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Yesterday I started my Fall line for Tweedy Crab. My poor little shop on etsy has been empty for too long! The theme is going to be CABLES. Yes, they're fiddly to knit. But look at them! They're worth the bother. You really do have to concentrate though, I will say. No wandering thoughts, or you'll end up with bits crossed the wrong way and an ugly mess.

This is one repeat of this pattern. Multiply this by 12, and we'll have a scarf I think.
I have an idea for lining these scarves with wool or some other fabric, but am afraid it will make them cost prohibitive. Maybe I'll do a few and see what happens. I'm torn between wanting to do all 'high end' pieces, and doing pieces that regular people can afford. I'm afraid my tastes run to 'high end', but there's a good practical side of me as well, so I'll try to make them work together and hopefully will have something for everyone.


This is a new Debbie Mumm yarn that I couldn't pass up in the shop. Its acrylic and wool and wee bit of "other", which will remain a mystery I guess. It does have a bit of stretch to it, which I'm guessing is the mystery "other" ingredient. Its gradated, as you can see, and is wonderfully soft, and really yummy (or I wouldn't be bothering with it). I usually don't like yarns that are mostly acrylic, (translation = "cheap") like those "buy it by the pound" jumbo skeins ~ you know the ones I'm talking about. Euw, cooties. I only use better yarn that feels nice and looks expensive (and sometimes IS, very).

There was a cute little old lady in the shop while I was buying this. She had a bag with an almost-done sweater that she'd run out of the yarn for. She was trying to match it, and had a skein that was close but not it, and wondered if I could help her. I did, and she was lucky, we found the perfect match! She was so grateful and wanted to repay me, it was very sweet. I said just knowing she'd wouldn't be walking around in a sweater with mismatched yarns was payment enough, but no, she insisted on telling me a joke, if I'd like to hear it. So here goes:

Dolly Parton and Queen Elizabeth are at the Pearly Gates.
St. Peter greets them, and says "There's only room for one of you."
Dolly struts up to him with her famous chest stuck out.
Then Queen Elizabeth, who has brought her commode with her (?) sits, and flushes.
St. Peter says "OK Your Highness, you're in!"
Dolly protests, and he tells her "Sorry Dolly, but a Royal Flush always beats a Pair, no matter how big."

Its cuter told with a little old lady acting it out, but it made me laugh!

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This is an amazing toothpick sculpture of San Francisco and surrounding areas.
(It won Best of Show in the fair last year ~ the newspaper is running this story today, not sure why, but no matter.)



Talk about patience! It took him 40 years to make this! And the accompanying article in the newspaper says he's been offered as much as $40,000 for it, but he won't sell it. Good for him.

I'd love to be this obsessed with something creative. But I think I'd want to be gettin' paid for it.

I'm working on a bunch of stuff right now; some knitting, and some tests with colored pencils. I'm thinking "Fall" for my knitting already. I'm finally getting smart, instead of waiting until October. (I should also be thinking about Christmas ~ and it isn't even the first day of Summer yet!)

As for the colored pencils ~ it involves a bottle of baby oil. And that's all I'll say for now. I'll leave you wondering...

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More with the rendering from yesterday ~

Here I worked on the the tower. Its black, but also not black. Depending on what photo I look at, its grey, black or dark brown, thanks to the lighting. So I used a combination of Paynes Grey and an Indigo and Dark Greys as well as actual black on it.

Did a little more. Actually, got it pretty much done, then moved on down to the part on the bottom. Now I'm working from left to right and top to bottom, trying not to smear it.

And here it is done, and cropped. I got lazy about getting up to scan it more. My butt was very well glued to the chair, and every time I get up to scan I end up reading email and wasting time, so I just stayed in the chair and finished!

I blurred the signage. Its a restaurant, I can tell you that. The sign was a little challenging to render, since its a really fancy custom typface, and is done pretty small (the whole size of this, finished, is 6 x 10 inches.)


As always, I took out all the ugly street signs, and this time also took out an air shaft or duct of some kind that was running down the side of the building.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. If it was bigger, or for a different application (like an architectural presentation or a commissioned 'portrait' of the building by the owner) I would have handled things differently. But since it will print small in a magazine, this is what is required, so this is what I do.

Anyway, on to the next thing!
I need to work on my poor little knitting shop ~ it could use some freshening up and some new pieces. It will be a challenge to decide what to knit now that the weather is warming up. Thinking cap time...

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