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TWiP: Getting all Artsy Craftsy

This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2022
Am I falling back into my old habits? Late to the party with this post? I hope not. This is just a blip on the radar, right? Sure 😁

So good old Week 30 of 2022 started quietly, getting back into the swing after our little vacation. Then one of the kids came home from his vacation (yay!) and I got all artsy craftsy.

So, what is This Week in Pictures?

It’s a roundup of the little (and big!) moments I have captured all week. Some of these images are posted on Instagram, but many aren’t posted anywhere but here. Some days there may be no photos, and other days there may be multiples.

Photos taken with 📷 (Canon EOS 80D) or 📱 (Samsung Galaxy S9).

Saturday

Back from our work-cation. I breakfasted outside every day while we were away. Our own back yard leaves something to be desired at the moment, but if I crop it all in nice and close, I can pretend it’s not too, too bad 😜

Monday

It seems like a good time for a front step pourover. Maple coffee today! Mmmmm.
My spare time lately is dominated by the collection of inspiration. I’m consuming six months-worth of Cynthia Tinapple’s Studio Mojo that I wasn’t ready to absorb before, and getting lost in the resulting rabbit holes. I’m scribbling notes about new millefiori designs I’d like to invent. I’m balling up reclaimed yarn that needs to become something fabulous instead of the unloved sweater it once was. I’m reading back issues of UPPERCASE Magazine cover to cover. I’m watching Carol Feller’s knitting vlog. I’m planning a month-long polymer project that excites me but may or may not actually happen. I’m procuring a few new supplies in case it does. I’m buying more back issues of UPPERCASE and a couple of volumes of the Encyclopedia of Inspiration, which I had previously thought were too pricey, but suddenly feel are essential to my growth as an artist. I’m sipping maple-flavored decaf coffee in my pajamas, eating a molasses cookie and daydreaming.

What I’m NOT doing is actually making anything. I just can’t seem to put myself in front of the work table or behind the needles and begin. I am paralyzed with unfocused inspiration. I have been here before, where the inputs have taken over, and the outputs need to just wait their turn. Soon, something is going to click. Those inputs are going to meld into something so impossible to ignore, that I will clean off my messy workspace and make something amazing. I hope it happens soon. But I also hope it doesn’t, because I really enjoy this quiet time of letting things percolate.

How about you? Are you making anything right now, or are you percolating, too?

Wednesday

He’s home! That’s one kid back from adventuring, one more to go 🙂
Been thinking about my next knit, and also about the ones I don’t wear, and the fact that I don’t want to buy a lot of yarn, and have decided it’s time to do some unraveling. L-R:

Traveller’s End which was my souvenir knit from our family trip to Ireland in 2019. Irish designer, Irish yarn, purchased at a shop in Dublin. I love the pattern, I love the color of the yarn, I love the buttons I made to go with it, but I hate the way the yarn feels, and I definitely knit too big a size. It makes me sad that I never wear it, so I will definitely try this one again sometime soon.

Sea Stones, I love this design but I chose too heavy a yarn for it. I have a lot more of this wool alpaca blend, so I will pick a better pattern for it.

Lesley is a nice pattern, but I don’t like the pooling of color. I have a lot more of this Good Karma Farm yarn, so I think I will find another use for it (and alternate skeins this time!)

Timber was finished less than a year ago but is way too small for me. I may retry this one, too, because I really wanted it to be a go-to house cardigan.

Think Sea Stones will be the first I take apart 🤔 I have a couple of cardigan patterns in the queue that the yarn might be nice for 🙂

Thursday

Some new tools of the trade. I’ve got a few ideas for new earring designs…

Friday

Today: playing with different techniques, textures, and shapes. Intrigued? You might like what I have planned for August 😉
I took today off and spent it playing with clay in a way I haven’t done in a long time. I didn’t think too hard about any of it. I just sat down and made stuff. It was fun. More to come.
Today was a lovely, artsy day. When I wasn’t making earrings, or sanding earrings, or buffing earrings, or photographing earrings, or working on something new for my website about earrings, I was watching British mysteries and knitting. I’ve started a new cabled hoodie with the leftover Sea Stones yarn. I will unravel Sea Stones itself, when I run out of leftovers.

Thanks for helping me celebrate the week! If you want to see some of this stuff as it happens, please feel free to follow me on Instagram ♥

Same Week Previous Years (2014-2021)

This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2014 This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2015 This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2016 This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2017 This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2018 This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2019 This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2020 This Week in Pictures, Week 30, 2021

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