river rocks and skull

Thanks to the internet, one can see that a lot of people share an obsession for painting river rocks. Rocks are a blank canvas. My lack of drawing and painting ability not withstanding, i remind myself that art is fun like when we were kids. Stencils help and also looking at the work of people who can draw who I try not to be insanely jealous of. And the paper mache skulls at Micheal's offer endless possibilities for painting them a la dia de los Muertos.

people collect all kinds of things

Why shouldn't you collect nail polish?

logwood

Finally purchased Swans Island yarn and blew the budget for yarn for the time being. This color is called "Logwood" and it's just that: the color of a damp, decaying log and it's so beautiful. Gone are the days of buying purples and pinks and red and green yarns. My taste in colors has changed to naturally occurring hues of earth and sky and that's about it. Most likely, I'll knit Decouverte or a rectangular shawl. I bought enough of it to knit forever.

This yarn is like a canvas, to show off the stitches and maybe to combine with just a little bit of another color but probably not, I'm happy with it just on its own.

cozy

I found this image for a teapot cozy. I've been wanting to knit one for at least a year now. It's time.

linen napkins Act II

Mom has always given me old fabric usually in the form of linen napkins and doilies. I know they were carefully selected by her at least a decade ago, over the years laundered and ironed to within an inch of their lives, and then brought out to see the light of day as she hands them off to me. Not one to turn down an opportunity for recycling, I cut away a ton of frayed edges on the latest batch of napkins but they were clean and soft with a silky sheen and begging for embroidery and applique. As far as I can tell, linen just gets better with age.

Linen napkins sewn together and bias-taped for a new life as a table runner:

Making mitered corners with bias tape is still kicking my butt:

Lemon print circa 1990 will get the bias tape treatment next:

hands, hands, fingers, thumb

Man! i do not post on this blog. Yet, craftiness is happening for sure. I'm happy with the men's half-finger gloves I'm knitting out of the abrasive but warm and luminous Lite Lopi. Knitting fingers is fiddly and sort of architectural. It involves a lot of LOOKING, really looking and examining then looking again some more to form attractive knitted fingers that fit.