Laura Kate

Some Christmas Knitting Revealed

Posted on December 21, 2021 by Laura Kate

I’ve been busy knitting up some Christmas gifts for my family and friends. Since some of the intended recipients follow this blog, I’ve kept my progress reports to myself.

Now I can begin to reveal these projects, starting with a necklace I made for good friend and knitting buddy Kathy.

Earlier this year, I made a Ruth Bader Ginsberg-style collar necklace using a very soft Shibui yarn. The pattern came from this book.

This book is no longer in print. I was fortunate to find it at an on-line used bookstore. The pattern I used is called Beads and Baubles Necklace.

This photograph is in the book and shows the “bobbles” in the light gray section, spaced out evenly between the beads. Since I truly dislike knitting bobbles, I simply worked a yarn-over every time the pattern called for a bobble.

My collar looks like this:

Since Kathy is allergic to wool, I chose two colors of synthetic yarn for her gift.

It’s hard to tell from the photograph, but the teal color yarn has tiny reflective bits that glitter in the light – sort of silvery.

The necklace came together quickly, with very little effort. Attaching the jewelry findings took a while and gave me some frustrating moments.

No doubt I was lacking in correct tools and techniques. (sigh.)

More Christmas knits will be revealed later in the week.

painting

Belize Memory WIP

Posted on December 16, 2021 by Laura Kate

Since Sunday, I have painted several sample palettes for the imaginary Belize waterscape. I have also completed my first watercolor sketch. Its subject is the mountains and sky, including a little of the shoreline.

This type of work helps me learn how the different paints I have chosen behave in the mixing and glazing process. I also have narrowed my choices of colors.

And I’ve come to the conclusion that hot press paper will give a better result with this technique, so I’m off to the art supply store in search of same.

knitting

Baggy Saggy Socks

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Laura Kate

Despite my efforts to apply my best knitting skills, I frequently end up with saggy socks. They droop around the ankles, and scrunch around the in-step. It annoys me to no end when they are on my feet.

All you knitters out there are probably thinking, she didn’t get gauge, or made the wrong size. She just needs to adjust the number of stitches cast on. Well, that might be in some cases. Most of the time, it is because I forget how much superwash wool yarns can lengthen after the finished socks are washed. Even when I make a meticulous swatch AND block it.

So, I decided to try something new. Why not use a slip stitch pattern on the areas of the sock giving me the most sag?

I turned to one of my stitch dictionaries ………

……..and selected a pattern called Woven Stitch.

In essence, it is a stockinette pattern with a bar of yarn across every other stitch, every other row. The result is a firmer fabric with a little more lateral pull. If made with sock yarn that includes a bit of nylon, the fabric is stretchy enough but returns quickly to its former position. In other words, it ‘hugs” the foot.

I like it!

**Sock swatch in Ewetopia’s Wisco Sock.**

After working one inch of 1 x 1 ribbing, I knitted the ankle in the Woven stitch. I kept the instep in pattern while I continued along the heel and foot. Upon reaching the toe shaping, I switched to solid stockinette stitch.

When worked in a tonal yarn, the slipped stitches break up the color transitions slightly. This results in a sort of pebbly look.

Looks and feels like a perfect fit. I will be interested to see how well these socks perform over time.

drawing, painting

Belize Journal – A Memory

Posted on December 12, 2021 by Laura Kate

I am returning to my Belize journal in an effort to coax from my memory the images I experienced on the return boat ride from our snorkeling outing. Memories are all I have of this experience. Because of the choppiness of the ride and the spray of the sea no cameras were in use during this part of the trip.

First, it’s important to mention that I wasn’t wearing glasses. They were stowed away so I wouldn’t lose them overboard. I believe that state of fuzzy vision contributed mightily to the dream-like quality of the experience. Here’s what I remember.

I was sitting on the port side of the boat, with my left hand to the south and my face to the west. On either side of me the sea rolled by, with bright, transparent turquoise water punctuated by amorphous, dark green forms of sea grass and coral clumps below the surface. After the first several miles had passed, I began to detect bits and pieces of the shoreline. They came in the form of striated horizontal lines, looking like a slow fade from one color to the next. First sea green, then turquoise, followed by the strip of land separating the bay from the lagoon. The land was dark, with bumpy forms of vegetation. Beyond and above that was a cool blue strip of atmosphere. Was it mist, fog or ordinary clouds? I couldn’t tell.

Eventually I detected the purplish forms of the mountains – roughly pyramid shaped, overlapping and rising from the mist. Above the mountains stretched the sky. I have no memory of its color. It could have been layered in clouds, thinning out to pale blue at the apex. Or it could have been a sky blue, pale just above the mountains, and then intensifying into deep blue in the upper atmosphere. I wish I could recall this detail.

**Preliminary palette for Belize memory**

This dream-like state carried on until we passed through the narrow strip and returned to the inlet from where we had started.

I will attempt to paint my impression. The colors are definitely more vivid to me than the shapes are. So, I plan to render the shapes in geometric, abstract fashion.

Now that I have a rough layout and some color options, I can start doing watercolor sketching. I’m pretty excited to start on this one and hope to get painting during the next few weeks. I’m also aware that the design has much potential as a fiber work.

painting

Belize Journal III

Posted on December 7, 2021 by Laura Kate

Our flight to Belize was almost due south, as the country lies on the eastern edge of Central America. Its landform is in the shape of a rectangle, with its north border on the Yucatan, the south on Guatemala and the east faces the Caribbean Sea. From the Belize City airport, we traveled more than two hours by car to Hopkins Bay resort. Upon arriving at our lodging, we got our first look at the beach.

The little geography lesson I wrote above wasn’t just for your information. It was to explain why all of the resorts in Belize face east. This fact brought us great joy each morning between the hours of 5 and 6 am, when the sun cleared the horizon.

Bill was always up and away with his camera well ahead of the key moment. I seldom overslept it as a result of another curious phenomena. With great regularity, around this time of dawn, I heard a mysterious tapping sound, as if fingers on the window – rat-tat-tat-tat. I thought Bill was trying to get my attention. But no one was in sight.

Ah, the sun was just coming up.

We eventually concluded that it was a bird that came tapping, although we never caught it in the act.

When I returned home, I was keen to paint a Hopkins Bay sunrise. I chose the above photo as my reference, although I had to lighten it up quite a bit to see the colors and the details sufficiently.

It took me two tries to paint the sky to my satisfaction. Pigments were new gamboge, quinacridone red, prussian blue, Thalo blue, carbazole violet, raw sienna, burnt sienna and a little transparent orange.

I miss you, Hopkins Bay.