Making a New Watercolor Sketchbook

I'm pretty close to being out of pages in my current sketchbook so I've been doing a lot of thinking about how I wanted to make the next one.  I wanted one that was easier to use for doing landscapes and that would include drawing paper for doing value sketches.  I also wanted to be able to add and remove paper if I needed to.  And I wanted something that was easier to photograph--right now, I have to use rubberbands and masking tape to get the pages flat enough to take photos.

I looked online and checked out how other people were making their sketchbooks and found some good ideas to try. 

I started by dividing a 22 x 30 sheet of watercolor paper into eighths, which gave me pages that are 7 1/2" x 11".  Then I cut 9" x12" drawing paper in half to make pages that are 6" x 9".   The last step with the paper was to measure and punch two holes in each sheet.  Then I cut two peices of book board that were slightly bigger than the size of the watercolor paper and decided on some paper to cover the book board.

Everything all cut out and ready

After changing my mind 3 or 4 times, I finally decided what paper to use to cover the book board and started the process of gluing the paper onto the board.  

Gluing the decorative paper onto the front side of the book board.

Gluing the paper on the inside of the book board.

After the covers had a chance to dry, I decided to have some fun and I dropped and splattered paint all over the paper to make it prettier.

After the paint dried, I put clear Contac paper on the covers so that they would be waterproof.  (I want to be able to clip a piece of paper to the front cover with bulldog clips so that when I'm painting I can keep the paper from warping so much.  I hope it works!)  The I punched holes in the covers.  After much noisy hammering and slightly bruised fingers, I had all the makings of a watercolor sketchbook.  Here it is all finished.  I can't wait to start using it.  :)

A Very Melissa Lace Project

Last week, on my birthday, I decided to get my bod out of the house and go do something fun.  So I headed up to Silverdale (which some might consider idiotic instead of fun since it's so close to Christmas time) to dink around doing some shopping.  My first stop was at the local knitting shop where I ran across this book.

I fell in love.  The whole concept behind the book is freeform lace knitting.  The author gives several basic shapes usually used when knitting shawls (i.e. triangle, square, rectangle, circle) and shows the pattern for creating that shape and then gives ideas for knitting the fill-in lace without slavishly following a pattern.  What you do with the lace is entirely up to you.  You can take various lace stitch patterns and place them where you want or you can totally wing it and just put yarn-overs and decreases where you want.  The only "rules" are to pair each yarn-over with a decrease and, if you're doing a shape like a triangle that has symmetrical shaping on each side of the center, to count the stitches on each side of center every few rows to make sure they stay symmetrical.  Sounds like my kind of lace knitting!  So, since I had some lace weight merino and mohair yarn that I'd just finished ripping out from another project, I just had to try my hand at making random lace. 

 

It's hard to really see the lace "design" because it's not blocked but I love the process of knitting it!  No making mistakes and having to rip out rows and rows of knitting.  No having to stop every few minutes to find your place on the pattern chart.  It's definitely not a technique that everyone will love--the gals at my knitting group were all looking at me like I was nuts when I showed them last night--but it's definitely the right fit for my personality.  :)

Fort Worden...or What I Did Last Weekend

Every year in early November, I usually go up with some of the ladies in my knitting group for a knitting retreat at Fort Worden State Park.  It's a time to get away from everyday life for a while and just spend the weekend knitting and relaxing.  Of course I wanted to take my spinning wheel up with me and I was determined to dig out something new to spin, so that meant I had to get off my butt get busy and finish what I had on the wheel and ply it.

I had some wool pencil roving that I'd had on my wheel for...well, let's just say it was on there a lot longer than it should have been and leave it at that.  Anyway, I finished spinning the last bobbin and then took the three bobbins I had and plyed them together to make a worsted weight yarn.  Whoo hoo for finished projects!  Now I just have to figure out what to make with it.  :)


The night before I left, I went totally insane spent a lot of time deciding what to bring with me.  Way too many things I want to do, not enough time to do them and way, way too much mindf***ing overthinking them.  Good thing I only had to choose from the fiber and yarn I left unpacked during the studio remodel.  Otherwise my brain might have spontaneously exploded.   

I finally did make my choices and brought just a few things to work on. It was a pretty productive weekend for me--I didn't have to frog anything, I finished 2 of the 4 projects I brought to work on, started a 3rd, and kept my sanity (well, that's debatable) despite being sick with a cold and suffering from a severe lack of sleep.

I got a full bobbin of lace weight singles spun from some yarn I dyed with Wilton food coloring a few years ago.  The hat is from yarn I bought last year after retreat, and the green is yarn I've had lying around for a looooooonnnnng time that's finally being slowly turned into a lovely warm cowl that I can put on my neck or around my shoulders this winter when I get cold.  Maybe I should say hopefully this winter.  As you've probably figured out, I'm a little slow to get things finished.  :)

Of course, the whole weekend wasn't spent just knitting and spinning.  Friday was spent shopping at fun shops in Sequim and Port Townsend.  I didn't spend that much on knitting and spinning stuff but I did indulge in some french-milled soaps and lotion and a new cookbook.  Can't wait to try some of the recipes out on my besties!

Yum!

I did have to buy this sock yarn.  Earlier this fall, I went to the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival and bought the bright, happy spinning fiber at the back of this photo so when I found sock yarn to match, well...how could I resist?

Birthday Gift Card Goodies

Decisions, decisions, decisions!  After a month and 47 books put on my Barnes and Noble wish list, I finally made up my mind and went up to the mall and bought some goodies.  Whew!  It was a tough decision.  Do you know how many books there are on Photoshop?  Trying to choose something just about killed me.  Did you notice I couldn't pick just one?  I sense a theme here...  

Thank you Scott and Gayle and William!

I was really inspired today by this blog and I can't wait until I've learned enough in Photoshop to try some stuff like what she does!

http://djpettitt.blogspot.com/

My brain is percolating with lots and lots of ideas for stuff I want to try.  Better make room for some studio time in my week!