Two and Two.

I finished the garter stitch scarf that I showed last week, and made another scarf plus two hats:

Hats are leftover bits of yarn.  Garter stitch scarf is Caron
Chunky Cakes, discontinued colour "Trifle".  C2C scarf is Caron 
Cakes "Lovely Layers" in "Sugared Cherry", also discontinued.

I'm making progress on the Science Fiction & Fantasy Book Club assignment for this month (when I picked up the copy I'd ordered at the bookshop, the clerk was very enthusiastic about it), and should be done in time for Wednesday's meeting.  That will make my 21st book for the year, not counting the one I re-read on New Year's Day.

The library is starting another walking/exercise challenge, which of course I plan to enter.  Why not get double use out of my daily (except for Saturdays, when I do an early yoga class) walks?

Otherwise, it was a fairly standard week.  I should work on the last few items for my DFW Fiber Fest class and start gathering the items needed for the classes I am taking.  Now that I am presenting at a conference during the first part of that week, I have to be organized a little earlier than otherwise.

Today I started a shawl of Knitting Buddha's handspun, stashed from a prior DFW Fiber Fest:

Typically American Measurement

There are jokes and memes going around about how Americans will use anything as a unit of measurement to avoid the metric system.  My friend Trish and I joked about it and decided to display her Great Big Squishy Scarfie Thing against their Grand Caravan:

Current length, on Colour #21 of 25, is about 2/3 of a Grand Caravan.  I've knitted on it twice (somehow, not this trip!), once when I was there for "AIDA" and once at Maryland Sheep & Wool.

I did some knitting of my own, a scarf of Bernat Blanket that I left in Dallas to donate to Warm Up, America! at DFW Fiber Fest next month, and three hats; four if you count the one I knit on a friend's machine so I could try it:

The green one with brick stitch at top left will go to the local
guild's Hundred Hats Challenge collection; the other three are
destined for a different charitable project.

This time I was there to see her son in "HAMLET", portraying several characters, primarily Rosencrantz:

This wasn't the only play I saw this weekend, though.  On Friday I went to the Allen Contemporary Theater to see two friends in what turned out to be a spectacular production:

I've recommended it to people, and they report the shows are
selling out before they can get tickets.  Kudos to ACT!

And then this went into a black hole, instead of getting published.  I thought I'd hit the "Publish" button!

Since then, I finished another two hats for the collection, and half a scarf for WUA:

Ooops, the top one is a repeat from the previous photo.
Both hats are AlwaysBeKind yarn.  Scarf is a Caron Chunky Cake.

I've planned some projects (probably too many to get done before DFW Fiber Fest), and finished my Berie Shawl of the "Sunset Skies" yarn:

When I saw how much is left, I decided not to frog back and add another garter row in the center, and there isn't enough remaining for a border, so the shawl is as it is (and fits me well) and the last bit of yarn will go into a hat or something.  Yes, I have the ends to run in, but that's just a few minutes of work.  I love how it feels, very soft and cuddly.

Back. With yarn and knitting.

Just a quick report - I did knitting, and am into the second skein, second half, of the Berie Shawl:

Not much done on the Albuquerque Shawl, but attention must be paid so it's not good for knitting while sightseeing or reading or during intermissions:

Yarn and fabrics acquired, and some fiber for a swap at the annual meeting for one of my local fiber guilds:

LOTS of photos taken, and I may get around to summarizing the trip.  I had fun, not enough sitting-around time as one sometimes gets on vacations, did some hiking, saw a number of museums plus some places I wanted to see and will visit again, and ate a lot of good food.

One of the boring ones.

Mostly because this is a placeholder - I am traveling, which means I cannot upload photos.  My watercolour seems to have stalled the middle of last week, because I was busy and felt overwhelmed and underinspired.  I do have ideas, but wasn't confident of creating them.  I'll get back to it - I brought the pad and some paints on the trip, but have had zero time to focus on them.

Whiling away the hours between when I arrived for my
originally-schedule departure flight, and the time of my
rescheduled departure, caused by some impressive weather
in other parts of the country, which I was now avoiding.

After some travel-fu (a very early connecting flight rescheduled to a very late one due to weather and other delays, and a very kind person at the check-in counter who moved me to an earlier pair that would avoid the kerfluffle although get me to ABQ a few hours later than planned), and a visit with an elderly relative that involved some very yummy Mexican food and a bit of sightseeing, I joined the tour group I'm with for the Santa Fe opera.  And some other adventures.

And a few of my own.  I'll report more about all of this next week, when I can add photos (such as the one above, added after my return).  I might slip one in here later, as an update; maybe the shawl I started on Saturday while waiting for the flights.

A bit stalled.

I've wanted to work on watercolours this week, but haven't quite had the energy to accomplish my intentions, so I did a lot of exercises instead of representational things.  I took process photos only of the last one, which didn't come out as planned.  I was trying to use the washi tape to mark out lines to do a plaid, but ended up with a checkerboard instead:

I taped a square for the library's mini art event on the paper.

So I filled in the center square very simply, although somebody skilled might put in a landscape or something representational:

This is the total since last week's post:

Trying to make the flag look as if it is waving
in the wind, and failing spectacularly.

TOP:  Transparent paint in overlapping circles.
BOTTOM:  Dripping water (left) or other colours
(right) onto a wet ground.

These are the two pieces I made for the library mini-art collection:

I've finished a couple of hats and most of a C2C scarf, plus plenty of work.  And a good soufflé this week:

And today is National Ice Cream Day, so:

My great-grandmother loved butter pecan ice cream, and we kids thought it was some strange old person's flavour.  (My great-grandmother was from Texas and they had pecan trees on some of the family land, so that might be part of it.)  As an adult, I've decided she wasn't wrong.

It Got Long.

I didn't read the pattern correctly; I should have stopped the diamonds with 9 stitches and I took them down to 5 stitches.  So they are much more defined and the scarf is quite long:

One skein of Lion Brand Homespun.

I kept painting this week, trying gradients one day and using washi and masking tape:

The outer ones are monochrome; the inner
use two or three colours.  I tried to blend them.

Finished, with tape removed.  The masking tape didn't come
up as cleaning as I would like on the right side and damaged
the pink triangle a bit.  Or the paper was still damp.

These are most of the ones for this week.  Some are just techniques or exercises.

I did a book for the day when the Prompt is
"TIRED" since reading in bed is my cause!

The prompt for the lower picture is "turtle" and
I thought of the shell pattern.  They are irregular
because I freehanded the outlines.

The trees are surprisingly good (to my eyes) other
than the trunks being out of proportion.  They
should be quite slim.  I may try doing them again.

On my way home from a fiber group meeting on Saturday, I turned in my second Reading Challenge form; I forgot to take a photo of it.  No prize this time, but I am entered into a drawing.  And I have started completing my third:

Without prompting.

An artist who started popping into my fees mentioned that it is World Watercolor Month, and since I have been playing with art, I decided to try to do something in watercolor each day.  I am not counting the form I was completing for the library's Summer Reading Challenge, although I did do the first one in watercolor and completed it on July 2nd:

I forgot to take a photo of the completed form
before I turned it on on July 2nd, when I went to
the library's science fiction book club meeting.

Since I didn't hear about this until a couple days into the month, I needed to do some catching-up, so my first couple of images are just trying the paints I have, on dry and wet paper:

Then I did one that was just making lines, to get into the feel of paintings.  And one limited to red and blue for the holiday:

I probably could have studied and done something
that resembles fireworks more accurately, but no.

Starting with Day 5, I wanted to try something that actually looks like a picture.  I'd seen a tutorial of hers, and it looked easy enough - and it was!

I decided to look up the official prompts for the month, and quickly decided that I am not able to follow all of them.  I may do a few, if I think it's something I can manage, or if the prompt inspires me.  Speaking of which, today's was "Hat" and I decided to try:

I need to make lighter pencil outlines.  And the proportions
are not quite right - but it does resemble a sunhat!

As for the reading challenge, we're supposed to mark every ten minutes we read.  That's too fiddly for me, so mostly a mark each time I read at least ten minutes, although if I read for an hour or so I'll count multiple ten-minute increments.  Nobody should be surprised that I've read well over the number of spots times ten minutes and am well into my second form.

As for my personal reading challenge, I've read fourteen books (fifteen if you count re-reading one) for the year, of the eighteen I proposed.  Being in a book club does help!

For an unofficial challenge I wanted to finish an item each day of the long weekend, and I did:

The "Americana" scarf was my 'car scarf', mostly worked on while waiting, so it took a while.  (I immediately cast on another.)  The two hats and other scarf were pretty much done in the last week.  Hats don't take much time and I wanted to do the crocheted scarf to have something quickly done.  Back to the scarf of linked diamonds shown at the top left.

Done and Done.

I finished the scarf I mentioned last week, and a hat from an oddball of Big Twist Lollipop Twistie in a colour called "Clownfish Coral".  I didn't like the Lollipop Twistie (so I am not sad that it is discontinued) and decided to use it all up, hence the little topknot on the hat:

I started another scarf of chunky, and very soft, chenille yarn that a neighbor gave me when she decided her hands were too arthritic for knitting.

I also finished a book, which was fine, and turns out to be part of a series, but I don't know if I need to read any of the others.  I do need to read the book for the library's Science Fiction Book Club.  I picked up a form for their summer reading program - fill in a space for every ten minutes you read, turn in the filled sheet, and get a token item (last year it was a choice of some cool bookmarks) plus entry into a prize draw.  I decided that given how much I read, I would just record every session where I read for at least ten minutes.  That way I don't have to keep adding together reading sessions.

From June 14th to morning of June 23rd.

More art: I decided to try different media to complete each chart.  This one is watercolours.  I have not used those in a very long time, many years, except a token bit as part of a book art piece.  I wanted to practice a bit and this is a very low-pressure way to do it.

I went to the gallery for another round of putting things together to fuse, adding to one of the pieces I did two weeks ago and creating another for this four-panel light box I'm creating:

I've done some more practice pieces for the DFW Fiber Fest class.  I may be doing a variation of it at the gallery.  One of the owners is really interested; she's the one who encouraged me to try fabric also, because she thinks it will be more useful to people.  Since cellulose fibers need a more toxic mordant (soda ash) to prepare, which means people may not be able to do it at home, I searched and found a lightweight 100% wool in a light enough colour to dye, but it turns out to be a deeper beige than I thought it would be from the online photos.  Well, that happens.

First, I did some testing of single-serving beverage powders:

Light blue ReVive and the three options I chose.

Not too much water because I wanted the dye to stay put
and not float all through the pot.

I sprinkled half of each tube, then flipped the yarn and 
sprinkled the other half of the tube.

Simmering.  I wasn't sure how much the dye would spread.

Final result, after drying. You can still see some of the
original colour.  The grape is unimpressive.

Then I did a quick test of the fabric, one piece tied and one loose, with two different dyes in the pot:

I need to remember to photograph the final results.  I showed it to the owner and she liked the effect, so that may be what I offer to the students at the gallery.  Now, what to do with the pieces?

Four more.

 When I packed for last week's conference, I included three balls of Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, and appropriate needles.  I ended up, as planned/hoped, knitting one hat per day:

All three are the same basic pattern, with the pink one turned inside out just for difference.  I think the stitch pattern is reversible.  Basic pattern is CO 48 on US#10 or US#10.5 needles and K3P3 ribbing for about eight rows.  Then switch to US#11 needle, in a two-row pattern:  K 1 row, then K1P1 the next row.  Eventually decrease every other row by six stitches until you have six left.

After returning home, I made the fourth, using bits of leftover yarn given to me by a friend for such purposes.  Given the colourful yarns I did a plain knit hat, with the solid ribbing at the bottom.

My current charity item is a garter-stitch scarf of some very thick and bright yarn that is without label.

The conference was in New Orleans, and despite the weather I was able to lead walks both mornings that we were there.  I wanted time to visit museums but weather and schedule conspired against it.  We (the walkers and our mascot) did see a couple from the outside:

Also Harmony Circle, featuring sculpture celebrating Carnival and the first all-female krewe:

 

And some other bits of history in Lafayette Square:

Fun fact:  There are two statues in Lafayette Square, one of Henry Clay and one of Benjamin Franklin, but none of the Marquis de Lafayette, the American Revolutionary War hero for whom it is named.

We also saw the Piazza d'Italia:

And a few other things:

I attended many sessions, made contacts, caught up with some people, led a roundtable and presented a program, ate some good food, and have plans to return on a weekend when I can visit the museums.

Yesterday being Father's Day, we gathered at my parents' house for barbeque and to help them clean out their attic.  It was hot and dusty, and many things are awaiting shredding or were picked up in this morning's recycling pickup.

Love you, Dad!