Introducing "These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things"

I've decided, in an attempt to get back to this blogging-with-some-frequency thing, to start a new section, entitled "These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things" (original, I know). These will be posts, at least three times a week, in which I will post a photo of something I love - anything that is inspiring me or making me happy that day. Today's is this wonderful throw pillow I received for Christmas! I've been lying on it to study, and it's super comfy as well as gorgeous. I don't know where it is from - maybe Pier 1?



XOXOXO,
Crystal Nicole

Finished at last, Sylvi Evenstar!

That's right! I have finally finished my (sort of) Lord of the Rings-inspired Sylvi. I am so pleased with it. It looks very like I imagined when I was planning it, which is a rarity for me. The photos are not very good - I took them with a self-timer, after my boyfriend reported seeing snakes in the yard (I hate snakes!), and it was really, really hot and bright outside. But, here is me modeling my Sylvi.






If you are familiar with the pattern, you'll notice quite a few changes. The front of the original design was just too plain for me, and I'd been researching Arwen's Chase Dress from LotR (someday I will make it). So, naturally both the edges of the coat and the collar are inspired by that dress. Then I decided that I may as well do the petal sleeves. I also added a bit of waist shaping as I've never had good luck with A-lines (I know they are supposed to be universally flattering but I've never liked anything with an A-line). In retrospect, I probably would have left the A-line as it would have left more room in the back for my flowers and might have even been more flattering, but I'm ok with it as is. I didn't make any large flowers (well I MADE three of them, but I didn't USE any). The back is all small flowers, and the front is a small flower knit with only one strand of yarn. (BTW, this is knit using Wool of the Andes, held double). The trim is Paton's, originally in natural but hand-dyed by me to a silvery-lavender. I added pockets to the sides (although I wish they were deeper). I initially planned to line it, but right now I don't see the need to. I may later. The clasps I originally bought, while very "elven" were too small, so I bought these findings and used jump rings to attach the original clasps onto the findings to make them larger. And of course, I have a love affair with pretty glass buttons, and I used quite a few of them, as centers for my flowers and to hold my petal sleeves together (as those sleeves wouldn't be very practical for a sweater coat otherwise). Obviously the color is less Tolkien-inspired, and actually more What Dreams May Come-inspired, but I think it's still appropriate for the elves.

(Sorry to turn on the word verification, but I was starting to get lots of spam comments. While I loooove to get comments from people, comments from "bots" are quite unwelcome. But real people, please comment although the annoying word verification is now activated!)

Also, I'm going in costume to Mardi Gras next year, I think. I am going to start planning that soon.

Finally, I'm looking to pick up a few new things. I want Anthropologie-esque style but at a more affordable price. Does anyone know of sites offering this? I know of Modcloth.com and, of course, Urbanoutfitters.com. I love handmade items, too, so suggestions for your own shops are welcome! (and I don't mind paying more if I am supporting local/handmade businesses). Of course, I'm not skinny enough to pull off most trendy styles right now, but I like things that are romantic and flattering, with a hint of faerie.

Now I've got to get back to studying for Forensics. I'll post again fairly soon, I hope, and discuss projects, books, and Jim Henson's wonderful "The Storyteller" which you should see if you have Netflix streaming. Also hoping to finish up my first real portrait ever (a self-portrait) soon, and I'll be posting that. Someday I'll figure out how to make this blog prettier, too. Won't that be wonderful and lovely?

XOXOXO,
Crystal Nicole

A little update before bed

I've been so busy with school, Mardi Gras, and personal things that I've quite neglected this blog. I want to say thanks to those of you who left such nice comments! Sorry I don't keep up with the blog better! It's all Ravelry's fault - I've just been knitting, and it's easiest to go update the notes section of the project on my Ravelry project page than to come here and make a new post, etc. I've a few things I'm finishing up and will be posting soon, including the long-awaited Sylvi! I am THISCLOSE to being finished with it, at last. I have a couple of paintings to finish as well, which I'll post. And I am going to start planning a costume for next year's Mardi Gras. I intend to keep up with my progress here. Here is a sleeve from Sylvi to make up for the lack of content lately. It's quite a bit different from the original sleeve.

Starting a new composition

I have been inspired to try painting on watercolor sheets again, and today I started a little composition. This is a unicorn, obviously. I usually think of unicorns as something like a mix of a deer and a horse, neither quite as light as the one nor nearly as heavy as the other. Immediately recognizable as a unicorn, but whether more horse-like or more deer-like, who knows? Peter S. Beagle had it right; they are certainly not just a horse with a horn, and I hope that comes through in this quick drawing. I drew the unicorn directly onto my watercolor paper, and then outlined it with black acrylic. I haven't gotten around to the background yet, but there will be a lot of shrubbery, bushes, and the like around, some tallish grasses, and (hopefully) a magical atmosphere. Color scheme is undecided as I haven't randomly chosen colors or looked to a spirit card yet.

In pencil: (I like how you can see my shadows on this photo)


And outlined in black:


Also, have been working on (the third [??] go-round of) Sylvi (finished the back, one front, almost done with the second front), reading as many books as I can manage (I swear for every book I read on my list, I add two more), and trying to finish a belated Christmas present.

Speaking of gifts, I can now post pictures of things I made for Christmas. Here's the gift I painted for Dusty's mother. This is her favorite kitty, Sugar. Acrylic on canvas, 8x10"


And here is a photo of the painting I did for my Paulette Insall class. I've posted it before, but the colors are MUCH truer here! Mixed media on canvas, 8x10"

Swaps - NEVER AGAIN!

I don't like to post here about my problems, but I am irate and just can't resist this time. I attempted my first Secret Santa swap (online) this Christmas and I will NEVER do it again. I bought the person something from online and had it shipped directly to her. I was a bit late buying because the original gift I made didn't turn out nearly as well as I'd hoped, and I explained that to the giftee. I could have just sent the gift I was making, but I didn't want to half-ass it by sending a gift I didn't think was good enough for a swap, so instead I bought something. Well, the giftee got it and said it was very poorly made and just completely a mess! So I bought another gift for her. So disappointing!

At long last, the Quilt of DOOM!

As you will recall, the Quilt of DOOM was named so because I totally did not realize what I was getting into with this, my first quilt, and was in over my head. My machine wasn't strong enough to quilt through the layers, so I ended up tying the whole queen-sized quilt. But at long last, I can present pictures! So, without further adieu, here is the Quilt of DOOM!






Link to review on Pattern Review.

Cool blog to check out!

Lots of great inspiration here, and she is having a dress giveaway!

All About Faces - Finished Portrait!

So, I finished my portrait. Painting is so addictive; once I am started on a painting I don't want to stop until it's done! Anyway, here is my finished portrait. Unfortunately, the camera didn't capture the depth of this painting. Her skin has a lot more depth to it IRL!



And a close-up.


This painting is really a self-portrait, despite the girl not looking exactly like me (although my mom and Dusty both said she does look like me). I selected snippets of a few of my favorite quotes - the uppermost quote says "There is nothing more artistic than to love people," a van Gogh quote. Then the quote in black says "Every artistic dips his brush in his own soul and paints his own nature into his pictures", by Henry Ward Beecher. The last little quote says "Born into color." I love color and these three little words really speak to me, and this is a painting that definitely is from the soul. In the uppermost right corner is the word "inspire," which I clipped from the same note card that held the hummingbird I also used.

In the background, I've included a dandelion seed head - something about those little flowers always makes me so happy, and to me it symbolizes something spiritual; a promise of hope, a newness and a cleanliness of spirit; a gift from God. There is a hummingbird, too, from a note card I just loved and couldn't think of a better way to preserve it. The fish scales are just a visual texture I like in my paintings.

Anyway, so there it is!

All About Faces - Background

So, tonight I started on my background. It's not nearly finished, but while waiting for it to dry, I took a couple of pics.

Here is step 1:


Step 2:


Don't worry, it's not done yet!

Corpse Bride dress

I forgot all about showing the finished Corpse Bride dress. I couldn't get a very good photo, and unfortunately I don't have any of the pics of me wearing the costume at Ornament Premiere, but I will be wearing it for Halloween as well, so if I get any pictures then, I will post. Here's a quick and crappy shot of the finished dress.

After I dyed it, I sewed lace (also dyed) onto the bodice and then hand-painted the bodice. Since I like the petal look of the bodice so much, I left the under pieces without lace, and sewed pearls on them, in such a way to look as though some have fallen off (leaving gaps with only sewing thread sticking out). I cut out a lot of the skirt, to look raggedy, and then painted Burton-esque swirls with blue fabric paint and pearl blue dimensional paint, as well as blue glitter (which is not very obvious but is just noticeable enough) all around the edging of the skirt. I wanted to make some "ribs" to attach to the bodice, but didn't have time.

I was making a wig of out yarn for this, but it ended up being very heavy before I was even half done, and I decided I would probably die if I tried to wear it. So I sprayed my hair blue for the day instead, and painted my skin (I used a mix of foundation and blue food coloring, but for Halloween I will probably just get some body paint). It was fun, and the costume was very well received!

Newest Knitting Inspiration

Almost forgot to post what's inspiring me now knitwise - Ivko! I'm totally going to make a jacket inspired by this:





Which means I need to learn how to embroider. Yikes. My last attempt at embroidery did not go too well.

All About Faces

I signed up to take Paulette Insall's online course All About Faces. Her artwork is so wonderful, and I'm very excited to have a chance to do this course. I'm a little behind (due to schoolwork!). Tonight, I did my first practice drawing. I'm going to try to do a quick drawing every day. This is just a quick sketch, not a serious drawing. I like how it came out; very whimsical, and I've decided the young lady I drew is most certainly a ballerina. She started out as an impression of me, but she sort of took on a life of her own! Although I do still see a resemblance. She is a fiery redhead, and she has freckles, but they are hard to see in this photo I took with my phone camera. The nose needs some work, but it is nice to know I can still pick up a pencil and get something I'm relatively happy with without much erasing!



ETA: Also, yay, I made a banner! Not a fancy one, but it features my artwork. It doesn't match the blog, and I don't care. I don't know how to pretty up the blog and I hate all of their templates except this one in this color.

Sylvi is ruined

I accidentally felted it. A lot. There's no saving it. I bought new yarn to start over. I am so sad!

Sylvi again!

On Sylvi, I've now finished the right front, blocked the back, and started on the left front. Can't wait to be done with this one. Time to start planning my handmade gifts for Christmas. I don't make things for everyone, some people I buy for as that's what they'd prefer. But there are a few who will get handmade gifts, and I need to start planning for them!

More Sylvi updating

Here's where I am with Sylvi: I've finished the back, and I'm about 60 rows into the right front (but the pic was taken way before that).




If you're familiar with the pattern, you'll notice some changes here: no hood, armscythe instead of raglan shaping, and the A-line is decidedly less A and more C as in curved/waist shaping. Also, the top of the cable is way different, and the front has a curve and an edging of the stitch pattern from Rapunzel. I rarely knit patterns as they are written; I usually make some mods and in this case, major ones. It's not that Sylvi isn't absolutely gorgeous when knit as written, it's that it wouldn't be gorgeous on me, and I also just feel I have to make things my own. And to be honest, I hate raglan shaping because it somehow makes my chest look bigger, which is not a good thing. I decided to do armhole shaping because of that. I feel that the seed stitch front is too plain, but I don't want to put flowers on the front, either, so I came up with my own thing, which may or may not look good. We'll see. I didn't want the hood, and my gauge is really, really off. So I had to add lots of rows, except that instead of just adding rows into the chart like most are doing, I used the hood chart for the upper back, but, it wasn't long enough, so I had to "freestyle" a few rows past that. So my cable is different, too. It's bedtime for me, but I'll post more when I have more to post about. Peace, y'all!

Just a quickie to mention a site

So, I just discovered that Loretta, one of the wonderful ladies with whom I took M. Douglas Walton's painting workshop, has a website now! How awesome. She is a fantastic artist, and you should check it out.

Sylvi Progresses

I thought I'd post a photo of Sylvi, to show my progress. Sylvi is turning out to be quite an annoyance. It's not the fault of the pattern at all, because I really haven't been following it very well. I couldn't get gauge, and I wanted my Sylvi to turn out long, almost hitting my knees, and I didn't want a ton of ease in it. I also didn't like the openness of the fabric with my yarn and the specified needle size. So, I went down a needle size, but stayed with the XS thinking that way I'd lose some ease. And I did. The first time, the sizing seemed ok, but I totally missed the decreases that gave it an A-line shape, as well as somehow getting my cable off center. I had to start over. Now, on my second time, the cable is beautiful!, but somehow, although I'm using the same yarn, needles, and tension, my gauge has changed so much that now I think it's going to be too small. Sigh. My next project is going to be 100% by the book. What a headache.

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride Costume, Part I

Ornament Premiere came once again, and this year my ornament was Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. I loved this movie, and thought this would be a fun costume to make. I originally was going to make the wedding dress, but when I found a prom dress for $5 at Goodwill that fit me perfectly and that I could redo, I decided it was fate. The dress was a pale yellow, and there was no getting it to any shade of white, but I thought that in about half the movie, her gown looked bluish or purplish anyway; looking at the Corpse Bride doll that was released confirmed it. So, I used some Navy RIT dye to dye the gown and veil I found, as well as some lace I bought to cover the bodice. I was a little sad about the dress; its original state was so pretty, but the hem was torn, which helped. I especially love the bodice, which reminds me of a flower!

The original dress before dyeing, pale yellow (although it looks whitish in the photos):




After dyeing, a lovely silvery purple:



I'll post pictures later of how the whole thing turned out!

Also, Dusty and I made some Scrabble coasters for our new apartment, from an old Scrabble game my boss found at a garage sale for $2. Score! We stained them and glued them on cork. I love how they came out!

Dyeing ain't easy

My first attempt at dyeing yarn did not go too well. I had a skein of Paton's Classic Merino Wool in Aran, and attempted to dye it. It did not take the color very well, so I ended up with a light grey-purple (not a bad color but I wanted it a little darker, and I was hoping to get some of that kettle-dyed variation like Malabrigo has) and also, a huge tangle of yarn. My self-wound hanks are now a mess. Also, when I was stirring, the yarn caught the drain stopper (I dyed it in the sink), and pulled out the stopper, letting all my dye water go, so I couldn't leave the yarn longer. Not fun.

Sorry - no pics this time. I'll probably edit later to include pics of the yarn I dyed, once it's dry and no longer tangled. I just wanted to leave myself a note that changes definitely need to be made in the process next time I try to dye yarn.

Edited to add: I used the leftover RIT dye in Navy that I used to dye my Corpse Bride costume.

Edited to add: Picture - as you can see, untangling the yarn required some cutting. I now have 4 smaller skeins instead of the larger 1.

New painting - Lycoris radiata

I've finished another painting... at least, I think it's finished. I'm not really quite sure. Right now, I've left the background white, because I like the contrast of the white against the red, but I'm also worried that it makes the painting look unfinished. I was considering doing a light, warm-tones color gradient radiating from the flower. Should I go for it?



On the knitting front, I'm working on Sylvi. Lots of mods, let's see if I can actually finish this one! Usually when I try modifying a knit, I get frustrated or bored, and forget about finishing it. This time, I am determined - I so want to have my very own lovely Sylvi!

Also, I finally can wear my Noble Collection Arwen Butterfly ring again. I know it's nerdy, but really I wanted this ring because it's just lovely, not because it's LotR-related (although, of course, I do LOVE LotR). My mom got it for my birthday one year. Unfortunately, the quality was not so great - not long after I received it, the clear stone fell out - there are no prongs on this ring, and I guess it was just glued in. I super-glued it back in, but it fell out again, and I couldn't find it the second time. It had been too long for it to be replaced by the company, and I searched for a replacement stone, but couldn't find one. So for a long time, I couldn't wear it. A couple of days ago, I had an idea. I had an old ring that was too large for me, with an lab-grown opal in it. The opal was nice but the ring itself was blah, and I couldn't wear it anyway since it was too large. So, I loosened a prong, took the opal out, and, since the shape of the bottom was off and I knew glue wouldn't hold anyway, I green-stuffed it to the ring. I was able to do it so only a teeny bit of the green stuff showed, and that I painted silver, which happens to match the sterling silver almost precisely. It looks great, and now I can wear my ring again, yay! I'd post a picture but I couldn't manage a good, non-blurry one. I don't know how people take pictures of jewelry.

Soon, I'll post photos of the dress I decorated for Ornament Premiere, as Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. I don't have the photos right now.

And, is it terribly nerdy that, I bought makeup from EyesLipsFace partially because they abbreviate it as ELF and I thought that was awesome? I mean, yes, I mostly decided to try it because it is inexpensive (although it would be easy to over-spend on that site!), but the name totally makes me happy.

Finally, I thought the Blogger tab that says "Monetize" meant you could make your blog Monet-ish. I was excited. Alas, it is not so.