Discovering My Faults

Hello and welcome back! If any of you are still reading, hopefully this post will help you realize that knitting is harder than one might think!

I have heard it said that a truly accomplished person must also be humble and aware of their weaknesses. Apparently I am not accomplished enough, as I like to ignore any weaknesses I may have! Forge ahead, I am a strong woman! I can do anything!

Well it has recently come to my attention that I need to (maybe) take a knitting class. I love to knit, I am self taught (with the help of my accomplished late Grandmother), and I make one hell of a childrens knitted hat! (see my post on the animals hats, they are really adorable, I swear!). Well, in trying to make a hat for myself (an adult) I thought it would be oh so simple! Well, it is not. And apparently I can only really make baby hats because the hat I have started will only really fit my 6 month old niece.

Here is said hat <-- In the photo it may look almost normal sized...but it is about the size of my fist...

This realization is quite frustrating. And in all honesty, I have no idea WHY my hat is the size of a small soccer ball? I added stitches, enough to make one think that an adult size hat would be possible. I may need bigger knitting needles? But that makes me hesitant as I like a tight and uniform knit (larger needles may create bigger holes in my knitting? I am not sure about this, but it seems logical in my head.)

I guess that is all for now...hopefully I can figure out these knitting issues. Stay tuned for a normal, adult human size hat!!

In Home Art Lessons!

Hey Everyone!

So, in response to some recommendations as to what I should do with my life (I feel like I am still 18 years old trying to figure out what to do for the summer...) I have decided to try my hand at teaching art! While I have no formal art teacher training (I am sure people go to school for that, right?) I do have a LOT of babysitting training as well as art experience. So I have decided to put these two talents to good use and teach art lessons to kids.

I have recently been volunteering in the art studio's at the Portland Children's Museum helping the kiddos discover their own creativity. This "job" if you will has been so much fun and is quite rewarding in ways I would have never expected! Seeing the kids get so excited about their projects and helping them to make things from bird feeders, to space ships, to doll houses is really neat for me.

In this spirit of creativity I have posted a craigslist ad for my services! (I am not sure how long this link will work for, but if you are interested in any way please feel free to comment or email me!) So far I haven't had any response, but I think that with the onset of summer that these sessions might become slightly more popular?

I am open to comments, art lessons, book recommendations, or donations of supplies (I am very into recycled art right now....as a few of my posts below suggest).

When The Cat's Away!

This week has been exceptionally productive. I have found that being unemployed while having your best friend (and live-in boyfriend) 2,000 miles across the Pacific Ocean makes for one lonely week! I have had a lot of alone time on my hands and while knitting my heart out (trying to get things done for my niece soon to be born into the Love family!) I decided to take advantage of the warm weather and get some painting done. The background story of my artistic streak starts a long time ago...all the way back to a freakishly warm and sunny day in early February. S. and I took a lovely walk up to Mt. Tabor park to take advantage of the 69 degrees and lack of clouds in the sky! While S. read his "History of Basketball" book I was busy lying in the grass trying to take a nap. But on such a beautiful day, napping just wasn't coming easily to me.


Instead, I used my handy dandy camera phone to snap these worms-eye view photos of the luscious park grass while enjoying the sunshine. (Yes, those are S.'s pants in the background...he is so big, it would be hard for a worm to miss him!)

While the photos I took are obviously taken with a camera phone, I found the remnants of that beautiful day to be quite inspiring when trying to use up the acrylic paints in my art supply box. The subject matter may be very simple but this was one of the most fun paintings I have done lately! (well, I guess it is my only painting as of late) I think the fact that I was able to sit out on our patio while painting it has something to do with the amount of fun had while spending the afternoon painting!

Oh, and something only slightly related: The Golden Artist Colors paint brand has recently developed a line of acrylic paints that stay liquid for longer! Now this might not seem like such a great invention, considering the invention of acrylic paint in the first place. But this means that you can now spend the afternoon painting your perfect worms-eye view of the grass OUTSIDE without your paint forming an impenetrable skin forcing you to mix more paint from the tube!

Anger Issues or Art?

Smashing bottle caps is more difficult than it is fun. In my attempt to begin a recycled art project I collected lots of bottle caps. Mostly (okay, who am I kidding? ALL) of which are from S. and my own various beer consumption (the ghetto Fred Meyer by our apartment has a surprising wide selection of various local and seasonal beers...guess that's Portland for ya!). I tried attaching these eclectically colorful bottle caps simply haphazardly to my plywood board with the golden "x" but it just didn't speak to me...well, the bottle caps didn't speak to me (that golden "x" speaks to me even in my sleep!). So, I decided to flatten them, and maybe (oooh just go with me on this one) overlap them? in a sort of collage looking effect?? But it is very difficult!

Have you ever tried to (with a clean effect) flatten a bottle cap? I tried just hitting them with a hammer, but that proved to leave me with caps that had more creases and crinkles than the corners of my eyes (yes, I am getting old)! So then I had to very carefully hammer the edges, and then very carefully flatten the center to get my desired effect. Now, although it worked out in the end...after just 3 bottle caps and I came out of my craft room with several sore fingers and probably several sore neighbors (fyi: hammering is loud) almost an entire hour later!

Time for a break! So I decided to be my lazy artist self and walk down to the corner coffee shop for an iced americano and some cover letter writing.

My lesson today is this: find a more productive way of flattening bottle caps...suggestions??

"X" Marks The Spot

While trying to fill up my spare time with art projects and household tasks has been successful, I have recently discovered that I need to get out of the apartment. So now, every Wednesday, you will find me at the Portland Children's Museum volunteering my time to help the kiddo's create amazing art projects and watching them as they discover their very own creativity. While there I have been spending time in what they call the Garage Studio, which is a studio with recycled materials for art projects that the kids can make. Spending time there has gotten me thinking about using recycled materials for my own art projects. So much so that I have begun to collect objects for a potential art project.


I most recently found this beauty on the side of the street! It is just a large piece of partical board with a giant gold "X" spray painted into it but isn't it gorgeous?! And someone wanted to throw it away! I practically begged S. to haul it home for me...

And now I have been collecting all sorts of objects to start a potential recycled art project! Starting with beer caps, old bus passes, concert tickets. I just can't get enough! But now I am at the point where I just don't know how to start? I have all these things but I love that gold "X" don't you?

So here comes the fun part! Since it is a recycled project I was hoping to get everyone's input! What do you think I should do with this board?? I need your creative input!

Lions and Tigers and Bear(hats), Oh My!

So in light of my failure to spent my free time (due to unemployment) in any sort of creative way for me to post here (its hard to be motivated with no heat and no unemployment money - none yet, at least) I have decided to give you a little taste of my knitting abilities. Because my last post touched on a very grainy photo of my boyfriend's niece and nephew wearing some adorable hats I made them, I thought maybe I would show off some better pictures of the rest of my animal hat repertoire!

These hats are infant sized, which I made for the birth of my own nephew over a year ago:


I also made an infant hat of a frog for a co-worker, but I forgot to take a photo of it, and I have to say that is was not one of my best (I gave myself an impossible timeline...). So I just thought I would share these cute little jewels, I am really starting to enjoy the production of animal hats. They are adorable and it is so much fun when they turn out how I want them too...I mean, just look at that duck above, isn't he just the most precious hat ever? (it helps that my nephew is by far the cutest kid ever, he is a good children's hat model for me!)

I'm Back!

Hello! I am so so sorry for the very long hiatus! I was busy being very important, then subsequently being unemployed, and then enjoying that by going on a tropical vacation! Since the month of December was so busy for me, productivity has been down. I have a couple of photos to share with everyone in order to pass the time (and get you ready for the coming months in which my productivity will skyrocket - hopefully)

By popular request, here is a photo of my first sewing project: The Tablecloth (yes, I have officially named it, I am a girl, everything needs a name)














Next (and I am so sorry for the horrible resolution, the photo was sent to me via text message) are the very fun and creative winter hats I made for my boyfriend's niece and nephew. If you cannot tell, the nephew got a bear and the niece got a black cat. I actually really love these hats, and maybe in the coming weeks I can get a better photo of them. But here they are looking so totally adorable (I am talking about both the hats and the kids!).



If anyone is interested in some animal hats for themselves, or those they love, feel free to comment here or send me a message! I recently have a lot of free time on my hands and could probably make most animals within a couple of weeks!