm. (No ongoing heart attack on only minimal ischemic (lack of oxygen) damage from the past.) The doc gave me some Cardizem which worked great and my civilian cardiologist admitted me to the cardiac step-down unit for observation. The staff on the CSU did their usual wonderful job. While there I conned one of the nurses into getting me some paper and a pencil so I was able to entertain myself a little for my 24 hour stay. The first page is just some doodles and sketches. The second started off as Iggy Pop but my mind's eye kept switching over to the undertaker in the movie Van Helsing. The face is to round for either of them. The pic on the bottom is from my Budding-Artist of a daughter. It is a drawing of my wife and me from a photo taken at Ft. Massac. I have been giving her art lessons on the weekend when I get her and my son. (She is 12 and he just turned seven) Beings she could barely draw a smiley face last Spring I think she is doing great, so I included her work here, I LOVE graphite and charcoal with watercolor running a super close second. I also have experience with ink, acrylic, a little oil, and colored pencil. What does she pick as her favored medium? Pastel lol. The one that I know basically nothing about. (Does sidewalk chalk count lol?) Luckily a lot of the concepts translate easily for all mediums just like some rules apply to all. The blending is simular to pencil/charcoal. Rules for proportion, foreshortening, composition, etc are the same whether you are using crayons, paint, or a camera.

I have my turkey in the oven, the other sides are basicly done, and everyone will be getting here around noon to 1300. I have a cup of verboten coffee. Happy Thanksgiving, all.

This is what I did (for the last three) todays.

The Old Masters

I have been studying the old masters, Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and others from that time frame. I love their use of colors and lines and was feeling a little down on my own creative abilities because I was trying to copy them. While reading a biography of Edgar Degas last night I came across his quote to one of his friends. "The Masters must be copied over and over again until you become a good copier and only then may it be reasonably permissible for you to draw a radish from nature." It seems I was following the footsteps of those great artistic geniuses of the past without knowing it. (Yes, I know Degas was a 19th century artist, but he is a Master nonetheless.)

I have been working on anatomical sketches today. I have done a study of a hand, a female from the back and also doodled around on the drawing of my wife and myself I started yesterday.

My sister sculpts babies from modeling sculpy. I never had much luck in modeling with clay as it is too malleable, but in my pursuit of the Renascence masters I have become interested in sculpting again. I am a semi-accomplished wood carver so I know I have the general idea of changing one shape to another in a hard (wood) medium. Last night I made a plaster block about 6" cubed. I am going to try my hand at sculpting that later. One of my favorite quotes about carving is: "It is easy to carve an elephant. Get a block of wood and whittle away anything that doesn't look like an elephant." I came across a quote from the artist Ingres last night that says, "It is easy to draw. First draw a line then draw some more lines."

This is what I did today.

Yesterday

This post is actually for yesterday. I got caught up in life and didn't get around to publishing it.

I experimented with shading on charcoal drawings by using powdered charcoal (from sharpening my compressed stick) and an old paintbrush. The blending in it is all kinds of great. Much better than I have been able to get by using a stub and/or my finger. I don't know if it will work for subtle tones but for large areas it is perfect.

I also started a drawing of my wife and me.

That is what I did today... yesterday

Side Ramble One

We are having my my two kids, my mom, and my in-laws over for Thanksgiving. While my beautiful wife (Check out her pic... she is!) is at work I decided to help out and straighten up a bit. I have the living room done and 1/2 of the bathroom. That is good. What is bad is that it has taken me three hours to do 30-minutes worth of work. Not to mention I now have CP of 4-5 on the 10scale, diophoreses (despite me having the temp in here set to 65) and palpations. The SOB and dizzyness are so common anymore I'm not even going to count them, The medic in me says to call the local crews to take me to the Hosp. However the non-medic part says that the hosp won't do anyting. What do I base this on? Past visits to our wonderful area EDs. My condition is called Sick Sinus Syndrome. There is no cure and they (the docs) can only mask the symptoms until my body self-converts. hell, I can do that here at home. In the meantime, I will sit here and play on the comp until I do. Then I will get back and finish the bathroom.

This is what i did today.

Well That Explains It

Well THAT Explains It - Mechanical pencil on printer paper - 8.5" x 11"


My son has been having some problems lately. I am not saying my son is evil, just that if our current Commander in Chief is not the anti-christ then my boy may have a good shot at it lol. I bet his pediatrician, Dr. Sara, would have a hey-day with this. She never liked/understood my humor to begin with and I would constantly be getting yelled at during his checkups. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my son (and daughter) with all my heart. I just thought this was a neat concept.
 

This is what I did today.

What I Did Today

Worked on speed sketching. I try to do a two-minute sketch of something everyday. This sketch could be a person, item, place, literally anything. This is a good exercise because unless you are an uber elite, you are not going to be able to render a full drawing or painting in that amount of time. You can use a speed sketch to catch a small moment in time of something that interests you so you may later do a full rendition in your studio, Sketches are great ways to capture a souvenir. Let's say you are at the zoo, and a certain monkey catches your attention. You can do a speed sketch, jot down some notes as to color, lighting, atmosphere, etc. Later, when you are home, you can use your sketch to recreate the moment.


I also finished my self portrait by reworking the ear and mouth. I am still not happy with the mouth but anymore re-working of it will damage the paper, so I stay weird-lipped.

I also did a page of sketches. All four images (rear torso, foot, side nude, and Tom Baker as Doctor Who) were taken from images off the net. No, they don't have to be perfect, they are just sketches. Each one took about 5-10 minutes with the exception of the Doctor which was around 15-20 minutes.