second sock

This shows the construction of the sock I learned from Cat Bordhi's book, Personal Footprints of the Insouciant Knitter. So simple and fits me perfectly.

I make the whole foot as a solid, shaped tube. Here I'm about to finish off the heel. Then I open the tube between the two marker lines and pick up those stitches to knit the cuff upwards.

I can knit as tall a leg as I have the yarn for, increasing as needed for the calf.

UHaul dish packing paper

I keep a pile of this paper on my art table for padding, protection, idle sketching, gluing and more. It's the perfect size and weight, cheap and makes good fire starter in the woodstove.

The scan shows great textures that's not apparent to the eye.

B pencil.

taking a knitting break--to sketch

Brief halt to get something sketched. I started the second red and black foot. Obsessed.

The yarn ball winder.

B pencil in the journal.

sock mania

I got some gorgeous red yarn while on a trip last week. Inspired by a photo of Yarn Harlot's February 14 post of pink socks with black toes and heels, I started this variation.

Note to self--knitting on size 1 needles in black can make you crazy.

This photo does not duplicate the deep red rose of the yarn. It's the best red ever.

idly striping

I've been knitting socks this winter. This is my fourth pair since New Year's Day. I'm practicing techniques and testing out needle sizes.

Size 3s are too big for a good sock fabric--too loose and stretchable--but this is multiple-color dk yarn I had in the stash. I'm seeing if I really want to fiddle with making my own stripes compared to using self-striping yarn.

If I knit thick socks or slippers with this yarn, I'll work on size 1s or 2s.

the painted variation

I used gouache out of the tube, thick, no medium, with a big round brush. Then I used some water to melt into some areas.

Just to push paint around. On gessoed cardboard.

feet first

In the journal, with a General's 2B graphite stick. I never quite knew what the mark would be from the square-ended stick.

The blue comes from a light-struck scan, but I like it.

another angle on the driftwood

I started with pen and crosshatching. Added pastel coloring later.

On Strathmore drawing paper.

lots to look at

I drew this fast, standing. The inside of my friend's cottage, which is full of fascinating kitschy stuff.

Pen on 70# paper.

doodling

Random shapes and textures, using a super pen from JetPens.com. It's a double-ended fiber tip. One end is gray, one is black.

This is in a sketchbook with a spiral, so the scan isn't light-tight. I kept the blue tint and whitened the background.

double reflections

There's a lamp and its reflection in there, and a doubled reflection of the window behind me. Turned out to be a fascinating exercise in subtlety.

Hard charcoal pencil (from Barnes & Noble, the gray ones) on Strathmore drawing paper.

Bakshi and hands

Random sketchbook page. The guy is Ralph Bakshi, film director, being interviewed on TV. He didn't move much, made a perfect model.

Pen on Strathmore drawing paper.

cafe people

Pen in two different sketchbooks, two different days.

icicles blocking my view

Outside the third story window in the back. This picture was taken about 2 weeks ago. The icicles got a lot thicker, then we had some melting last Sunday and we knocked all of these off.

They're growing again . . .