Yarn Up!

You know that I always say that I'm a big yarn-big needles kind of knitter. Well, the Limited Edition Wingspan shawl I just finished was knitted in fingering weight yarn (the bottom one in the picture and the second smallest size of yarn there is) on size US4 needles. Then on Saturday I cast on a Toe Cap using worsted weight yarn (the middle and most common size) on size US8 needles. This evening I succumbed to temptation and cast on an Ara Cashmere Cap in kind of super bulky weight yarn (the top one and the thickest yarn that I made up by holding bulky and worsted strands together) on size US13 needles. The size 4s felt like toothpicks in my hands, the size 8s feel normal, and the size 13s feel like fence posts. Who says knitting isn't an adventure?

I gave in to temptation and taped a smaller piece of watercolor paper to my board and tried my hand at the bigger floral painting that was yesterday's Daily Practice. I'm much happier with today's effort and might just do it again on a postcard. Lately I've been thinking of getting back to painting on a postcard every day. Maybe.

 

Today's Daily Practice was another Contour Play where you sketch without peeking at what your pencil is doing. I did a little better today. Then we painted the same plant this time looking at what you were doing. Once again I like the loose and free style of the painting I made. I'm still not sure about the marks that I make following her directions to add accents with watercolor pencils or maybe I'm picking the wrong colored pencil.

The next bird in Draw Like an Artist was a Warbler. I don't know if I've ever seen a Warbler at the feeders but I like the way this bird turned out. Even its feet look bird-like.

Speaking of birds there was a lot of activity at the feeders this morning. A flock of Mourning Doves was pecking through the rabbit raisins under the round feeder while a pair of Sparrows flung seed down on them but the coolest picture is the one I lucked into of a House Finch coming into a landing at the platform feeder. You can see that the snow is starting to melt in squirrel footprints on the hill at the back of the yard in the sunny days we've been having. We had a mix of sun and clouds today. I don't mind that so much as the all-over clouds that we had almost all of January.

I added a few rounds to the Toe Cap last night and tonight. I really like the colors and the way they're stacking up.

Then here's the ribbing of the new Ara Cashmere Cap I cast on tonight after texting with DD about the difference in feel of knitting needle sizes. I don't know why that made me itch to start a hat, but it did, so I did. I had a ball of yarn that I wanted to use but it was about 10 grams short of what I needed so I had to scrounge around for a reasonable substitute for that yarn but I lucked out and found some of the same yarn in a different color in a bag in the "leftovers" bin. Woohoo! I'm hoping that I can knit a hat and run out of hat and yarn at about the same time. It won't happen but I can hope.

I tried my hand at the first animal in 10-Steps Drawing: Animals this afternoon. It's a cheetah. I'm happy with the way the body and legs turned out but I think that the head is too small. Although I know that cheetahs have a small head I think that this one is just a little out of proportion. Ah well, not bad for a first stab at the animals book.

Today was the monthly St. Agnes Class of '65 lunch at Applebees. I had my usual, a chicken quesadilla. It's from the appetizer menu and I can't imagine then having a lunch afterward although maybe you're supposed to share the quesadilla with your tablemates. It's tasty and satisfying and it doesn't come with fries so I can eat it all, skip supper, and feel like I didn't blow WW too bad.

--Barbara