THE LOOM OF DESTINY

I am really not sure when it happened that this blog turned into a craft blog, but I guess that’s the way it’s rolling.

My goal for the next few months: MOVE. Like, physically move – unload my storage unit with all my Texas stuff and find a place to live. I may already have done that. Does anyone have $40K? Hello?

Once I move, presumably into a two bedroomed place, one bedroom will be the Studio. I have been far too remiss in the part of my life that I miss the most: drawing. I want to get a proper drafting table and lighting and soon will delve back into illustration , specifically comics (yeah I know) and some narrative work. Click the pic to the left to embiggen my last significant piece that was actually sort of finished. It’s old, from May or June, I think, and I totally drew it at work while on the phone. I have drawn a few zombie-related comics (naturally there are no zombies in them) but they are not done.

I really miss all the time I used to spend on the drawings – and I know that technically I could make time, but I have to say, this whole “working for a living” really cuts into my me-time. However, in the end, I have still been fairly artistic and crafty with all the knitting and teaching myself to weave and all that. I got my sock mojo back. I dumped my hojillion skeins of sock yarn on the bed the other night and sorted it into AWESOME and REALLY AWESOME piles – I have a really great collection at this point. And I really want to make something out of the Dream in Color Smooshy.

This weekend I am going to Ikea with my mom. I saw in Craft Magazine a project I would like to make. It involves these apothacery (oh god how do you spell that???) drawer things that glued together and screwed to a different table base makes a great jewelry stand. I don’t normally buy Craft because it is stupid expensive, but the latest issue was all about weaving, and I have been bitten pretty hard by the weaving bug. In fact, I finished my first project and warped the loom for the next one:

Woven Scarf

I used various socks yarns to complete my first project, primarily some Knitpicks Essential Kettle Dyed in Bordeaux (?). The Essential is quite soft and makes a nice end project. I didn’t like the Bordeaux color at all (wasn’t variegated enough, but I bought it when it first came out so their dyeing process is probably improved at this juncture) and was actually going to return it, but then thought it would be a good yarn to try my hand at weaving with – because I wouldn’t care about cutting it up.

Weaving

The new project is being woven out of Noro Silk Garden Sock, which while GORGEOUS was kind of a dumb choice – the yarn is very sticky on itself, and makes moving the heddle rather annoying. However, the end product will be worth it. My tension is much better on this piece, and the colors are super awesome! Too bad I am ALLERGIC TO MOHAIR. Also, you’d think I’d be a little more freaked about cutting up a $20 skein of yarn, but OH NO, I cut that sucker with an  evil gleam in my eye!

Anyway.

I also got a haircut. I like it a lot.

New Hair + Scarf

I think that might be the debut of my “new” glasses on this blog, too. I’ve had them for a couple months now. I was getting a lot of headaches and realized that it had been about three years since I’d been to the eye doctor.  Time to get new glasses.  I’m slowly going blind, of course, and I suspect bifocals will be in my future, but for now, my vision has settled in the 20/40 and 20/50 range. Also the doctor did a pressure test on my eyeballs where he numbed them and put a glowing blue contact on each one (glaucoma test?) which SUCKED because I totally have an eyeball issue, like, don’t touch them! Or get near them! Or talk about them getting squished or poked in any way!

Oh god, now I have to lie down; I’ve disgusted myself.

P.S. Be sure to check out WANTED, the movie about the LOOM OF DESTINY and fraternity of assassins who use it:

I thought it was pretty awesome (and better than Batman, BUT EVERYTHING IS BETTER THAN THE DARK KNIGHT). Okay, the movie is not really about weaving, it is about explosions.

Hung Up

Right now work is hard and they’ve put a moratorium on vacations… right when I figured out when I could take one, which really sucks. Luckily I already had Friday off to see the baby in LA but guys… I really need a break. I haven’t had multiple days off since I went to ATL last year, and considering I spent two days on a plane, more hours than necessary at the Georgia Dome, and more time than healthy with whale sharks, that SO doesn’t count (except for the part at Mary Mac’s Tea Room, IMO the only reason to ever go back to ATL). And, I guess I had four days off at New Years and Thanksgiving. WHOOPDY DOODLE DO.

I drew a mustache:

There Will Be Mustache

I’m not super interested in There Will Be Blood, but I like the title, and I like a good mustache, so there you go. The DVD cover cracked me up, so I drew this. Heh.

In conclusion, I like socks:

Waving Lace Socks

why yes that is a waving lace sock… for me.

Spey Valley, Bird Boy

New sock on the needles (for my Sock Project):

Spey Valley - WIP

Spey Valley from Knitting on the Road, knit in Plymouth’s Happy Feet. I got this yarn at Rumplestiltskin in Sacramento. The Yarn Boutique has a ton of it right now (and they JUST got a huge shipment of Dream in Color Smooshy, y’all – if I wasn’t all sock yarned up the wazoo post-Stitches, I’d be all over that!). I don’t know that the pattern + yarn = perfect fit, but I like it so I’m going to roll with it. I think the pattern needs a non-variegated yarn, but whatever.

I also drew a picture:

Birdboy

It’s a bird boy. (Um, duh?) It was in the news this last week or so, that some poor kid in Russia was pretty much raised with birds by his mother, who never spoke to him or anything. These kids are generally known as “feral” or “wild” children. You know, like kids raised by wolves or bears or whatever. They almost never grow up and have normal lives, and are lucky if they even learn to speak. I was thinking about what a literal bird boy might look like and this is what popped out.

It’s funny because just before this news story came out, I finished a book called “Magic Hour” by Kristin Hannah that was about a feral child found up in Washington. A stupid name for a good book – not really a subject that you read about too often (or even come across), and there was romance and a minor murder mystery. A smidge contrived towards the end, but easily overlooked by the quality of the writing and story.

In conclusion: I drew a bird boy. I’m going to try to draw at least something once a week. Can’t let the ole degree wither, now can we?