mayflower

Surprise FO!! I finished this undocumented (with the exception of this post) project about 3 weeks ago. I was inspired by the IK's Winter '05 wrap, but I pretty much made up the entire pattern as I went along. I started and then promptly abandoned this sweater almost a year ago! Being the kind of spontaneous-pattern-abandoning "get-your-freak-on" knitter that I am, I kept no notes, so guessing the pattern/ my thought process MONTHS later was a tiny challenge! But I LOVE it!

I worked both front panels identically and seamed them together. The sleeves are lightly belled (of course) It was a very simple and quick (ignore the 1  year part!) sweater worked on Addi 10s. The fabric is soooo soft and warm!

closeup...



A quote from my blog dated at December 21st 2005.... "So I was at Joanns yesterday, and of course found myself in the yarn section, absentmindedly touching the mounds and mounds of frilly, froofy, hairy yarn with a permanent look of "...eeeek!" on my face when I saw this...

beautiful, airy, dreamy, soft, delicious....wool at JoAnns?  My mouth literally gaped when I  stumbled on a whole rack of beautiful wool and wool blend yarns in their new Bellezza collection. They had  beautiful and soft 100% wool, classy wool boucles, and this incredible wool cotton (with just a touch of synthetic something or another). It's airy, light, and soo soft (it is as soft as HPY's merino in my opinion) And it was on sale at 2 for $8, with around 130 yards/ball...meaning I can make a yummy sweater for about $30...SCORE!"

Score indeed :D Loved working with the yarn, and love the finished sweater!

So, in case you haven't noticed, any sort of blog activity, both writing and reading have steadily declined since the beginning of the Summer! At first it was that barrage of life-craziness (losses of many kinds...) and now my Senior show is less than 5 weeks away!! Freak-out mode officially in gear! We've ordered 2000 glossy 4x6 postcards of our show announcement....

The press release/ group statement has just been written...check it out...

 

BFA Exhibition

Art Depot - Alternative Space

1703 Texas Ave.

December 1^st, First Friday Art Trail

6pm-9pm

Refreshments served

BFA Exhibition consists of the work of three jewelry and metalsmithing students in their grand finale.  Sharing the creative focus on craftsmanship and technique these artists explore traditional and non-traditional materials in order to examine the worlds of politics, self and imagination.

In the exhibition, the viewer will encounter three philosophical themes, including a macro-socio-cultural critique through objects and adornment, the microcosmic examination of self and identity through objects with an intimacy of scale, as well as fantastic costume elements from an impossible inner world.

Within these three general directions, various aesthetics are established, ranging from conceptual to spiritual, from simple to geometric structures. Through their intuition and mastery of craft, each artist succeeds in creating a highly individual and symbolic vocabulary.

BFA Exhibition documents the journeys of three unique paths in the field of jewelry and metalsmithing, that the creative possibilities of this medium are endless.  The works on view are by:  <deleted because of google issues!>

YIKES!! We're expecting A LOT of family and friends, so the pressure is definitely on!

I'll definitely try to check in before that :)

Thanks for all your graduation-congratulations and good luck wishes!!

I swear I'll get back to the blog reading soon....I miss reading your blogs!

I bought my cap and gown last week!!!! Yes, after a total of 5 1/2 years (finishing in 4 years is way overrated) I'll finally be graduating December 16th with a BFA in Studio Art! Yippee!

I've also been working out details for my BFA Senior show...show-mates, date, venue, time, beverages (keg of Shiner...mmm, good Texas beer) are all falling into place. It'll be Friday, December 1st...less than 2 months away! I'll be showing with two studio buddies, both of whom are Metals majors. Even though we all work in metal, our work (both in concept and technique) are SO very diverse. It should be an AWESOME show! There is TONS to do, so I expect very little knitting to be going on...

I'm sure I've mentioned it before, but more than half of my living room is a painting studio! I think the cinder block walls and corrugated steel ceilings work perfectly for a studio environment ;) I've been reworking paintings from the past year, and hope to hang a good number of them in the show.

details, closeups, etc. will come later...

Of course the majority of my art-time is spent in the metals studio....much more on this later!

mmm, anyone else love Arizona green tea with ginseng and honey? My favorite green tea beverage has got to be Tazo's iced green tea (it has lemongrass and spearmint)...yum

And what comes after graduation?.....(good question).... The very fluid "plan" is to take a year or two off, and take a job with benefits doing whatever I can find. Then I hope to go to grad school either in Studio Art, Art History of Museum Studies (perhaps I can find a program that combines all 3?) . But a lot can happen in a year or two, so all this could change! It seems like many people in their 30s, 40s and 50s with established careers are in a field that has nothing to do with their undergraduate degree! For example, my parents undergrad degrees were in Biology/ Math and Agriculture....In their 40s they both completed Doctoral studies in Marriage and Family Therapy and are both Professors now. I feel like art is a big part of who I am, so I really do hope to keep it in my life....but I am open to whatever and wherever my journey takes me! Any experiences/ advice to share?

Oh, and knitting? The great thing about having knitting/ project ADD is that eventually I have a ton of projects laying around from a year or two ago that are sooo close to being finished! I've dug this merino beauty out, and I'm about an hour or so away from finishing it! There are about 2 or 3 other sweaters that are at this point. So even though I really don't have a lot of knitting time, I'll still have a few FOs to show soon! :D

More knitting next time! (hopefully I won't wait another 3 weeks to post it!)

I decided I didn't feel like looking, much less knitting any of my previous WIPS, so I started a new project! Frances, a wonderful regular at the bookstore, found out I was a knitter and gave me a stack of old knitting magazines and books! This simple, yet cute top is from the Spring 2003 edition of FCEK. I've never been a fan of FCEK, but every once in awhile a cute pattern pops up!

It just so happens I have the yarn it calls for, Paton's Katrina in my stash! (Hehe, it just so happens I have A LOT of yarn in my stash!) I adore the color- it's  a crisp and icy green. I've actually completed the whole back, and am half way through one of the fronts.

nice little increases...

Ohhh! and remember this post (scroll to april 25)? My life slammed into crazy-mode right after that, and I just realized I never mentioned it again. It was my final project for my sculpture studio, and I decided to revist the cocoon form from earlier in the semester. I was also influenced by a passage by the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke in one of my favorite books, "Letters to a Young Poet". In it Rilke talks about the creative process, and likens artist's ideas and inspiration to silent and gestating embryos.

My original intent was to suspend multiple  copper cocoon forms from the ceiling, and incorporate excerpts from the passage into the composition.  I started knifty-knitting away, and completed twelve 24 gauge copper wire coccoon forms before I heard the news of my grandfather. These 12 forms took me HOURS upon HOURS and my wrist hurt from the repetitive motion of looping and hooking the relatively stiff wire. 

(this picture doesn't do it justice at all!)

After returning from Malaysia, I brought the forms to my professor, and we laid them out on a horizontal pedestal and lit them with overhead spotlights. The effects of light and shadow on these wire forms were utterly mesmerizing to me. The individual forms melded together in a fluid, almost figural mass. The light created a luminous and ephemeral glow, and the shadows  produced had an AMAZING depth.

 

My prof and I were so excited by the possibilities of these forms! It's definitely still a work in progress, but I thought I'd share the process. See, something good and original can come from Knifty Knitters! 

I'll be flying off to Seattle on Tuesday to hang out with my uber-cool sisters, then a week later flying to San Diego w/ the little sis to hang with my parents! I'm so thrilled! I'm sure I'll check in while I'm there!

I'm off to run....I reached my 3 mile goal 2 days ago!!!! SO EXCITED!

take care :)

This blog was starting to depress even me....so....A  good things LIST!

* Moving into a one bedroom apartment at the end of May that is just be for ME is a very good thing! It's over 700 square feet with a huge living room that will be part painting studio part living room. SUPER EXCITED! The best part? The rent is only $375 (this is even low for Lubbock!) I've moved all the yarn I've found into my painting studio and have started cataloging them...it's been crazy...

This is only part of it!

* Yarn, of course. My most recent addition from WEBS' Anniversary sale (beware...it's dangerous!) 10 luscious skeins of a beautiful pink Elsebeth Lavold Silky wool

Nothing like gorgeous yarn to cheer a gal up!

* Managing to get some knitting time amid all the craziness is a very good thing!

mmm, dreamy, soft Plymouth DreamBaby

It's going to be a tank with a cool fair-ilse boob-band with a square neck-line. But I'm still not sure since I'm just making it up as I go. Did I really need ANOTHER ufo? Probably not...but inspiration struck, so I went with it!  Plus, most of my other ufos have already been packed up.

* DOGGIES! I'm dog/cat sitting Ranger and Ms. Alice this week. Ranger is a crazy joy-machine with boundless energy, and is positively ADDICTED to playing fetch!

eww, VERY slobbery ball

* And the #1 reason I'm absolutely jumpy and giddy? I've been accepted into SNAG's national slide show AND student show. SNAG (Society of North American Goldsmiths) is  THE society of metalsmithing in the US. This is BIG!! I'll be in Chicago next week at their big BIG conference and I'll get to attend the opening at the Mars Gallery! Hearing the stats made me EVEN giddier!!

Thoughts Materialized- student exhibition at Mars Gallery in Chicago

My piece "Roulette:HBV" was one of of 98 works  chosen from a field of 664!
(Side note: Texas Tech's Jewelry/Metals program is in a 4 way tie with San Diego State University, University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and University of Wisconsin- Madison. Each school had 6 works accepted into the exhibition. These are some of the TOP programs in the country!)

InFlux -Slide show presented at the conference, images will be housed in SNAG's permanent collection

The slide of my piece "Bound"  and the process slide from my sketchbook was one of 87 works  accepted from a field of 360. 14 of the 87 works came from Texas Tech.

Yippeee! I'll probably share these images next week.

Many things to get done (gosh, and many blogs to catch up on!)

Happy knitting!

My dear first sock will be frogged. After knitting 2-3" of the foot in denial, I could no longer ignore that it had a severe case of what I like to call heelus massivus. Yes, dear sock has a big ole, floppy heel! Technically I could give it to someone with bigger feet, but after what I've been through with this baby, it's going to be for ME, and I'm going to wear it all the time, dangit!

the only thing I like about frogging is how cute and curly the yarn looks!

I took ballet lessons as a wee little mayflower. All I can really remember is the way the sunlight streamed into the studio and sitting in a circle chanting "good toes, bad toes". The instructor was teaching us pink leotard clad munchkins how to point our toes.

bad toes...good heel

it's only pretending to fit :( Oh for those of you that were wondering and missed the earlier post, the yarn I'm using is KP's merino sock yarn dyed by me...read about that adventure here!

good toes...baaaad heel

I do understand that the heel will slack a bit, but dear sock's slackage is quite obnoxious! I had followed knitty's formula for the number of stitches and rows for the heel flap...unfortunately it's about 1/3 too long (at least!) I tossed this sock aside for reference of what-not-to-do and started on a new one. So ONE FINE DAY (don't wait for it!) I'll have a pair of socks to show ;)

I have a whole room in my apartment devoted to PAINTING! Yes, my humble little corner of the living room studio has moved into a room of its very own! In a nutshell, I had a youngun' of a roommate whose life was riddled with ISSUES, she went nuts and dropped all her classes mid-semester and moved out. Enter Mark, my sister's mature, SANE boyfriend who just happened to need a place to stay. Fast foward a month... Mark moves to Phoenix to be with his grandpa....and I have the whole apartment to myself! Crazy Roommate 1 is still on the lease until May and has to pay rent...and i have the whole apartment to myself! WHEEEE!

A studio of my very own...I'm THRILLED! A lot of my paintings are 2-4 feet, so being in an actual room gives me plenty of floor and wall space to paint and pool! All these are very much still in progress, and I have less than a month to get them to a resolved point . I'll take slides of these at the end of the semester and I might just share a couple :D

I've started a top from the latest Interweave...any guesses? Find out next time!

Have a great, knitty weekend!

So I wouldn't call myself a SPINNER...sure I have a small stash of fiber, a baby drop spindle, and little skeins of unevenly spun yarn...but my spinning-skillz are definitely less than stellar (let's not even go into my wheel-spinning abilities). So what would posses me to incorporate spun silk into a sculpture project? who knows! I had enough trouble with 'grabby' wool, so why would I think I could spin slinky, slippery, temperamental silk?

              

Before too much prior thought, I found myself ordering an 8 oz.bag of Tussah Silk. It was a gorgeous, lustrous, light blond bag of pure yumminess. Spinning it was another story.... It was a royal pain in the ass!! The billions of little fibers each had a mind of its own. I held up a chunk of fiber and bits started 'levitating' and trying to escape. And many of them succeeded! While spinning, little silk fibers would float around and conveniently land on my nose, in my nose, on my eyelashes, in my mouth, causing general aggravation and bouts of mild cursing. After spinning, the surrounding furniture (and me!) would have a fine covering of silk that acted alot like thick cobwebs (eww) But in the end I showed the silk who's boss and spun the little suckers into around 300-400 yards (I think). They were then wrapped around a cocoon form.

   

The prompt for the project was our interpretation, literally/metaphorically, of the phrase "rock and/or roll". I took 'rock' to mean refuge and shelter and roll as 'to enfold/ envelop'. A cocoon came to mind, which is of course a structure that provides a caterpillar a safe haven while it develops and pupates. This fits right in with my current work that explores themes of transformation and rebirth...plus I got to SPIN and play with fiber! I created an opening in the form which was lined with fabric and lit with a warm, low wattage light bulb. (2nd pic) I love the way the silk hugs the surface and accentuates the form. The cocoon is about 2 feet high, and mounts right onto the wall via the branches. The critique went really well!

Congrats to all you knitting-olympians!! Have you seen cosmicpluto's olympic sweater?  AMAZING!! Next time...more progress on the snowflake sweater! I'm DETERMINED to finish it before the cold weather completely fades away. :D It's been an irritatingly mild winter :(

I'm a premature seamer! If I end up knitting the front and back first, I can never quite contain my excitement, and always end up seaming! :D The sleeves are in the process of being knit.

I decided to change the front to have a notched neckline. The original sweater is a turtleneck of some sort. This cable/eyelet fabric on 10s makes a pretty bulky fabric, so I'm attempting to make it less  bulky and sack-like by changing the neckline, reducing the stitch count (it's like ribbing and stretches!) and adding waist shaping. Saggy, ill-fitting knits are definitely not an option! :D

Here's a detail of the fabric when it's slightly stretched out. mmm, beautiful creamy merino! As a refresher, I'm using KP's merino sock yarn doubled.

My new studio space aka the corner of the living room! My roommate moved out (crazy story..) and so I took full advantage of the situation. I bought lights (with Reveal light bulbs) and a couple plastic drop cloths and I had a makeshift studio! Stools serve as easels, and a cooler as a top to put my palette.

Superbowl Sunday painting fun :D

I've had some really interesting correspondences with my painting professor. He is an amazing artist and teacher, and his insight through the years have helped and inspired me so much. Plus he knows painting...he sells his paintings for THOUSANDS of dollars (we're talking 30-40 thousand!) These last two e-mails have been very interesting to me, so I thought I'd share! Our thoughts apply not only to the visual arts but to other artistic fields such as music/poetry/theater/etc. It's a lot to read, and I won't be hurt if you skip over it! :D I do think some of you might find it very interesting!

Hi Michael! It made my day when i found out that you bought a pair of my  earrings!!! thank you thank you thank you! :D When would you like to meet next week? Let me know, and I'll make arrangements with my boss to see if I can leave early from work. I've been having some interesting conversations with fellow seniors...a lot of us seem to be in a funk of some sort. We're so close to graduation, but have all of a sudden begun questioning our art, and art in general. You came up in our conversations, and I'd love to get your thoughts! Like you've said before, art and being an artist is a long journey, and you are much farther ahead than we are! I am positive you have a lot of insight that can help us along. During the last two semesters, I felt so inspired by art, and felt so certain that this was not only what I wanted to do with my life, but in a way, it was my life. I felt like art was inseparable from me and from my core identity. This semester, I  have all of a sudden started wondering why I am doing art. In a way I've started to doubt why my art (and art in general) matters in the grand scheme of things. My recent work (in painting and metals)  have dealt with deeply personal issues....so is my work just a form of self-therapy? Am I selfish to be so involved with the things that are going on in my life? We've all heard "art changes the  world" and "art saves lives", but am I really doing any of these  things with my art? Like I've mentioned, sometimes I feel like I'm being selfish by doing art...I've felt like perhaps I should do something that would help people directly. Stacy and I started wondering is perhaps we were being too "noble" by pressuring ourselves to somehow change the world. I'm not even sure why I do art...all i can come up with is that it's a 'soul-thing'. I feel driven to create. Am I being selfish by satisfying this desire? Hmm, I'm not sure if I made much sense! :) Do you any thoughts for me? i feel silly(after 5 years of art school!) struggling to answer why art is important and why it matters. beyond these questions lie even more questions of "why painting?" and "why metals?" and whole   gamut of other questions...i think this transitional phase from college to the rest of our lives is scaring many of us! :D thanks for reading this! any advice or insight you have to offer would be SO greatly appreciated in this 'time of funk'! may

Hello May: Your ear rings made a hug hit with my wife gayle for an early Valentines Day gift.  I wanted to do something special for her as I have been away teaching and painting in Lubbock for the past three  years.  She loved them so you see your work has given someone a special lift. An artist life is one which shares all aspects of ones existence.  All aspects of life can an often effect the artists production.  Over time the soul is readily accessed through an artists creative activities.  I have, since my mid twenties made paintings which listened to my soul.   As a result they were driven not by stylistic concerns or even purely aesthetic sensibilities rather a driving urge to relate the tragedies and glories, which I have observed in the human condition.  I will include a short artist statement, one I have written recently so I hope it give you some idea of specifically what I find necessary to my creative process. Your particular funk indicates to me that you are a thinking feeling artist, which is in touch with deep fears and uncertainties.  if controlled these may bring new plateaus of discovery. There are so many readings on my reading list for painters, which might provide clarity to you and those other seniors who are realizing the brutality of the artists way.  It is not enough to merely act as an artist, we must instead realize that our own Funk's are related to our need to destroy and rebuild our creative platforms.  Most real artists who I know, if they are in it for real, question what they have done especially after a large exhibition or an extended period of focused thinking. Remind you of what you are feeling just now?  I believe that quiet solitude will address your current funk and after you graduate a time off to just assimilate all that you have had crammed into your exquisite mind  is  now in order.  You and Stacy have so much to offer and I feel that it is this very questioning which will never allow you or her to be terminally "satisfied" by any future body of work. I must tell you that I often battle such feelings and I rely on my drive to explore combined with a love of paint to take care of these sinking feelings.  Just paint!  This always works for me.  destroying a work and rebuilding always allows a certain "getting into trouble" to refocus your creative energy away from worry and dread to the excitement of a battle which often leads to discovery. Read Letters to a Young Poet, by Rilke.  This work will inspire you and the other down seniors.  Remember what I have told you now for years.  LOVE, GESTATION and PERSEVERANCE will show you the way and provide time, reflective energy and focused growth for your creative activities.  Art takes a life time and not a second less to locate and maintain your paths.  It is relatively easy to identify your center- the tough part is protecting the truth once it is found.  We will visit much more next week.  I look forward to seeing those fine paintings in person!  Keep questioning, however know that your frustration is shared by any artist who is is thinking and willing in their creative journeys. I will share this with a few of my colleagues as your letter has touched me and I feel that these colleagues will be interested in your thoughts and our conversation.  They may wish to also contribute to our dialogue as I know Tina and Andrew to be of a similar faith towards the path of art making. Thanks again for the delicate ear rings as they have made Gayle very pleased!  I look forward to your response! Warmest regards, Michael

I'm still working on the art photo-albums- it takes awhile to digitize slides, then import them into typepad. Lots of goodies coming soon, including fair-ilse fun, EX-GIRLFRIEND KNITS (uhoh! justin is in trouble! ;) hehehe ) and silk-spinning !

Good luck to all you knitting Olympians! Oh, one more thing...what the heck is the deal with "C is for..." posts that are all over knitting-blogland? I'm not one that follows K-B trends, so I'm clueless!