Fall and Succulents

A beautiful display of succulents is fun to paint and layer. So many colors to play in. And I think I need more fun ultramarine blue colors to add to my palette. For now layering with what I had worked pretty well.

 A fall leaf arrangement along with my daughter's pumpkin and glassybaby make for a fun piece to put on her mantel.

Painting "Rocks"

A new hobby sprung up over the summer and has turned into quite a relaxing and enjoyable one. Watercoloring!
Yes, this is  a knitting blog and it has long been neglected due to the busy life of being a grandma. Now it will be fun to add in some of the other artwork I have been working on in between grandparenting, and a little less knitting.

Painting during my long painting retreat, taught to me by my sister, Wendy. We painted into the late hours. She taught me alot about which colors to use and how to mix. I have alot to learn! Here's my palette so far:

 I have since learned you can rough up your palette with a bit of Bon Ami so it won't bead up so much as shown here:

These poppies were out of a watercoloring botanicals book that she brought over for me to try out first. Voila, my first real painting!

Next we moved on to painting the beach rocks, using a photo reference from a workshop done by Wendy with Mary Gibbs.

Tired from staying up late on our marathon painting adventures. But proud! Once finishing my first one, I was excited to do a second one!

This shot is showing the comparison of my first rock painting and my second. Both unique and fun to see how they came out so differently.

My next painting was based on a photo my friend took while in Varenna, Italy of her beach rocks:

 I also painted some pinecones that were based off the same workshop that my sister attended (mentioned above)

The next friend I painted for had visited Cinque Terre, Italy and had photographed these rocks she thought would make an interesting subject to paint. They had alot of interesting layers of color. The result!:

A teacher friend whose subject is geology, had quite a collection of rocks on her shelf for me to use for her subject matter on her painting:

Another fun one from one of our favorite spots on our own trip to Italy of a cute little red fiat on the streets of Montepulciano. Of course the doorways are charming:

Another magical place in Italy we visited was a castle in Tuscany and on the way down the hill we saw wild horses. Here was my vantage point from the top of the climb up into the castle tower. The lichen and the growth and color on the stone was incredible. Still some tweaking being done on this one:

A whole new world opened up to me in the artistic expression of watercoloring!
Oh, and the last few are of my beloved glassybabies that I painted for a friend of mine:

That was alot, as you can see for one summer. Wouldn't my high school art teacher be surprised?  I have begun to sell my prints also, which is really fun for me. So contact me if you are interested. Some are available in giclee prints.

I am still knitting however, and my Dad made me this fabulous yarn bowl:

A Reason To Knit

I got the best gift ever right before Thanksgiving, a wrapped up pacifier and booties which could only mean one thing- the news that we will be grandparents next July! We are so excited and thrilled. We found out also it is going to be a BOY! Oh joy, a boy! Out of the box floated these balloons!

Now I have more reason to knit! I will be able to put good use to the Grandma stash of blue sweaters, and the pumpkin hat and blankey ....and keep on going from there!

This blog has long been silent, however it may be more alive again this coming year as I have more reason to knit!

Summer Scarf and Wedding

It's been a warm, dare I say HOT summer in Seattle. Time to lighten up a bit and knit with something besides my usual standby of wool. Trying out some hemp and hemp/blend from the newest yarn shop around, Mad Cow Yarn! I bought two colors, and when I ran out of the grey I moved on to the pewter/brown. This pattern is from Ravelry and is called Summer Scarf. This is the closest I get to lace knitting, folks.
What I like about this pattern is it purposely calls for larger needles to give a more open fabric. Hooray! So instead of using 3.5 mm needles, I am using more like a  size 4.75 or a size 7 needle.

Instead of knitting this in two pieces and seaming it in the middle, as called for, and you know I never do exactly as a pattern calls for... I just continued on with the second color when I ran out of the first. I will figure out how to join the ends when I am through. No worries, it's just yarn!

I am thinking it might end up being a lacy cowl instead of a scarf. It is pretty broad so that is what I am imagining it becoming. And that is what it is. I seamed the ends together and voila! A cowl! I like the two-tonedness to it and how I can wear it many ways.

A lovely way to spend the camping weekend by the river...recuperating after my daughter's wedding. Okay... okay, you asked for it! Some wedding photos here :):

I like this one of all four of us as our bride leans against her daddy resting after dancing, and I am looking on rather misty-eyed with my oldest married daughter to my side holding her sister's bouquet...ah...it's so good to have photographers in my family-These ones caught by my brother's candid camera. Still awaiting the formal photos being processed. In the meantime...

Mr. and Mrs. Jason Williams, the happy couple doing what they do best-their swing dancing-while we happily blow bubbles!

Grandma Stash

Everyone needs a Grandma stash. You know for your own future grandkids. You give away so many things to other people and rarely keep anything for your own. I am changing that right now! A few items for the Grandma stash. I am saving back some things for "one day". I think these turned out cute. I used some easy care yarn for this one. And a free pattern on Ravelry: Caiden's Skirt.
Check it out. Super easy, super cute. One I made with a simple crochet chain tie, the other an easy I-cord tie.

Sidecar Jacket

This Sidecar Jacket is one I have wanted to do for a long while now.
Kind of a cute cropped one. I love the color I chose....

 However I did not love the weight of this yarn or the ply...too soft for this large-needled heavy sweater. I would choose a heavier gauge yarn if I did it again. Overall, it was fun to construct, with the cabled waistline first, then picking up stitches upward for the body. However, the picked up stitches are quite visible in this.

I used some extra snaps to try to hold the front flap down and tried to tack the collar down also...
Overall, cute pattern, poor choice of yarn on my part.
You may find it here on Ravelry: Sidecar Jacket

Wintery Garter Stitch Baby Coat

A cute little free pattern off of Ravelry. This one is  called Lino's Coat by Lili Comme Tout, modeled by Matilda Bear.
A garter stitch baby jacket done in Cascade Sierra in a Moss green which looks bluer here.

I looked up a U Tube on how to do a pom pom and took a few tries, but I made one for the hood. Shown here before blocking, of course!  One of my sleeves came out larger than the other, though I did try to mirror exactly the first sleeve. This resulted in a larger seam on one sleeve. Otherwise there are no seams except for the ones under the sleeves, and one on the hood. The hood is picked up from the neckline and then I did do a seam down the center of the hood, though instructions say you could do a 3 needle bind off to close up the hood as well.

This will look cute on a future grandchild one day. Into the stash it goes!