Friday, February 17, 2012

I am a yam.

"I am a yam. I am." © Paula Pertile
(click to see it larger)

Well no, not me. The yam in the picture, silly.

This is a piece to test an idea. I like to draw food. And clouds. And I like to label things. So I thought well let's see what would happen if I did them all in one picture. I also like to draw things floating. So I think this is very "me".
The next one will be a further exploration of the idea, and a bigger piece.
This is 5 x7, Polychromos on Stonehenge.

Why a yam? Why not. A good while back I said I wanted to do a "Pantry" series. I still do. And I figure that if I do, I should include a little bit of everything - not just fancy pies and tarts or whathaveyou. I have a sort of fascination with root vegetables anyway (I think its those stringy root bits going all which-way), and the colors are delicious, so I thought I'd start with something rather plain, like this little yam. It aged a bit in between the time I bought it, and the time I actually got around to drawing it, so it developed some character. But that made it more interesting.

What's next? Not telling. You'll be surprised.

Sunday, February 05, 2012

knitting square

I've embarked upon yet another knitting adventure ~ Boxes!





Of course my camera battery died just as I started taking pictures. Of course, right? I have more of these finished. I'm experimenting with different yarns and sizes, and different types of lids (or no lids). These two are about 4 inches square, and just happen to perfectly fit a box of my little square cards, which you may or may not remember I was selling a while back.




And which I'll be selling again. I'm doing a shops upgrade and weeding out and spiffing up of things. My knitting shop has been empty for quite a while, and although I have the usual scarves and coffee sleeves in my arsenal, I wanted to wait until I had something a little different to offer before I restocked it.

The boxes were an idea that I was determined to figure out. I did some (OK lots) of trial and error, with a lot of error, and almost gave up. These are knit all in one piece! so no seams. I've seen boxes done in pieces, then sewn together, and thought they looked clunky (no offense to anyone reading here who may have knit one of those). I really wanted to do something kind of architectural and clean.




They have to be knit very 'tight' to create a stiff enough fabric to stand up without support, but I like that they're also flexible. Once I figured out the pattern and technique and made ONE successfully, I was so happy! They aren't particularly difficult (now that I know what I'm doing), but they're not fast, either. I will do a few more, put them up in the shop and see how they do. I have another idea for a braided thing, not like this exactly, but along the same lines ~



only way harder. way harder. If I can make it work I will be feeling pretty special.

Last week I did some computer upgrades, and boy does it feel nice to have everything running more up to speed. I had a guy come over and do the installs for me, and although everything went OK, I was very glad to have him here. Its like taking the car to the 'car guy' - some things are better left to the professionals. This guy was very young and so smart, it was awesome. One of the things I upgraded was my Adobe CS, and so now I have the version that will let you 'publish to ebook' or whatever it is, exactly. Woohoo! Can't wait to get onboard that train. Better a little late than never.

So now its back to the needles for me today. The kitties are enjoying sun naps in the windows and out on the back porch. And Downton Abbey is on again tonight, so life is good.