Learning to draw week and Christmas box gifts

What a busy week! Spent a lot of it drawing things as practice as I really could not draw but have been learning with the aid of a book: Drawing on the Right side of the Brain. Also because on my course the tutor did say that my sketchbook and general lack of drawings was a ''WEAK'' area and needed a lot of work!

First things first though: here are the leaflet details of the Christmas Boxes we do every year.

I made a scarf and hat this week: similar to last year and using the same yarn and the same pattern- from my blog this time last year-here- but finished the scarf with a fringe instead of pompoms and the hat with a big flower and button.

The button ''here'' above takes you to the FREE PATTERNS FOR THE HAT AND SCARF if you would like to JOIN IN?!!!

For the flower: with 7mm hook and Marble Chunky: Chain 3 and join with a slipst.

ch4 and work treble into circle,*ch1,tr1,repeat from * until you have 5 trebles, then chain1 and slst into 3rd chain to close the round.

Now you work the petals: I did: 1dc,1htr,2tr,1htr,1dc in each of the 6 chainspaces thus forming 6 petals. Finish off with a slipst and sew in the ends. Sew onto brim of hat but only through the upper fabric so the brim remains adjustable and add a sewn on button.

Should fit most girls aged 4-9.

Then I went shopping today and bought the other gifts: pens,pencils, a ball, paper, coloured paper,felt pens,crayons,soap,colouring pencils and a few hairbands. A crocheted puppy will go too. I'll wrap it all up tomorrow and show you before it all goes to school on Monday.

Oooooh I have spent ALL the hours the kids are at school DRAWING this week! Mind you it DID get more fun as time went by but it didn't start out as fun...

First a sheep drawing from Henry Moore: it was a set excercise so I had a go after googling this and printing one out. Top is the real macoy and the one below is my efforts at copying it!

By hand! A LOT of sweat and tears... Learning to switch my left brain OFF!!!

Ta Dah!!!! Actually I'm just a bit oh such a bit, very very pleased with it. Just about 90 minutes of studying and sketching.

Then we had to do ''HUMAN FORM'' from an art period- so I spent happy hours browsing in Modern Art books and the internet- googling images again- before choosing the above: 3 women by Picasso in his Cubist period. NB All the previous and next drawings look too pale BUT they are CLICKABLE so you can see it properly if you CLICK on the picture......

We had to do 45 minutes, then 5min, then 2 and then 30 seconds....

Well I got fed up after 35 minutes so having done the sheep for so long I called it a day and did the quick ones: BOY that was REALLY HARD! Especially the 30 seconds: it's really NO TIME at all! I 'd set my kitchen timer and nearly had a heart attack when it went off!!!

To stop me smudging and adjusting I used a felt pen for the 30 seconds one, far right.

Clockwise from top left: the original as photocopy from a book, my 35 min, 30 seconds, 2 minutes and 5 minutes.
I also did another Henry Moore- lambs this time and some nudes which are to be used for collage....
As is this Igor Stravinsky portrait below by Picasso again. A 45-60 minute copy of it in pencil on loose cartridge paper-sorry the photos are bleached a bit by the flash but turn very yellow and more blurred without...

And a 5 minute one to be used for more collage techniques.

Still can't decide, which is better, with or without flash, but no worries I'm not showing anymore!
On Friday I was painting fabrics and constructing cloth with bonding methods and on Monday I spent the day monoprinting.
Social activities included a lovely walk on the South Bucks Way on Thursday with a friend and fellow dogs- they actually got on very well together- !!!Friday attended a school function and got blown across a car park it was sooooo WINDY!

Still working on the cowl for the magazine and the santa bear suits.....Will share soon if College homework permits...

Happy Hooking and Stitching! ( maybe I should be adding Sketching too!LOL)

Colourful inspiration from nature

Bunting AGAIN! This time it's turned RED! Just a quick foretaste of what is yet to come...
This same bush / tree/growth was seen as all green bunting, leafy glorious bunting on.26 October 2009, here.

Monday and Tuesday this week was foggy, but I kind of liked it as it gave the walk a mysterious and adventurous mood.

Lots of mud too. Many towels have now been re-allocated to the doglets for rubbing down and rubbing most of the mud and wetness off. Lucy thinks it's a game and attacks the towel with vigour, tearing it -almost- every time.

Teasels: pretty to see but a right p.i.t.a.( insert words as appropriate) to pull out of doggy-furry-coats! Pips especially has a knack of collecting them onto the back of her front paws.

Me - thinks there be a drawing in there somewhere though! Funny how dark it seems too, this was at 9 am in the morning!

There you are, the light is back again. I just HAD to capture these reflections- for later drawing again- and it took a great few takes too, the first 3 were black! Had to turn the flash OFF.

No blue skies today, all grey but it's sunny in my heart and my soul is singing, because I'm going to do ''arty'' things all day!

Yellow berries. Never seen a tree like it? Felt like I was in Provence?

And then, and THEN: I spied the BUNTING TREE!!! WOW what GLORIOUS COLOURS!!!

So here is a small selection of what I photographed....Sorry if it's too much? I just LOVED it so very much , you see? Makes your heart and soul soar and sing!

So many colours and so many tones and shades and combinations of green,red,orange,yellow and browns.

Here we're at the yellowing end with a tiny bit of green still remaining.

Red to red-orange!

Bye bye ''bunting bush/tree''. I have to go look up what you are actually called: you know, botanically speaking.

At home I spent the day drawing, playing the piano ( lesson today) and finishing the hat and scarf for the Christmas box: I'll show and tell tomorrow?

Less than 14 days COUNTDOWN

Hiya how are y'all? Had my day in Windsor today so did lots of machine stitching but no crochet.
It's was wonderful even including the- I'm so terrified I shake all the way there- drive there, but nothing to show and tell with you just yet.
13 Days today or 2 weeks from YESTERDAY - depends how you look at it-my patterns will be in the published issue of Inside Crochet!!! It's getting terribly terribly exciting! There was a thread on Ravelry about it and a preview is imminent so I dare show just a few pictures..
Teen shawl they call it, but it's just a little scarf really, Miss E absolutely LOVES it and wears it to school most days. Mine is made in a super soft but affordable hand-dyed sockwool called: BA T'AT : this is the colourway: BUDS OF SPRING and it takes just one skein, available from Create! See tab of blogs on the right side bar below- and NO!!!! I'm not getting any remuneration from any of this free advertising or promotion.... The fringe is another sockwool: A Norwegian one from the Black Hills shop in Henley.

For the magazine I had to remake it in BFL from the hand dye-ing chap in London, Easy Knits.

The fringe is in the bamboo mix which was lovely to work with: sooo soft! ( pricey though)

My other pattern is a phone cosy, which again I had made for Miss E ; so she can cycle about with her friends and keep her mobile phone handy. ( round her neck under a sweatshirt)

This one in Rowan Summer Tweed was for the magazine. AAAh no not for my preteen as she hates pink!

This one below is my preferred version: in a variegated thick cotton from Schoeller and Stahl.

The Knitting Hut in Woburn Sands do something very similar from Katia I think.

Which reminds me: remember that pom pom scarf in turquoise and grey ''AZTECA'' yarn?

Here it was, well The Knitting Hut now import this LOVELY brand called KATIA and they HAVE lots of AZTECA in stock in many amazing colourways so you can make the same scarf now....Well in another colour , because the grey/Turg is no longer available....

Ta dah?!!! What do you think?

Bright Puppy and finished bootees

Ta dah! Both puppy and bootees finished today! This pup is in 100% DK cotton and in bright colours for (a baby and ) mother who are very partial to bright colours.... I'm guessing her about the baby as it's not been born yet but when I had mine I remeber reading that babies see bright colours better so my nursery was always in the primaries: Yellow, Red and Blue!

Cute?

Sweet?

I gave him/her a big smile but it's not easy to see....

There it is! Very a la ''snoopy'' don't you think?

The red ribbon in the local shop didn't quite match the wool, neither did the blue or the green so I've chosen this orange organza ribbon which tones/matches the orange wool....
It isn't ''too girly '' is it?

I'll be posting it tomorrow. Meanwhile when I SHOULD be doing course-work I got distracted by the scarf/hat/mittens needed for the OperationChristmas Child Appeal: see also here where I did the same ( almost) last year.. In fact I couldn't remember the pattern so I had to look it up on my old blog! LOL.

Friday in London

Had a lovely half day in London after attending and singing at Miss Y's school assembly of course! And after the washing and walking the dogs, etc etc....
Also after browsing through my newly arrived December issue of Simply Knitting where I was shocked to read of the death in October of MELODY GRIFFITHS.
So in passing St Paul's I said a little prayer in my head for her family and friends and here is my little ''In Memoriam'':
I have 2 books by this wonderful crochet designer and I have enjoyed making the following:

My first fingerless glove in cashmerino!!! Her books are EXCELLENT and very inspiring.

A circular 4 ply crochet shrug/waistcoat... It was a joy to make and the pattern is very good at explaining what to do! Thanks to the wonderful Melody Griffiths!

A baby jacket in pure cotton....For a friend's baby a few years ago now.

And one for my Indian niece in baby cashmerino, I made matching bootees and a hat from other patterns, it was for chilly Indian nights...

And here are the books!!!

This one also has a coat which a crochet tutor/friend made out of one ball of YOYO yarn...It looked fabulous on her. And I dream of the zipped jacket in Noro Kureyon but at an estimated £72 it's still in my dreams... And THIS one is even better!!! Lots of lovely patterns, including the baby jacket seen above and there's a zebra and elephant I can't wait to try out!!!

The latest crochet book is about wraps and shawls and having seen it in Waterstones: that's a beauty too. THANKS and praise to a wonderfully gifted and talented lady and my best wishes and thoughts are with her family and friends.

After passing St Pauls and walking the Millenium Bridge( without wobble but I have to say I walked it when it DID wobble and I thought it was rather FUN!!!

Had to smile at the bulging building: desperate to be noticed??? Or just too many cupcakes?
After 2 hours or more in Tate Modern where I had a fantastic time looking at Futurism,Vorticism,Cubism and the like and smiling at Andy Warhol's room of pink cows , being totally AMAZED at the feeling of dwarfism created by a GIANT set of 4 chairs and a table in an artist's room and being thrilled and overjoyed by a bit of Monet,Braque and Mondriaan...

I went to a presentation by Victoria Oldham about The Grinberg Method. See here and here.

Fascinating and I'm very excited by it's potential but a bit hurt and dissappointed too...

I may be either too ''old'' or too ''physically unfit''...Let's think positive and continue to think NOT!
Soaked by some sudden downpours I caught a late train home and crocheted parts of a puppy-to-be. See?!!

And today after fun and giggles with the kids and some intensive enthusing about the Grinberg Method to friends and family- and updating my facebook page at last!!!- I did some word releasing- this is to be mono-printed on tomorrow but it was such fun! Just wrote whatever words ''popped'' into my head. Miss E read it and couldn't stop laughing...Her ''happy'' words were: ice cream, bubbles,hoover,toaster,doughnut,chocolate biscuits,cupcakes,basket and the rest were lost as she kept collapsing into fits of giggles. There was definitely a sweet tooth type trend though...

First just ''happy'' words with a repeating effect and influenced by today and yesterday.

Then came some sentences but they were very short.This was tremendous fun. There was writing on some of the pictures in Tate Modern yesterday. And LOTS of writing which I read about either the artists or the pictures or the art period/movement.

Writing- hand writing as an abstract pattern. It has a rythm. I found it very hard to write big. It kept moving back to a certain size?

FUNNY THING! I think I meant to write Alice as in Alice in Wonderland- due to the LARGE table seen yesterday and yet out came Alison: my piano teacher!!! GUILT! I have not played for a week....LOL

Have a great weekend and if you have time and/or opportunity I can recommend Tate Modern for a lovely free and inspirational few hours!!!!