Not for me, mind you! I'm stuck in the apartment with no washer and dryer or dishwasher until the end of time...but enough about me!
A friend of mine recently purchased her first home, and commissioned an illustration for a moving announcement. I think it will be pretty cute! Home portraits are really fun to do.
Pencil first.
Inked.
And a bit of color.
(Photos were taken at night, so they're looking a bit peak-ed, but you get the gist...)
I set the Demi Sweater aside for three quarters of a year, and am now ready to start again. 
Knitting it in the round is much easier. Seeing other people's finished sweaters is inspiring. The crisp sweater wearing weather is arriving. And this tweed. I am just in love with this saturated purple tweed. (The color in the top photo is much more accurate).
Here's what it will look like when it is completed. I have to have a teeny bit of instant gratification before starting a project like this.
Last Saturday was spent with pen, ink and watercolors. I have a small studio area, but I love working at my kitchen table. This room gets the best light and it provides a large working surface. 
I had a few things in mind. Mainly, one more housewarming card for a blog friend, Shona. I also wanted to give her a market bag she had liked, that has been hibernating in my knitting basket.
This card was inspired by the one I made here, but I added a bit more detail. I wanted a reference of a house, and remembered Shona had a photo of her house on her blog. I think it turned out pretty damn cute. 
Happy Friday, friends! Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with more crafty goodness.
Ah, my first Illustration Friday post of the year, for the topic, plain. Did I want to draw anything plain? Of course not. So I included the absence of plain in the rest of the drawing (wink).
And, no. It is not a wedding dress, people.
Also, damn you, lighting! I had to say it. I can't have you thinking I made the watercolors that yellow.
Now I need to start working on my prints for the Mid-Winter Gocco Swap. Do umbrellas count as mid-winter? Please remember I'm a native of South Florida...
I can see, again! I was in dire need of new glasses. Apparently, my prescription did not change as I was certain it had. You see, my old frames were so heavy, the bridge of my nose non-existent, and earpiece so cracked, that they were sliding down my face and the lenses were not positioned correctly. Oh.
Ta-da! New glasses below. Of course I had to pick a pair with sparkles...
I'm knitting up some Koigu mill ends to create small hand warmers. I love this yarn. It's so springy you could use it as a trampoline.
Lastly, I hadn't picked up my watercolors in awhile. I made a thank you card for someone that was long overdue. 
It was so much fun to draw her little creations, inspired from her etsy shop, here.
We had a little yarn swap at Rosie's Knitting Circle on Wednesday. Serendipity led me to my new obsession; Noro Silk Garden Lite (thanks, Mindy!)
I've never used Noro, and started brainstorming with the girls on what to make. Inspiration struck in the form of legwarmers. The fact that I had a gift credit card burning a hole in my pocket speeded up the process.
I purchased four additional skeins of Noro in the highest contrasting combinations. I told the girls, "I want it to look like a rainbow threw up on these legwarmers." (Hey, it's not easy being this classy.)
I did a quick conceptual sketch to show you what I'm thinking below. I want them to be on the tighter side, but have generous ribbing on the tops and bottoms. 
I did a swatch tonight, and I'm loving this yarn. With my history of rainbow colors, how have I not used this before?!
I may wind the 6 skeins into 12 smaller skeins to enable more variety of color. Anyone have any advice? I'll be doing the legwarmers on circulars using magic loop, so am not too concerned on weaving in the ends. Speak up, my friends! I know you're not shy (wink)!
Scales for Illustration Friday's topic last week. I painted layer after layer of silver watercolor to give it a sheen.
You can't see the metallic silver in this photo, but you can definitely see it in the shot below.
Heather was visiting me and really liked it, so it's hers now!
Speaking of freebies, I'm renewing my subscription to Domino magazine. Since I get one free gift subscription when I renew, I thought one of my crafty blog friends may want it.
If you would like to enter for my gift subscription, just leave a comment guessing the date (month and day only) that I got my braces off in the 6th grade. Why that day? Only because it was one of the best days of my life!
Whomever is closest to the date will win. I'll select a winner on Monday, December 3rd.
After our lovely weekend at Lisa's mom's house, I wanted to make a thank you card for Jeannie.
She has the prettiest collection of hand formed and decorated Polish Pottery in a variety of patterns. She also had the teeniest crystal salt cellars passed down from Lisa's great-grandmother. I loved the little spoons.
Steady progress is being made on my Drops Jacket 103-1. The back and 3/4 of the front is completed. Isn't the moss stitch lovely?
I've been thinking of my dream studio lately. Working in facilities, I miss the more creative part of interior design. So tonight, I went back to my roots and did a quick conceptual sketch of one version of a dream studio. I forgot how much fun it is to create a space with no rules...or budget (wink). 
Old school roller skates were included for extra efficiency, and to glide on the imaginary ebony stained herringbone wood floors...dream on!
Illustration Friday is my new favorite thing. There are such talented people on the IF Flickr pool, it is quite inspiring.
I love hats, I've always enjoyed wearing them. Some think they don't look good in hats, but I think it's just a matter of confidence. "Fake it until you make it" is my motto for hat-wearing.
I didn't have too much time, so picked five hats I thought would be fun to draw. The first is a red waterpolo goalie cap, which was my 'uniform' when I used to play, along with 2 square feet of spandex. That's probably the least flattering cap anyone could wear.
The other four obviously show my subconcious desires to wear outrageous headresses, vintage hats and be royalty, save the brown cloche. That's just cute.
Oh, and speaking of cute, I made a third pair of Saartje's Bootees for a woman at work. She pleaded and begged, and paid for the yarn. It was a treat to work with Koigu Kersti and that adorable pattern again, even at the laundromat.
Enjoy your weekend, everyone! I'm ditching Mike to go on a roadtrip with gal pals which I'll tell you about next week.
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