Stitches West, knitter's paradise

I spent the last three days fondling fiber at Stitches West, the biggest knitting convention in the U.S., which just happens to be about an hour from where I live. I took a class in backward knitting (handy for entrelac) and "Foxglove sock architecture" from Cat Bordhi. Yes, I bought some lovely hand dyed sock yarn, more Noro Kureyon so I can make some felted bags, and a few other goodies.

Marianne North

Have you ever heard of an English painter called Marianne North? When I went to England last year, I found an old house/museum packed full of her paintings at Kew Gardens. You can see how the walls are completely covered with her work. She was a Victorian-era artist who traveled all over, especially to tropical countries, and painted the weird and wonderful plants and scenery she saw there. There are a couple books of her paintings available for sale on kewbooks.com.

A scarey sculpture at the Getty Villa

I just got back from a whirlwind three-day trip to LA. The initial reason was to check out the LA Art Show, which is held at the Santa Monica Airport in a couple of hangers. I also wanted to show my daughter the Getty Center and visit the Getty Villa, which I have not seen since it reopened a couple of years ago. So here is a scarey sculpture from the Villa, my daughter outside the LA Art Show standing next to a large yellow sculpture, and another shot of the art show entrance. The last picture is me, sitting in front of a tiled fountain at the Villa. I used to go there when I lived in LA, and it was very nostalgic to see it again--now all the art is Greek or Roman, and a new cafe, bookstore and open theater has been built on the side. But the museum, which is a recreation of a Roman villa that was buried at Pompei, is still much the same. You need reservations to get in, you can make them online and find out about both Getty museums at www.getty.edu.

another painting in progress

I started this large painting last summer, but haven;t worked on it since September. Now that my friend Linda and I have started a semi-regular painting group, I am going to finish it. We painted together yesterday for the first time, and I got quite a lot done on this.

poor lighting

I submitted two of my pieces to the Coastal Arts League Gallery Member's show. One is in a great spot (Farmer John's Pumpkins) but the other (Veiled Nude) is in the darkest corner, too high up on the wall. [note:I don't know why it is sideways--it isn't that way on my computer.] I am posting two shots of the gallery--that dark rectangle in the corner is Veiled Nude (you can see it in the close up shot). Now why do people do that? Somehow, no matter which show I enter, I invariably find that the lighting on MY piece is terrible. It would have been better to switch the two--the dark Veiled Nude really needs good lighting, but the pumpkin painting is bright enough to stand out, even in a dark location.

Start the new year with a radish

I just finished this little painting, the Chronicle ran a photo of radishes that I really liked so that was my inspiration. Plus, the color scheme is so Christmas.

Stuffed Santa

I haven't painted this much for months, but seeing all our holiday decorations seems to have inspired me. I made this quilted Santa many years ago, he is entirely hand quilted. The tree is actually a stocking hanger that sits on the mantel.

I'm a painting fool

Today, I painted this nutcracker with a poinsettia in the background.

New Painting: Nutcrackers

Here's the painting I did yesterday, using those cute nutcracker candles that I showed in my last blog entry. My talented daughter painted the shaded background for me. I plan to do a few more Christmas paintings so next year, I can print my own cards.

getting ready for Christmas

I'm hoping to do some watercolor painting over the holidays, and I decided to take some photos of our Christmas decorations so I can do a painting for cards. These two candle nutcrackers were on sale for half price at Longs drugstore last week--so of course I had to snap them up. The vase is made by Foxlo Pottery, I usually see them at the Kings Mountain Art Festival and this year they came to the Pumpkin Festival, too. They are a husband/wife team--he makes the vessels and she carves designs into them. Each color requires a separate firing. I own several pieces of theirs now, since I try to buy at least one whenever I see them.

Slip-stitch socks

I continue to make socks--these have a slip stitch cuff and heel, plus a contrasting toe to try to use up some leftover varigated yarn. It never works, I always have more yarn left. But it did make a lovely pair of socks.

Another mystery shawl

This is my progress through clue #3--the next clue just came out today so I'm working on it, but it will become harder to photograph on the needles as the shawl gets larger. I think the varigated yarn is going to look okay, but if the values are just too contrasty, I may just dunk the finished shawl into some medium blue dye and even out the contrast a bit.

Today I blocked the needle roll that Margie felted for me, in the hopes that I can make it a bit more square. The yarn is noro kureyon, the same colors as the bag I posted here recently. I have to sew a lining into it, I have the perfect fabric so now I just need to find the time to do it.

It's in the bag

Margie brought over three projects she felted for me last night. This was the easiest to finish--a mitered bag that just needed the handles sewn on. I bought these nice leather handles on sale last month, they are the perfect color and very sturdy. I may end up putting a lining into the bag to make it stand up a bit better. Those pink cabled socks I posted last month won a prize on Ravelry! I was so surprised and pleased. Of course that means I am knitting even more socks.

Too many socks?

I've been madly knitting socks lately--here is a group shot of a bunch of my creations, plus a couple of recent additions to the bunch. The reddish socks are tofutsies yarn (yes, it has tofu and wool and shrimp shells in it), and the dark socks are from a sock club I joined last year, called Socks That Rock. The pattern is called Lenore.

The Great Pumpkin

I wore this same outfit to the Pumpkin Festival in Half Moon Bay, but nobody took my picture. So you get to see my hand knitted pumpkin hat and tie-dyed pumpkin t-shirt as it appeared at my company's Halloween party last week. (That's me on the far right, grinning.)

Oldie but a goodie--Japanese heroine

This quilt is a few years old, but I didn't have a blog when I made it--so I'm posting it now for the first time. The central image is from a cotton Japanese banner--it is actually only about half of the very long, vertical banner which is attached to a tall bamboo pole during parades. The border with the large white stars is a tie-dyed fabric from an old yukata (cotton kimono). I used many small pieces of Japanese fabrics to piece the border. Somehow, I still have plenty of Japanese fabric left--it does seem to multiply in my stash.

Mystery Stole is finished!

The Mystery Stole is finished. The grafting was a nightmare and it's far from perfect, but it's done and I learned a lot. The yarn is a hand dyed perle cotton that I bought somewhere a few years ago. I still have enough left for a small project, perhaps a shoulder-size shawl.

Here's looking at you, kid!

I took this fellow's picture at the Long Branch, too.

Halloween on the Coastside

Where I live, there are many pumpkin farms. Today, we visited a different kind of pumpkin patch--Long Branch, about six miles south of Half Moon Bay on highway 1. It is usually not open to the public, because it is usually rented out to companies or groups that have meetings and parties there. For the month of October, they held it open to anyone, so we drove down to check it out. One picture shows an overall view of the town. Some of the buildings are just fake fronts, but in the "saloon" is the actual Palace Hotel bar, which survived the San Francisco Earthquake. There are a few live farm and exotic animals and a lovely cow skull--very appropriate for this time of year.

Finally finished--mystery shawl 3!

I took this shot as it was blocking--this is the famous Mystery Shawl 3! I used a camel/silk blend yarn from elann.com, and didn't quite have enough--I had to leave off the last repeat of the lace pattern. But the shawl is just the right size for me.