hello september...

august has passed and it did so rather quietly. that is always a blessing to me. i think we might even be making friends, august and i.

we spent the month with long walks, lots of moon gazing, garden tending, painting and even a finished knitting project.

i woke this morning to very chilly winds and it was a wonderful way to start the morning off with a walk.  i even had to wear my hoodie. :-)

september is here and i am excited.  i love that we are closer to sweater wearing and cozy candle light evenings. color changing and falling leaves, apple everything and, of course, pumpkins. 

what do you love about september?

thanks for being here...

love & magicks

~*~

ps...i won't be around much in september as i have some things happening and will be offline. (everything is fine)  i'll be back soon as i can. xo

 

just a little bit of...

the days have gone by in a blur. i've been keeping busy with painting, knitting, garden time, and riding the doombus. (doombus is what i call doomstash busting)

i've been figuring out how to save seeds from the lone sunflower that bloomed this year. and thanks to Heather at northridgefarm (site is down so can't link) i've been harvesting my first ever grown celery and dehydrating it for use in soups and stews over the winter.  it never would have occurred to me to do that.

anywho...i finished my shawl!  i still need to give it a soak and block then weave in the ends.  but it feels SOOOOO good to have finished a knit that i've had on the needles for two(+?) years? i'm sure i'll share a photo once it is blocked.

that's pretty much what is going on around here. i'm uncovering all kinds of things during my doombus rides and it is giving me all kinds of ideas.

well...i hope to be back again in a day or so.  

thanks for being here...

love & magicks

~*~

 

fade in and out...

i started my day in the studio just as the sun was coming up.  i spent a lot of time watching these shadows fade in and out as the clouds passed in front of the sun.

yesterday i was able to get to the grocer.  i only had a small panic attack while out.  but i made it through and got what i needed.  one thing not on the list were these tulips.  i added them to my hearth altar for imbolc and bridget.

i finally picked my tegna sweater back up and started working on it again.  i'm back to a forward motion instead of backward.  but i'm stuck again.  i'm looking for a simple pattern to use some of the yarn i've acquired from a few wool clubs from wild_inthe_woods. Sirena's instagram account is stunningly beautiful.

i'm thinking scarf and i think i've found a simple knit that i will like.  i need something to work on that is not so complicated to build up my confidence, i think. so i may try that.  if i do, i'm sure i'll share here. 

i've managed to go for a few walks over the last several days.  it's been quite cold but if i bundle up i'm alright.

well...just wanted to pop in and say hello.

thanks for reading...

love, kisses & magical wishes...

~*~
 

 

learning to be ok with mistakes...

somehow, in my childhood, the need to be perfect and to accomplish things perfectly was ingrained in me.  whenever i try to do something, be it bake a cake, clean the house, garden or knit a sweater, i expect myself to do it with ease and have it turn out perfectly.

yeah...

this need to be perfect is something i've been working on for a while now.  i'm learning to be okay with making mistakes and having to redo/restart something.  

this sweater is really teaching me this lesson.

yesterday, most of the day was spent working on the sweater and feeling so good about my progress and how i might even finish it in time for autumn weather.   seeing as i started it exactly two years ago today, it is definitely time to get it done.

just a little bit ago, after my morning walk and an hour and half in the garden, i decided it was knitting time.  i picked up my instructions to check my progress and then started to knit.  but something caught my attention and i thought a should re-check.  

see it's been bothering me for a few days that i think i'm running out of yarn before i finish.  well...

turns out, i'd started working on the front, but i did it on the back.  uh huh... brilliant, right?

in the photo above, the white line marks the approximate area that i should have turned and moved to the front instead of continuing to knit on the back.  

so now, i've got to frog (undo) that section and learn how to undo bind off stitches...

needless to say, i'm a bit frustrated, but i'm trying hard NOT to beat myself up or call myself names.  

it's okay to have to undo and pick up again.  it doesn't really matter how long it takes me to complete this sweater.  it is for me, and i can wear it whenever i finish it.

these are the things i tell myself, when what i really want to do is rail at myself and cry...

but i'm okay.  and i'm okay with needing to undo, it will give me practice on the different stitches.

i'm putting it aside for a day or so and switching to a different project.

today's life lesson is: being perfect, isn't possible.  and it would be completely boring if it was...

and also, it's okay to make mistakes

so tell me, what lessons is life teaching you right now?

thanks for stopping in for a read...

love & blessings

~*~ 

 

creative a.d.d.

 

hello, i'm laura and i have creative a.d.d.

those photos are of aspects of six different projects i'm currently working on.

my creativity is constantly giving me ideas and inspiration and i have trouble saying not now.  i also have trouble with things i'm not used to doing (ie: learning new things) which is something i'm trying to change.

those six different projects, that's just the start.  there is also the gardening, the baking, the woodworking, the papier-mache, the clay sculpting, the sewing and more.

i know, if i could focus on just one thing at a time, i'd get a lot done.  these things were all started at various times, some as long as three years ago and the most recent was december 2019.

the photos above are all w.i.p.s. and i love them all.  i never know what i'm going to feel like working on or what my body/brain limits are going to be each day so it's good to have variety.  this week the sweater seems to have my attention, but while i'm knitting and purling there are all kinds of ideas stewing in my head about things i want to try.

i've been working my way through "The Artist's Way", a book about creative recovery by Julia Cameron.  one of the things i've found out about myself is that i'm terrified to try new things. so i set a goal for myself to try two new things (that i've never done/made/etc) each month.  last month was just one, i was more than halfway through the month when i set this goal, which was to learn to use my dehydrator.  i know, that doesn't seem like an art goal.  but for me it is, as it is trying something i was afraid to do.  (i don't know why i was afraid of my dehydrator, i'm also afraid to use my food processor, so...)

i had some moderate success with the dehydrator, and am ready to try again.

that's the point i'm trying to teach myself, to try...

so...creative a.d.d. and sometimes creative a.d.H.d. when an urge hits and i work on something non-stop until it is done.  it happens, occasionally.  

do you have any creative blocks? do you jump from thing to thing?  how do you approach trying something new?

thanks for stopping by for a read...

love & blessings

~*~

 

 

an fo...

Just a short post today to share a finished knitting project.  This is the third Scoreboard I've knitted.  This is the 2.0 version and from the Steelers 2018-19 season.  

I'm probably not going to do one this coming football season. My plan when I started the very first one, was to knit one for each of us in my family.  There are four of us, so I would knit one each for four seasons.  

However...the first one I knit, I ended up using the wrong size needles by accident and used the wrong weight yarn and it was H...U..G..E...HUGE!  My brother is over 6 ft and it hung down to his knees wrapped twice around his neck.  That was also the first version, where you knit one row for every point scored.  In the 2.0 version, you knit 2 rows for every score.  So, if the team scores a touchdown (and extra point) that is 7 points.  In version 1 - that would be seven rows, in version 2, just 2 rows.  

Anywho...I'm planning to keep a log of the scores and the next season that they win a superbowl, I'll knit one for my brother to replace the first one.  And eventually, I'll knit one for me.  The second one I knit went to my sis-in-law and this one to my mum.  

Now that the scoreboard is done, I can refocus on the Tegna sweater I've started and frogged and started and frogged, etc... several times.  I would really like to get a good start on it before the middle of August.  I have a big trip coming up (more on that later) and it would be a good project to have with me for hotel room knitting.

That's it for today.  The past two weeks I was working on a big project around the house and it finally caught up to me.  Yesterday was a REALLY bad headache day and today is only slightly better.   At least I have Wimbledon (on mute) on the telly.

thanks for stopping by to read...
love & blessings
~*~

Hello...

Hi.  

I've been meaning to get here for so long now.  I'll think of something I want to write about and then the next thing I know it's 6 or 7 hours later and I've completely forgotten what I wanted to post.  I don't know how time passes so quickly.  If I worked, or had a family to take care of, then I could understand not posting often.  Looking back, I posted a lot more when I was working.  Weird.

The photos above are a few snippets of my autumn.  I know Winter doesn't officially begin here until December 21st, but I always feel like winter starts around the end of November.  

I haven't really been doing much the last few months.  (Except for that little Halloween party.)  We had Thanksgiving here this past Saturday.  I'm still cleaning the kitchen.  It amazes me it takes 3 days to prepare and less than an hour to eat.  At least there are lots of leftovers. :-)

I've been knitting a bit.  I started the Tegna sweater back in September and have had to frog and re-cast on about a dozen times.  It's my first adult sized sweater and includes some lace patterning, which I've never done before.  I'm not giving up.  I'm going to keep trying until I get it right.  I'm currently in the need to cast on phase again.  Maybe this week.  

Still knitting on the Steelers Scoreboard for this season.  It's coming along nicely.

I've had a request from my brother to paint something for him.  I'm still in the mulling it over in my mind stage.  I'd probably best get on it though, since it's less than a month until that big gift holiday day.  

Well, that's all I have for today.  Hopefully I'll be back soon.  

What has your Autumn been like?

Thanks for stopping by for a read!
blessings
~*~



 

FO - round 2...

Yes!  Another Finished Object! Wooohoooo!!

It only took me 2 years 6 months and 6 days, but hey...it's something completed.  Once I finished the last scoreboard, something in me just wanted to finish this throw.  It helped that I've had Shark Week to keep me entertained and glued to my chair this week.  

The throw ended up being a little longer than called for, but I'm okay with that!

I have nothing on my needles right now.  That's a weird feeling.  I did order yarn for a new project.  Do you remember the movie Sweet November?  There is a shawl that Charlize Theron wears that I've always loved.  I found on Ravelry a pattern for it, but it's in French and crochet! 

Well, I used Google to translate the pattern words.  There is a diagram too but since I don't know how to crochet (despite my trying to teach myself with the raggedy crochet practice blanket) it feels quite daunting.  If anyone out there knows of a knitted version or can help me figure out the crochet, please let me know!  The yarn arrived yesterday and I'm excited to get started.  :-)

Wouldn't you know, just now I went to a different screen to find a pic of the shawl to share here and found a knitted pattern on Ravelry.  Maybe I'll have some more knitting to share in a few weeks.  :-)

Today is the full moon with a lunar eclipse.  Don't do anything I wouldn't do!  ;-)

Hope you have a great weekend!

thanks for stopping in for a read...
love & blessings
~*~
 

FO...finally!

I finally finished last season's Steelers Scoreboard.  It only took me 10 months and 9 days.  :-/  

I'm just glad to be done now, because football season starts next month.  

My plan is to make one for each of my family, so I need four.  The first one I did a few years ago, was made using the wrong weight yarn and the wrong size needles and ended up being HUGE!  I'd made it for my brother so that was okay because he's a pretty tall guy.

I plan to give this one to my SIL and the next to my mum.  

I'm excited to get back to working on my Lake Country Throw.  I'm going to try to finish it before football season starts.  

Have you finished any projects lately?

thanks for stopping in for a read, 
love & blessings
~*~

little things...

Little things that make me happy...

playing in a homemade art journal for the first time...

a basket full of art papers (many of them I've made)...

experimenting with new mediums (brusho crystals)...

being happy with how a little journal girl turns out...

finding small ways to honor those important to me....

These are kind of behind the scene images that have happened around here over the last couple of months.  Last week and this have been filled with Wimbledon, catching up on The Originals, watching Justice League (finally!), playing around on Ancestry again,  and trying to finish a knitting project (last season's Steeler Scoreboard) that I need to get done before football starts in a month.  Yep, football starts next month...hard to believe.

Anywho, I've been wanting to get here, but I swear time just disappears on me.  


Now I'm off to work on my knit and watch more tennis. I'm hoping to get back in my studio soon.

Tell me, are there little things that make you happy?  

thanks for stopping in for a read, 
love & blessings
~*~

wips and an fo...

I've been trying to keep busy.  I find that the more my hands are busy, the more productive I feel.  Feeling productive seems to be becoming more important to me every day.  I guess I'm tired of feeling like I'm just wasting space in this world.

Anywho, the last couple of weeks, the cognitive difficulties I've been experiencing for the past couple of years has become worse.  I was knitting away on the Lake Country Throw and all of a sudden, I couldn't remember what to do next.  I sat there looking at the needles and yarn feeling as if it was the first time I'd ever picked them up.  I kept thinking and concentrating.  Trying to figure out what to do next.  When I finally started again, I messed everything up.  But, of course!  I ended up having to pull out several rows and ended up stopping it at a place that I'm not sure exactly how to pick it back up.  I'm terribly afraid I'm going to have to frog the whole thing and start all over.  

 Lake Country Throw before my mix up

My other big knitting project is the Scoreboard that I started last September.  I finished it just a week before the new NFL season started.  I was shocked at just how big it turned out.  When I tried it on it almost smothered me.  Luckily, my brother, whom I made it for, is much taller than I am and when I gave it to him, it didn't look bad at all.  He really liked it, which pleased me no end.   

Completed Steelers Scoreboard 2015-2016 season

I enjoyed it so much I decided to do another one (there are four of us in our family that would wear them) and also planned to do one for the Tarheels season.  When I went to start the new one I found out why it turned out so big.  I'd used the wrong size needles!  Yep, I have NO IDEA how I ended up doing that but it's what happened.  

Anyway, I procured the correct size needles and started working on my Tarheel Scoreboard (the 2.0 version). Unfortunately, I ran into the same problem I had with my LCT above.  So, I frogged it (hadn't even finished knitting the first game) and am planning to start again.  I've decided to order the recommended yarn (which I didn't use for the Steelers Scoreboard, nor for the Tarheel Scoreboard) so that should help with size issues, etc.  

While I wait for the yarn, I'll keep recording the scores and go back to working on the LCT.  I guess all I can do is to keep trying.  I've become very proficient in balancing my kindle while knitting so I can watch you tube videos to help when I get stuck.  Somehow, I'll figure it out.  (fingers crossed!)

Well, that's what is happening around here.  Do you have any projects going on?  Yarn related or otherwise?  I'd love to hear about them.

thanks for stopping by!
love & blessings
~*~

Creative Everyday check in

Despite feeling like I do nothing but exercise, drive back and forth to the Y, and fix/eat food all day long, I have managed to do something creative every single day.  Some days it is more than one thing.

The above mixed media piece is inspired from a dream I had.  The last words I saw/heard in the dream and the feelings they invoked.  I'm still working on my a face a day project, sometimes using photos as guides.

 Day 15, 16 (first time playing with watercolor) and 17.

 Day 18, 19 and 20 (from a photo I took of an actor on TV).

 Day 21 (another from a photo), 22 and 23.  I haven't done the one for today yet.

After finishing the shrug, I was ready to start something that I've had in my queue for a few years. The Lake Country Throw looks like it isn't too complicated but has some new stitches for me to learn.  A bonus is that I love this yarn (James C. Brett Marble Chunky), it is amazingly soft for a 100% acrylic yarn.

Well, that is what I've been up to.  How has your creative week been?

thanks for stopping by!
love & blessings
~*~

Creative Everyday check in

I thought it was time for a Creative Everyday check in post.  Above you can see days 5 through 14 of my A Face A Day endeavor.  I post the individual photo on Instagram each day, but I wanted to share them here, as well.

I've also been doing a lot of knitting.  I finally sat down with my shrug to seam it and finish it off.

 Here it is, all finished.  Please excuse the lighting and the model's expression, she was really tired and she hates having her picture taken.  teehee

I'm working hard on getting caught up on my Scoreboard knit.  I've almost finished week 14.  So I'm only 4 games behind.  Once I'm caught up, I plan to start this throw.  I've been wanting to make it for a few years and finally feel like I can do it.  

That's about it for what I've been doing creatively every day.  What creative things have you been up to this week?

Thanks for stopping by!
love & blessings
~*~

keeping busy...

Today has been quiet.  I took a nice walk this morning on a new route.  This one keeps me mostly out of the traffic and is along a nice quiet road.  There is a large section of land that is like a rolling field.  I wish I could go out there and just lie in that field and watch the clouds roll by.  If I knew who owned it I might would ask permission to do just that.  Oh well...

I spent the rest of the day, bouncing between painting and knitting.  I took that canvas from earlier in the month and changed it up with new color.  As I added it, an image came to me and I knew what I wanted to paint.  It's not done, as I've run into a bit of a problem.

 The previous colors of the canvas (the orangey) is bleeding through turning the white to a very light peach-ish color.  I put about four coats of gesso on the canvas before I started adding the blue.  There is at least three layers of blue and then I started the actual image.  I'm not sure how to fix it so may have to start this on a clean canvas and then do something different with this one.  :-/

 

Scoreboard is coming along.  I'm a week behind, but this is our bye week, so I'll catch up before the next game on the 29th.

I'm starting to think about Thanksgiving plans.  I'm hosting again this year.  I've planned the meal and ordered the turkey, now I need to figure out the schedule for prep. I can't believe that it is only a week away.  Time is just streaming by, isn't it?

What have you been up to today?

thanks for stopping by!
love & blessings
~*~