Studio Update: Knits and Paintings

Greetings from The Studio!

In this case, I mean not only my studio, but also our home, recently christened The Studio because of the way my arting space is central in our new place. 

If you've been following the shop or any of my social media, you know a lot of things have happened in the last week or so. Here's an overview of all the latest shop items!

Custom Order Watercolor Painting

 This listing is for one custom order painting from a photograph (or an idea. ie: "I would like a painting of a field and barn." I can make that happen!).

Subjects can include:
Pets
Animals
People (faceless only)
Cityscapes
Landscapes
Homes (or other buildings)
Flowers, trees, etc.

Sizes range from 4x6 inches to 11x14 inches. 

The photos above are examples of the kind of work I can do--I love creating custom paintings!!


Tree of Life Fingerless Gloves
 I have been wearing a pair of these for the past two winters, and I looooove them. I recently worked out a deal with the pattern designer so that I can offer them to YOU in my shop. 

Mine are moss green and knit from wonderful soft wool. But, I can knit them in any number of colors for you! They come in two sizes: S/M and M/L. 
 (Photos courtesy of the wonderful designer, Jenny Williams)

 

Snow Day: A Mixed Media Painting

If y'all have been following the news, we got a lot of snow and ice here in Atlanta this week. 

This piece was inspired by the view outside my new studio. It was also a lovely foray into mixed media art, using permanent pen, watercolor, and oil pastel. It is 12x7 inches. 


Celtic Cable Knitted Mug Cozies

These originated from a custom order, and I loved them so much, that I just had to put them up in my shop.

 

 There are two colors listed, hopefully with more to come soon. If you are just itching for a different color in the meanwhile, all you have to do is ask! 

Last one, y'all:

Kissing Gouramis: Watercolor Pencil Drawing

These fish compete for dominance through lip-locking...

...but I think they're a pretty cute idea for your fish loving honey, too! 

Remember, Valentine's Day is coming! :-) 

Adventure well; Live fully.

HAK

Yarn Review: Darn Good Yarn

Happy Monday, y'all! 


The workday is almost over, and if you're heading home to knit, I want to make sure you know about Darn Good Yarn!

 
Check out this snippet from the DGY website:

"After leaving the Air Force, she decided that she wanted to “unwind” with yarn. In early 2008, Nicole Snow decided to take two of her passions in life—art and helping others—and combine them. The result was “Darn Good Yarn” a yarn and fiber importer, wholesaler, and retailer.
The mission was simple: provide phenomenal quality fibers to enthusiasts, while helping the women of Nepal and India become autonomous and self-reliant."

I learned about DGY shortly after Nicole started her company. I ordered some of their classic recycled sari silk yarn (click here to see how beautiful it is!). I was pretty much in love at first sight. Also, I remember that Nicole wrote me a little thank you note for my order and tucked it in the box. I was floored and delighted. 

Since then, DGY has grown by leaps and bounds, and I love watching it. Their products continue to amaze and delight me. In addition to various forms of yarn, they also have fibers, clothes, accessories, kits, patterns, etc. 

 

So, bound on over to their website to see all their cool stuff and learn more about this awesome company!

Adventure well; Live fully. 
HAK

(click here to see a cowl made of this wonderful yarn in my Etsy shop)




**All photos are from the DGY website.

Seedlings of a Creative Life

"To live a creative life,

we must lose our fear of being wrong."

~Joseph Chilton Pearce

It's an odd and interesting thing to feel oneself transitioning from someone who likes art and does it occasionally to someone who does, pursues, and lives art. 

I have this ideal in my mind of the slightly eccentric, fascinating artist that I want to be. Long hair, cleverly matched (or mismatched) clothes, fun jewelry, the occasional paint smudge. Sketchbook toting, notebook keeping, book-loving, new food cooking, adventurous, traveling... My list could go on and on. After all, I've loved art and admired artists for a long time, so I've had a chance to dream and idealize. 

On the one hand, my ideal can be paralyzing. I fear doing it "wrong." Whatever the heck that means. While I sometimes exemplify parts of my ideal, I don't think I've ever really embodied it. But that's okay--"Life's a journey, not a destination," right? 

But I have to admit, I get really excited when I find myself growing into this graceful, creative being, albeit in very small ways. Little things, like a day of knitting, feel like seedlings of a more creative life. 

That's part of my 2014 blog goal, I guess: to document and share with you the growth of these little seedlings.

Now, that day of knitting I mentioned: Yesterday, I put a halt to everything except hours and hours of knitting. Sure, there was a bit of unpacking from a weekend trip and even some cooking and laundry that "needed" to be done (and today they will be so), but yesterday I indulged in hours of wonderful knitting. In addition to my Tree of Life gloves (warm fingers--finally!), I finished the first of those mug cozies I told you guys about. I'm completely in love.

(I'm working on an order right now before I put any up in the shop, but if you're interested in custom ordering some, let me know!)

Adventure well; Live fully. 

HAK

(Top image from crushculdesac.tumblr.com via Pinterest)

Studio Update: gloves, mug cozies, and cichlids.

Hey y'all!

It's been a good week in my studio, and I wanted to let y'all behind the scenes. 

As y'all know, I drew a lionfish earlier this week. In case you missed it, check out the drawing here. 

It's winter, as even Georgia has been reminding us lately, so I've been knitting lots (as often as I can thaw out my fingers, that is. ha!) 

As posted, I started a new set of gloves for myself. And, TA-DA! The first is finished!!

Must keep knitting. The sooner that second glove is done, the sooner my hands will be warm again!

I've been knitting something else, too. Mug cozies! They're going to be fabulous. 

And, last but not least, another drawing. I'm loving my watercolor pencils. These are Regal Peacock Cichlids, native to Lake Malawi in East Africa. 

 If you want to learn more about this piece, click here to head over to Etsy!

Adventure well; Live fully. 

HAK

Christmas Gloves

Hello, Friends!

My apologies that I've been so MIA! The Hubster and I have been sick, besides being busy having a very lovely Christmas. 

It seems like each winter some item rises above the rest as my most-knit item of the season. For several years when I first started knitting, this was, predictably, scarves. I knit oodles and oodles. 

 

Christmas 2006: lots of scarves!

 This year, though, it's been gloves. Gloves, gloves, and more gloves for about two months. Every now and then I feel a bit sick of them, but everyone who has a pair seems to love them so much (myself included), that I think they really are a worthwhile endeavor. 

So, I'd like to highlight a few pairs I've knit recently. 

First: cotton handwarmers. 

These are ribbed all the way down and have a longer cuff than the ones I've shared with y'all previously. I just sold a tan pair on Etsy, and I knit these for a friend. 

  

Second: Wool Fingerless Gloves. 

These were my mama's Christmas present, and I have to admit that I'm rather proud of them (though all photo credit goes to her and my dad--they sent these lovely pics to me this morning). They're trimmed with mulberry to match her coat. 

Third, and finally, my current project: Tree of Life Fingerless Gloves. 
I knit myself a pair of these two years ago, darned them last winter, but, as the photo shows, they're really in desperate need of replacing. So, I've finally started knitting myself a new pair! 

Love them? Check out the pattern at KnitPicks.

 

Well, there you have it, folks. My glove knitting mania in words and pictures. 

Remember, I love custom orders, so hop on over to my Etsy shop if you have a hankering for a pair of gloves knit just to your fancy! 

Adventure well; Live fully.

HAK

WIPs: More gloves and scarves

Good morning, y'all! Happy Saturday! 

My sweet hubster let me sleep in a bit this morning, and I'm having a late-ish breakfast of pear, double glouchester cheese, and tetley black tea. mmmm. It's so foggy and wet outside, that I can almost believe that I'm in Britain eating my English breakfast. :-) 

It has been far too long since I updated y'all! I promise that my silence does not mean lack of productivity, as I really have been knitting a good bit, in spite of finishing up my senior thesis this week and beginning preparation for finals. 

I have two works in progress at the moment, one for a challenge and one to keep me sane while I work on the other one. 

First up, a chevron-striped, chunky neckwarmer.

This is my challenge project, and, so far, it's just a nub of progress. I'm working off of basic instructions for a chevron seed stitch (see my chevron peter pan collar here to get an idea of the stitch), but I'm attempting to do each chevron in a different color. The result, I hope, will be a chunky single loop neckwarmer with awesome green, blue, and grey chevrons. AND the yarn is made from recycled wool. Awesome? yes. But, these 5 rows (granted, they were the "getting started" rows which are always the "worst") took well over an hour, so we'll see if I survive. Did I mention that, at last count, I have 8 strands of "live" yarn to keep track of. Madness. 

(Sidenote: see how kinky that one knitting needle in the above picture is? That's the pair of needles that I learned to knit on--9 years ago! Those needles have knit more scarves than I can count, and, well, they might have been sat on along the way...)   

 Next up: more handwarmers!

A couple of things sets these apart from the others I've made recently. 

1. These are 100% pima cotton. Sensitive skin? Warmer climate? These are perfect for you. This cotton is unbelievably soft. 

2. CHUNKY. The others have been with finer yarn and smaller needles. This is a chunky thick-thin yarn (the same ones I use for my washcloths. Check those out here.) knit on wonderful size 11 DPNs. This is such a quick project compared to the other stuff I've been doing! 

3. Length. These fit from above the wrist down to your knuckles. It's like a fluffy hand hug!

Now, lest you be anxious about the rather wobbly appearance of this yarn when it's just lying flat, here's what these look like on:

Chunky, cozy, wonderful. :D 

Already in love? These should be up on Etsy in the next couple of days. As always, I'll let you know when they go up via Facebook and Twitter (all the info for that is over on the right and toward the top. ---> )

And, FINALLY, in case you missed it on Facebook and Twitter, I have to show y'all the WIP that we had the guessing game about!

I was knitting a women's headband/earwarmer that matches the teal tweed handwarmers!

This tweed headband/earwarmer is knit with wool in a fairly fine stitch. The first third or so is knit in horizontal rib, which gives the headband some nice stretch. It then switches to stockinette stitch, finishing in an arrow shape, and connecting with 3 bobbly, faux-leather buttons. I think it's both classic and funky, and I have to admit that I'm rather proud of it. :-) 

Love it? Check it out on Etsy by clicking HERE.   
Interested in the handwarmers, too? Those are here.

Thanks for reading, y'all-- I'll be better about blogging, promise! :-) 

Adventure well; Live fully. 

HAK

WIP: Handwarmers and...

If y'all have been following my Facebook and Twitter, you know I've been knitting handwarmers like it's my job. Oh, wait--it is! I have the coolest job ever! My most recent pair of handwarmers was a special order. I had a week to knit, and yet, somehow so much time slipped away from me, so I had one night and a whole glove to week. Stress story? No, not really. I knit for several hours last night while watching Burn Notice with the Hubster (and eating Mojo Burrito queso. yummmm.). This morning I got up early to finish up. I thought I'd be groggy and a bit resentful at myself for not knitting up sooner, but I really enjoyed my early morning knit session--hot tea, my quillow, and yummy tweed yarn (tweed is the best, for the record). As it turns out, I had a fabulous Wednesday, and I think it's at least partially due to such a lovely start to my day. 

Just look at that tweed: 

Click here to see these on Etsy. :-)

You can probably tell that I like tweed. In fact, I loved this yarn so much, that I started a new WIP with it. Here's a sneak peak (don't worry, I have more yarn): 

 You guys want a challenge? First person to guess what this project will be wins a coupon code for 20% off any purchase of $25 or more in my Etsy shop! Here are the rules: Leave your guess in the comment section below, and be sure to leave your email address so I can send you the code if you win. Check back frequently--I'll announce the winner as soon as we have one! Spread the word, and start guessing--the coupon expires 1 week from today (November 27)!

Adventure well; Live fully.

HAK