08 January, 2008

Of Knitting, and Other Crafts



The title is TheKnitFarm, after all. So let's talk a little knitting right off the bat. Here, I present a Finished Object. Here's that super-simple One-row Scarf. I used ALL the rest of the Noro Kureyon and am really chuffed with the result. The scarf's long enough to fold and wrap, ever so chicly. It is probably 7 feet long. This picture shows the colors really well.

I do need to figure out the timer on my camera, as the kids are not reliable photographers. And they're a bit short to model this for me.




Here are some things the kids got up to this weekend.


The parrot: I like it, it was fun enough, but it brings up "creativity issues" for me. David spent some time noodling around with this Chad Valley mini-mosaic set (vintage 60's, 2 pounds at a boot sale, and OOOOOH-so-much-the-choking-hazard; good thing the children are beyond that age). Being a person of order and structure, and dare we say perfectionism, he was determined to make the picture on the box rather than going free-form.

I think I would do well to throw away the box for this and some other crafts we have, since D often limits himself to pictured items. He has a good time, but gets frustrated if it's not "just like the instructions." Not so great for working the imaginative and creative juices. Thoughts, gentle readers? How to you encourage messiness and randomness in art? Or do I go with his preference for order? He's been this way since he began fiddling with paint or crayon or clay, and it's the same with building blocks or Lincoln logs.

This next craft project is Lily's - glitter paint and lots of it. She had a great time swirling it on, and I am a bit reminded of a butterfly. I like the swirling colors against the brown paper. They remind me very much of the yarn, which is Wendy Fusion in Allspice.



While I wait for my Addi Lace needles to arrive, I'm sticking with dead simple, and casting on another One-row Scarf, using this yarn. I think the colors look fantastic in the ball, and I hope they'll work well in a scarf.

4 comments:

Lynn said...

OK I LOVE her mask!! She is very talented!!! As far as following the box, maybe try it with one craft and see how he does. It may make it harder for him. This way if it doesn't work out, he still has other stuff to play with. He's much more the logical lad and being completely creative may not be his forte. I tend to be the same way with my crafts. I'm not very brave to change patterns and colors. I tend to follow what the pictures show.

Lynn said...

BTW I really like your scarf! Is it soft? I know Noro isnt always. How many did you cast on with what needle?

Susie H said...

Thanks, Lynn, for the perspective on the "order" thing. Maybe I will try it with one thing, first.

As for the Noro scarf, I used size 6 needles, and cast on 30 stitches. It's a little rough, but when I washed the other scarf I made from this Noro, it softened up well. For the allspice version I started tonight, I cast on 26 stitches on size 6 needles. It's a bit puffier yarn, so it's almost the same in width.

Toni said...

Is David the oldest? My sister has always been like that--I remember we couldn't have any stray pegs with her Light-Bright when we were kids. They HAD to be the right color & in the right place. I think it's an oldest child sort of thing. Doesn't mean she isn't creative, but it is in a different way than I am. And she has done REALLY well in life, so maybe his personality is just one to appreciate in a different way?