Recent drawings on greetings cards for various life events. Mixed media, Bic Cristal biro (black and green) with watercolour crayons. The cat sitting on a hill is near some wild garlic, which has been given darker green foliage since the photo was taken. I wondered why Ramsbottom is called that, or which other names were considered at that meeting. A bit of etymological reading suggested ransoms and the bottom of a hill. Wild garlic valley, obviously.
The old people used to say they grew sweet peas because you don’t have to bend far to smell the blooms. This is the first time I’ve grown some for a few years. The last attempts ended with little stems surrounded by slug trails.
Today’s drawing of the sweet peas might inspire the usual questions: “but what will you do with it when it’s finished?” etc. Well, since you ask, parts of it might be used for a family tree project. The little spirals are interesting, and could be a useful link between the names and dates of the more complex ancestors.
Knitted stripes, or ridges of two rows each. Using dark and light yarns and knit or purl stitches, an illusion of a circle in a square. This is the easiest pattern in an article about illusory knitting, but I like it anyway.
Cameras never lie, mine won’t show the red and yellow stripes in the way they’re visible to me.
Knitting a spiral in the round seemed a good idea when it first appeared. I forget that it’s possible to knit in both directions while knitting a tube, so it might work. Using yarn from both ends of the grey, with the rainbow stuff in the middle. Nice reminder of how the ink looked on a zinc lithography plate before printing.
I sketched a few pairs of hands, thinking maybe one of the sketches would summarise the warped conditions of various workers.
Shortest day of the water tiger year. Apparently it’s best to gather energy during the winter, to be ready for spring.
I thought I’d make a quick splashy sunset picture. It took longer than intended. Some of the layers reminded me of making a lithograph.
The photos I worked from were taken while smoke blew across from a recycling fire. I didn’t notice the black clouds at the time.
I’ve knitted a lot of hats. They disappear when needed. I thought the family cyclist should have a bright hat for any smidsy moments. The neon orange yarn I bought in the 1980s would be too painful alone, so pairing it with black stripes might be better. There again, a spiral could be interesting…
The Maths for this is easy in theory, moving each colour over by one stitch on every row. In practice I’ve had to stop and think occasionally. Knitting in the round usually involves spiralling upward, rather than the to & fro of two needles. This time, I have to remember to slip the first stitch of the colour, then pick it up on the return journey. There are obviously other methods but this is ok for the moment.
berry daines 