#28 - New Coffee Shop: Third Street Stuff

Today we held our weekly knitting gathering at a coffee shop I hadn't had the pleasure of visiting.

Third Street on N Limestone is so unique and awesome. The atmosphere is very different than the other coffee shops in town. My coffee and bagel were delicious! (forgot to photograph them though).


I love the art from the outside to the inside! It's everywhere! Check out some of the art on the outside wall of the building! This type of art is all through the coffee shop and handmade items are sold there too!

Here's the lovely group I knitted with. :) That's me in the white scarf knitting away. :)

Sarah and Sara knitting away!

Jenn and Grace

Matt and Becca

   

Ali learning to knit. :)

Sara and her awesomely completed fingerless gloves!

Amanda :) 

She was the photographer today so no pictures of here today so I stole one from her facebook page so she wouldn't be left out. :)

#27 - Stranded Knitting: Selbu Modern

I have finished and blocked my very first stranded knitting project!

This hat pattern is available for free on Ravelry (click here).

Stranded knitting is so much easier than it looks. You simply leave two yarn skeins attached and knit from the color you need as you go. The other color just floats across (don't pull too tight...let it float loosely behind your work).

Here's some photos of the process. It took me about 3 weeks to finish it (it wouldn't take that long except I kept getting distracted by other projects and of course there's the job...which I'm grateful to have but cuts into my creative time. LOL)

Pattern printed and yarn chosen :) The brown is "bark" and the pink is "cotton candy". Both are from knitpicks and were only about $3 each! Yay for a $6 knitting project!

Contrast band (brown) casted on and first row of pink completed. Stitch markers are your friend! Trust me on this one!

 Ribbing band completed. Stranded knitting begins!  

Hat completed!

Hat completed. Soaking in water to block. Blocking evens out the stitches. Oh my...blocking wool yarn stinks!! Apparently wool releases sulphur when it's blocked and it smells horrible. I guess that's what a wet sheep smells like! yuck!

Hat finished!! :) (still a little damp so no pictures of me wearing it yet)

#25 - Watercolor Class with Cindy Alvarado-Yeary

Yesterday's learning/trying new things is coming to you a bit late because I was out learning to watercolor last night!! I would like to say thank you to Cindy for teaching us last night. :) I felt like a kid about to burst with excitement all week in anticipation of watercolor night! We didn't even make it inside before I made Becca snap a picture of me and Sara with the painting sign.

Cindy Alvarado-Yeary of PawprintsPortfolio held a watercolor class at the Midway branch of the Woodford County library last night. I've been so excited about it for weeks that I thought the day would never come!! (Sorry to those of you who've had to hear about it for weeks! LOL)

Check out these amazing painting prints by Cindy! These (and more) are available for purchase in Cindy's Etsy shop. Just click the photo to go to the listing.

Promise of Freedom, limited edition giclee print by Cindy Alvarado, $39.95

 

Snowy Crossing, Samoyed giclee print by Cindy Alvarado, $39.95

Class Time! 

Last night Cindy had awesome little painting stations set up for us taught us to paint a couple of snow scenes.

My first scene looks pretty rough. I've never watercolored before and I don't remember ever having a formal art class. So look over the fact that it looks like something a child would paint! I had a great time making it so that's all that matters, right? I haven't dusted the salt off my paintings yet so they will look snowy once I do that (the salt absorbs and lifts some of the color to create white spots like snow flakes).

The next scene went a little better for me. I figured out how to mix my paints a little better and how to add light and darker strokes of the same color. I'm much more pleased with the second painting.

While everyone else was finishing up, I painted the back my scrap paper that Cindy gave us to practice our colors on. My little trees and color mixing were getting better. :)

 I took my watercolor paints and my painting tips and instructions home with me so I can keep practicing (Thanks Cindy for giving them to us!). I'm planning to get some watercolor books and paper soon and just keep at it. I had so much fun painting that I'm hoping with time my skills improve. I'd love to be able to decorate my craft room with art I made. :) Sure, it's unlikely to ever the the caliber of paintings that Cindy does (that's mad skills!) but it can be beautiful in it's own simple way (I hope! LOL).

Sara and Becca painted with me and here's a photo of all our paintings together. :)

I think these bookmarks will be a great starter for my watercolor practice! Who couldn't use another cool bookmark? :)

Bigger Bookmarks ... Watercolor Paper by time2split on Etsy, $4

#19 - Selbu Modern Hat - Importance of Stitch Markers

Three of us in our knitting group are doing a knit-a-long for this hat. You can get the pattern for free on revelry!  (click here) After frogging (taking out the stitches for those of you who don't knit) my hat twice, I've finally got the correct number of stitches and started the colorwork for my hat. :) Today I learned the importance of stitch markers! I've never really done any projects that truly required them until now! They make life so much easier! My stitch markers are the boring ones from the local chain craft store...they aren't nearly as cool as these on Etsy!

Arabian Nights Stitch Markers by LadyDanio on Etsy

Here's my progress on my hat. You can see my boring little stitch markers in there. I've just started the colorwork in this photo.