Fiber Monday

 

In Which I'm Working On A Shawl

Last week I decided to crochet a shawl, and while I haven't finished yet, it's not for lack of trying. Not long after my decision to start the shawl, I ended up messing up my dominant arm, so there are several days where I didn't crochet anything. Here's what I've got so far:

19 minutes 18 seconds of work, 10" wide

40 minutes, 29 seconds of work (15" wide)

1 hour, 50 minutes, 16 seconds (26.5" wide)

2 hours, 2 minutes, 34 seconds (27" wide)

2 hours, 21 minutes, 3 seconds (29.5" wide)

3 hours, 19 minutes, 35 seconds (36.5" wide)

Each of these pictures represents how long I'd been working on the shawl and how wide it was at the time of each pictures. If the length of time seems both a bit arbitrary and a bit too on-the-nose, here's what I was up to...

I would put a random video up on YouTube while I worked then stop crocheting when the video ended. I'd then lay out the shawl, measure it, and write both the length of the video and the width of the shawl down on that paper. I'd also, obviously, photograph it. So yes, within 6 or so videos, I went from not having a shawl to having one that was almost 37 inches wide.

I'll keep working on it as I watch YouTube, recording times and widths. Hopefully it'll be done by next week!

Also, if you're embiggening the pics to take a closer look, you'll probably find that the times written down are different than the subtitles. That's because instead of writing down the total of how long I've been working, I've just been writing down how long the video I used as a timer was.

The yarn is CraftSmart Never Enough Multi in Turquoise/Mint, the hook is a J hook, by the way!

I think that'll about do it for today's blog. Next week I should have more!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Thursday Art Walk

 

In Which I Tested Out An Artistro Palette!

Christmas brought me some great gifts, as I hope it did for anyone reading this who celebrates. One of these gifts was given by some awesome friends of mine, and it was a great little Artistro palette, which I'll be reviewing today!

The Artistro Premium Quality Watercolor Paint Set came with some fun goodies!

The palette itself came in a lovely pastel mint turquoise cardboard box, which also contained a small sheaf of Watercolor paper, a little card about Artistro itself, and what I think is a sticker, though I can't figure out if it really is or not. 

The Palette itself!

The palette itself is a nice tin box in the same pastel turquoise color as the cardboard box, and while the metal isn't nearly as thick as my black palette, it's still quite convenient to have everything in a lockable case! The latch gives it a leg up on most of my palettes, to be honest, and it has a few other things going for it, too - it has a flat bottom so I can actually set it down places, it only has 2 parts when opened, so it can just sit open, it's fairly tall so I don't have to move brushes as far, and it's a nice soothing color.

Inside is quite nice, too!

Opening this palette reveals that it comes with a few goodies besides the paints! Firstly, it has a big, hefty water brush that feels like I could sit on it accidentally and not break it, plus a fineliner brush! The black pen is actually an acrylic paint pen - the first one I've ever used! And it has three mixing wells and a very large sponge, which are great for when you're changing or mixing colors. As for the lower half, there's a sturdy plastic sheet with a little cutout for your finger so you can pull it away from the paints and... guys...

It's one of the first palettes I've ever had that NAMES ALL THE COLORS outside of the swatch card!

And they're fairly popular color names, too, allowing me to try mixes I've seen elsewhere!

The palette does, of course, come with a swatch card, and it's printed on the exact same watercolor paper that came with the kit, and it's good paper, too, which really surprised me. I'm used to swatch cards that are cardstock or cheap paper, and this was great.

It helps matters, too, that the paints, while small, are very smooth.

These are, no joke, butter-smooth watercolors. Swatching the palette out, I only noticed a few tones out of the 48 that were harder to get consistent - the lightest blue, the lightest green, the fluorescents, and the metallics. Even those would probably have been easier to swatch if I'd spritzed the palette first instead of just stroking a damp brush over the pans 10 times each.

And I'm really pleased with the granulations I see because I love granulations in my tones.

Now, the Artistro palette is not the only art supply I received for Christmas. My mother made sure to buy me a nice Strathmore pad and some new brushes, since the ones I've been using are... well... they're water hogs that don't lay color well, frankly. I've been entirely relying on my waterbrushes and one or two fineliners because the rest just don't paint well.

These Phoenix brushes, however, paint very nicely.

And I will eventually have to start working on bigger paintings
Because these large sheets are tempting.

But I'm still pretty braindead from the holidays, so instead of testing my supplies out on some massive art piece that relies on vast quantities of water, patience, and time, I instead tested things out with a fun little Geometric piece.

"Bubbletime"; watercolor and acrylic; 2022

I used a 7 Round for all of the bubbles and outlined them all with the paint pen. I was very nervous that I'd spill the paint all over my bed, but I activated the pen very slowly and gently (shakeshakeshakeshake, press, pause, press, pause, press, pause, see that the tip is black, draw a small doodle on a scrap page, then get to work).

It went far better than I'd hoped, and I think I'll be adding this paint pen to my passel of liners for future projects! It layers perfectly over watercolors. Speaking of the watercolors, they went on very smooth, though if you don't use wet-into-wet as your technique, it can be a bit hard to even tones out. The paints also dried fairly fast, though that could have been because I had my ceiling fan on and the air was fairly dry.

All in all, if you've been thinking about trying out the Artistro 48 color watercolor palette, I'd say go for it. It's perfect for someone who is trying to make art, especially on a budget. The paper is good quality, the paints are fun, and if you're not planning on preserving the original pieces (I can't speak to the colorfastness of the paints, since I haven't had them long enough to test), then this is a great kit for you. Especially if you've been meaning to see if an acrylic paint pen is right for you with your watercolor art.

If you'd like to have a say in what I paint or draw next week, feel free to hit me up on Ko-Fi with a donation and a message telling me what category you'd like to see (Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Geometric, Dedbert, Location, Word), and I'll pop it up here with a little thank you note!

And thank you to all my readers who kept me posting throughout 2022!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Am Distracted Again

I am incredibly easy to distract. Hilariously so. Like... I should be finishing those gloves, that bag, the Lady Sibyl shrug...

But here I am, trying to make a hex cardigan...

It's going pretty well!

But when it's unfolded, it looks pretty bad...

So it turns out that hex cardigans are really quite easy, but uh, boy are they ugly as you work on them.

If you know how to make a granny hexagon, you know how to make this cardigan. Basically, you just start making a hexagon and keep going until it's about half your body width when you fold it in half. Folding it (like the first photo) naturally turns it into that right angle, so use that for your measurements, since it makes up the arm and body like that. After you finish one hex, you make a matching one, seam it up the back and sleeve, and voila, you have a cardigan!

Hopefully I can finish that one. I really love the color. If I can't, I've got some old Bucilla yarn from probably the 80s I can try :)

Also, I don't seem to have an L hook. I have 3 K hooks and 4 or 5 N hooks, but no L hook. Weird.

I know I make a lot of excuses, but the reality is this: I love making new things and I don't like waiting, so inevitably, I end up with a lot of newly-started projects that eventually get frogged into other projects.

That being said, I should probably finish a few more things lol.

That'll do it for me tonight. I've got a heartburn pill to take, water to sip, and a cardigan to crochet!

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday

 

In Which I Did Some Crochet!

I've been working hard, lately, on Witchtober 2020. I'm a couple of days behind, but I'm still getting work done, and I'm proud of myself for that. I have sketches for the last 3 days (no "finished" inks, though), and I'm eager to get it on, but....

Today's not an Art day on the blog.

You're here about the yarn & hooks.

Some work on a shrug is afoot!

I mentioned that my sister was kind and gave me a pair of It's a Wrap! skeins, and I'm making use of the brighter color with this fun shell picot stitch. It's a six-row repeat (rows 2-7 of the pattern itself), with alternating shells and wide, loopy picots that I really enjoy working on.

As you can see, it's a fairly open design and may require a bit of blocking...

It's also a really fun design for this specific yarn, because the very separated strands and silky feel make the drape of this shell pattern infinitely more flexible than it would be in a more firm or fuzzy yarn. It looks great, too!

What's really fun is the color - you can't quite see it in the photos, but the yarn has gone from a very pale blue with a lot of white to more of an aqua color with less white, and as I continue, it will tend towards more greens and yellows! The overall feel will be somewhere between spring-like and oceanic, hence the shells, which can feel either floral or aquatic!

Alright, that'll about do it for me today - I've got some witches to draw, cheese to grill, and a shower to take lol.

Go Enjoy Something!

FC

Fiber Monday 310: The Lady Grows Some More

In Which I've Done A Lot Of Work On A Lot Of Projects

I promise I worked on the shrug, but I've also been working on other projects, so it's not as impressive as it usually is :|

The Progress
also my feet lol

I've been working for a while on making some vintage lace to turn into a lovely choker, which I've finally finished (for the most part - I still have to weave in the ends and clip the extra string)!

The choker

I also get to practice my Blocking with this project, which is a first for me. I've never blocked before, so I hope I've done it more-or-less correctly and that it comes out well. I don't need it to be perfect - I just want it to work.

A closeup of the blocking. You can't really see it, but it's quite damp right now.

The other thing I'm working on (as winter wraps up, of course) is a snuggly brown sweater. It's a top-down affair in a thick worsted acrylic with a pattern from the Yarnspirations website. The pattern calls for zig-zags, but I think I'll just work down to where the pattern starts being solid (probably right at the armpits, tbh) and then make some sort of repeating pattern - maybe Fairisle, maybe something nerdy, idk. But for now, we're barely at the shoulders!

It's a much darker brown in real life. My phone eats color :(

So that's what I'm up to this week in projects! How about you guys? What are you up to?

Go Enjoy Something!
FC

Fiber Monday 303: Failure is Always An Option

In Which I Have Failed!

Yup, you read that right, I've botched it :)

But FC, you may be thinking, if you've botched it, then why do you seem so happy?

Ah, my friends, when you fail at one project, it opens the door to another.

My failed earwarmer

I was originally working from this pattern, but then the unfathomable happened: I ran out of yarn.

Normally, this would be a Very Big Problem, but since I was using leftover yarn to begin with, I decided that I'd fulfill one of my dreams this year. 2020 might just be the year of the Scrapghan!

What the heck is a Scrapghan?

So, you know how when you're working on projects, you'll occasionally have a few yards of leftover yarn? A Scrapghan is a blanket made from your leftovers. There are, of course, infinite versions of the Scrapghan, but I've come up with my own version of a Granny Square to do this with!

First, form a Magic Ring and chain 3, then yarn over, put it through the circle, yarn over, pull through 2 loops, yarn over, put it through the circle, yarn over, pull through two loops, yarn over, pull all the way through.
Basically, you're forming a starting 3dc cluster!

From your first cluster, chain 3, then make another 3dc cluster and chain 3 again.

two clusters with chains after each

Then make two 3dc clusters without chaining between them, then chain 3.

I know, it looks a little wonky, but trust me!

After that chain-3, you make a 3dc cluster, chain 3, make two 3dc clusters, and chain 3. Then you slip stitch into the top of the first cluster you made!

Pull your magic circle closed, and you have a strange little flower!
How cute!

Now that we have our center spoke, the pattern is pretty simple.

You slip stitch over to the next ch3 space, chain 3, then dc twice. Then you ch3, then dc 3 times in the same space! You've just formed a corner.

My new starting corner.

Now, once you have a corner, you're just going to yarn over and slip your hook between the clusters that are right next to each other. Dc three times, then move onto the next ch3 space to make another (dc 3, ch3, dc 3) in the space. Repeat this all the way around. I know that slipping between the closer petals can be a pain, but it's worth it!

You can see a rectangle forming!

Don't forget to slip-stitch into the top of your starting ch3 and slip stitch to the next ch3 so that it's easier to start your next round.

A handsomely completed round!

Now keep doing that until you start to run out of yarn again. Once you're down to about a foot of yarn left, it's probably a good idea to slip a stitch marker onto the last stitch you completed and set the rectangle aside until you have more scrap yarn.

Which will take a while for this yarn, because I had gotten to 50 rows
on the earwarmer before I was forced to admit defeat...

So there you have it - you can turn negatives into positives through the magic of switching gears. Yes, this means no earwarmer, but! Now I have a fallback project for when I'm between designs.

I'll try to figure out a better way to write out this pattern (and possibly chart it for those of you who operate better with charts), but for now, I hope this helps you start your own vaguely rectangular blanket :)

Go Enjoy Something,
FC