Early Christmas Mania and an update on Halloween Cat card

Here's a quick update on my Halloween Cat card. I've really been enjoying doing this, I'm already thinking of another one that I could do. What does anyone think of having these kind of Halloween cats turned into greeting cards? I went to check out the Halloween stuff the other day at Michael's. They were having a whopper of a sale for their usual spooky decor. Would you believe that they're already playing Christmas yard art on display again and again? Jingle Bells was forced through my head so many times, following me around the store no matter where I went. I felt as if my head would explode by the time I got to the checkout. Or maybe implode. Definitely one of the two. People, please save for Christmas music a little while longer. Just one more month.

something different-pen with pencil!

For the past week I've really wanted to do a cutesy Halloween illustration-so I did.
I completed the ink part of it this morning. I struggled with the idea of leaving it in black and white-but my extremely fickle mind changed courses and I decided to color it in instead. It's about a fifth through the coloring process-maybe a sixth. I'm actually pretty glad that I decided to give in to my color cravings. I feel more comfortable with this piece, and so I'm going all for it with the color-thus the strong orange on the tabbie, who's our own Vinegar, and the cobalt blue on the wizard's hat.

I found some interesting Halloween pumpkins too. They're must-sees to say the least.

One huge pumpkin. In Britain, a spankin' new record.

A rather huge burger.

A fascinating WIP on a wonderfuly detailed, agonized pumpkin.

A heavy pumpkin.

An ugly but huge pumpkin. Why do they even bother making these things so huge that they practically squash themselves?

a sock! and a sweater!

I can't talk for long-I've been so busy my hair's been practically singed at the ends.

I did get my first sock done, and you know the sweater I was knitting for my toddler niece?

I finished it!

(click, click) knitting away

Aspromised,
I have a photo of the little green baby hat that I made, salvaging a sock project that went bad. I also have photos of another knitting project, a mottled blue sock. I read the instructions. Reread them. I researched the art of knitting socks on the internet. I thought I was covered.
Uh...no.

It looks like the sock will turn out okay for a first sock-but I have to tell you, I didn't think that at first. Well, maybe when I was doing the easy cuff, but when I got to the heel flap, the whites of my eyes were beginning to show. By the time I got to turning the heel, I was definitely concerned.

Anyway, I made it through. Admittedly, it is a bit lumpy, but it's a sock! Well, almost, I have to get the toe in first. As a young girl, I always wanted to knit socks, an impossible feat in my eyes.

So for me, this sock is a nice surprise.

The Eyes Miss Nothing (a WIP)

I Igot back into another pencil project again a couple of days ago, and completed this fun piece quite speedily: 3 1/2 to 4 hours. I used an 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" piece of Bristol Smooth paper, using Prismacolor pencils. My new favorite burnishing color for colored pencil pieces is rose beige, it doesn't the drawing to light like the pure stark white pencil does.

I tried knitting a sock yesterday, in my favorite color, naturally: green. A nice sagey green to boot.

I totally scrapped it.


It was completely twisted past the point of redemption. I had to peel the whole mess off the one needle. But fortunately I did salvage it. I haven't taken a photo yet, but I turned it into a cute little baby hat with a tassle attached to the top of it. I will post a pic in my next post. Speaking of knitting, check out these hip runway knits. Apparently they're really in this year. Old Navy has come out with lots of knitted stuff too.

I loved doing this portrait. I've alway enjoyed doing the eyes best on a person or a dog, and I thought, hey, why don't I just do them by themselves then?

Halloween is drawing near. We have begun pulling out our Halloween supplies. I'm striving to make it the the most... decorated Halloween.

I want lots of webbing! I want it on the doors. The ceilings. The sink. Me! I love fake spider web to excess.

Not so fond of the real stuff, though...

lots of knitting

Okay, here are my progress shots of my two knitting projects. One is a long scarf for myself. I'm making the design into large squares of color, and I'm eventually going to put tassles on the ends. The other project is a sweater for my three year old niece, in a nice sagey green color which I think suits just about anybody! I've been having a lot of fun especially with the block scarf, it's so neat seeing the colored blocks come together!

If you have any questions about how I did these projects, just leave a comment, and I'll answer as best as I can. :)

Always more exuses

I know, always more exuses. My family and I have been struggling to move our Grandmother out of her house this week*, and before that my sister's dog had puppies!

*I don't even want to begin getting into what sorts of things we found abandoned in drawers and closets. (She shivers violently)

Oh, the busyness of it all!

Oh, and all that with two weeks of constant flu. Uh, yuck. Out vile flem, out I say!

Needless to say, I have been absent. I will put up more stuff soon. I stopped working on the crocheted piece because it kept getting smaller and smaller at the top and curling into a half moon, so I looked for a proper pattern at lionbrand.com which they have for free, and started working on a knitting piece, since I'm more familiar in that area. Anyway, I started a sweater for my three year old niece, once again! I bought a cool knitting book, which I have to admit, is quite advanced but helpful once you learn the basics. I'll put a link to it in my next post, too snuffly to get up and look at the title right now, :D.

The sweater is actually turning out much better than I expected, but I have to say that I practiced purling, knitting, and casting on stitches for a total of about four or five hours before I was satisfied enough to keep going. So I've finished the back part of the sweater and I bound it off, that is to say, finished it up so that it is by itself and off the needles without worry of it unraveling. I will post images of it tonight or tomorrow.

Now where did I put my box of tissues?

Oh, and stop nibbling your nails and take out the trash!

cough cough, sniffle

Cough, huh, huh, sniffle. Uch hem. Sorry about missing posts on the last two evenings-I've been trying hard to get over this cold, and developed a cough. Stupid viruses!! Evil green things with long teeth and evil warped minds and fuzzy hair, well, you get the idea.

I have been a good girl, just not well enough to load the images online-until now. But here they are. I finished "Feeling Green" my little froglet. I finished the background with acrylic paint, using purple, four varying values of greens, black, and sky blue.

I also started a new WIP (work in progress) of a little Jack russel pup giving his Dad a kiss. It's colored pencil, and I'll do my best to load images of my updates as I finish them. Later on I'll get more into the colors that I used, and my methods.

And I'll leave you for now, reminding you that Halloween is actually much closer than you think, and I'll put up some links to inspire you for decorating.

Cool Pumpkins

Taking ordinary orange, white or black paper laterns and taping construction paper faces on them, transforming them into spooky pumpkins, creepy cats, or baleful ghosts.

Cool trick or treat bucket.



And on that note, have a good day!

crochet sweater and another doodle

Unfortunately, I haven't been too creative today, because I woke up with a flu. Gah!
As I search for my computer under the growing piles of tissues, I managed to display for you my progress shots of a sweater for a three year old, done by crocheting leaf green and light French blue yarns. Everything on crocheting, I have found, is really based on the simple chain stitch . I'm frankly not sure if this sweater will properly fit my niece, but it sure is fun making the fun lacy parts!

I also drew another doodle of my dream cafe. Rough rough rough sketch, though.

If you need more amusing, check out this cool and hip shawl. And this neat jacket. And well, something just plain strange, crocheting being the source of uh, insanity?